many countries as the most expeditious courier; the letters are tied under its wing, it is let loose, and in a very short space returns to the home it was brought from, with its advices. This practice was much in vogue in the East; and at Scanderoon, till late years, used on the arrival of a ship, to give the merchants at Aleppo a more expeditious notice than could be done by any other means. In our own country, these aërial messengers have been employed for a very singular purpose, being let loose at Tyburn at the moment the fatal cart is drawn away, to notify to distant friends the departure of the unhappy criminal. In the East, the use of these birds seems to have been improved greatly, by having, if we may use the expression, relays of them ready to spread intelligence to all parts of the country. Thus the governor of Damiata circulated the news of the death of Orrilo. Tosto che'l Castellan di Damiata But the simple use of them was known in very early times: Εγω δ' Ανακρέοντι Διακοιω το ταυτα Και νυν οιας εκείνε Επιστολας κομίζω τ I am now Anacreon's slave, "As soon as the commandant of Damiata heard that Orrilo was dead he let loose a pigeon, under whose wing he had tied a letter: this fled to Cairo, from whence a second was dispatched to another place, as is usual: so that in a very few hours all Egypt was acquainted with the death of Orrilo."—ARIOSTO, canto 15. + Anacreon, ode 9, ε5 πipisεpav. All the overflowings of his heart Each soft line with nimble wing, Taurosthenes also, by means of a pigeon he had decked with purple, sent advice to his father, who lived in the isle of Ægina, of his victory in the Olympic games, on the very day he had obtained it. And, at the siege of Modena, Hirtius without, and Brutus within the walls, kept, by the help of pigeons, a constant correspondence; baffling every stratagem of the besieger Antony, to intercept their couriers. In the times of the crusade, there were many more instances of these birds of peace being employed in the service of war; Joinville relates one during the crusade of Saint Louis; and Tasso another, during the siege of Jerusalem. The nature of pigeons is to be gregarious; to lay only two eggs; to breed many times in the year; to bill in their courtship; for the male and female to sit by turns, and also to feed their young; to cast their provision out of their craw into the young one's mouths; to drink, not like other birds by sipping, but by continual draughts, like quadrupeds; and to have notes mournful or plaintive. [Pennant. SECTION X. Bullfinch. Lexia pyrrhula.-LINN. THE wild note of this bird is not in the least musical; but when tamed it becomes remarkably docile, and may be taught any tune after a pipe, or to whistle any notes in the justest manner: it seldom forgets what it has learned; and will become so tame as to come at call, perch on its master's shoulders, and (at command) go through a difficult musical lesson. They may be taught to speak; and some thus instructed are annually brought to London from Germany. The male is distinguished from the female by the superior blackness of its crown, and by the rich crimson that adorns the cheeks, breast, belly, and throat, of the male those of the female being of a dirty colour: the bill is black, short, and very thick; the head large; the hind part of the neck and the back are grey; the coverts of the wings are black; the lower crossed with a white line: the quill-feathers dusky, but part of their inner webs white; the coverts of the tail and vent-feathers white; the tail black. In the spring these birds frequent our gardens, and are very destructive to our fruit-trees, by eating the tender buds. They breed about the latter end of May, or beginning of June, and are seldom seen at that time near houses, as they chuse some very retired place to breed in. These birds are sometimes wholly black. I have heard of a male bullfinch which had changed its colours, after it had been taken in full feather, and with all its fine teints. The first year it began to assume a dull hue, blackening every year, till in the fourth it attained the deepest degree of that colour. This was communicated to me by the Rev. Mr. White, of Selborne. Mr. Morton, in his History of Northamptonshire, gives another instance of such a change; with this addition, that the year following, after moulting, the bird recovered its native colours. Bullfinches fed entirely on hemp-seed, are aptest to undergo this change. [Pennant. SECTION XI.. Goldfinch. Fringilla carduelis.-LINN. THIS is the most beautiful of our hard-billed small birds; whether we consider its colours, the elegance of its form, or the music of its note. The bill is white, tipt with black; the base is surrounded with a ring of rich scarlet feathers; from the corners of the mouth to the eyes is a black line; the cheeks are white; the top of the head is black; and the white on the cheeks is bounded almost to the fore part of the neck with black; the hind part of the head is white; the back, rump, and breast, are of a fine pale. tawny brown, lightest on the two last; the belly is white; the covert feathers of the wings, in the male, are black; the quillfeathers black, marked in their middle with a beautiful yellow; the tips white; the tail is black, but most of the feathers marked near their ends with a white spot: the legs are white. The female is distinguished from the male by these notes; the feathers at the end of the bill, in the former, are brown; in the male black; the lesser coverts of the wings are brown; and the black and yellow in the wings of the female are less brilliant. The young bird, before it moults, is grey on the head; and hence it is termed by the bird catchers a grey-pate. There is another variety of goldfinch, which is, perhaps, not taken above once in two or three years, which is called, by the London bird-catchers, a cheverel, from the manner in which it concludes its jerk: when this sort is taken, it sells at a very high price; it is distinguished from the common sort by a white streak, or by two, and sometimes three white spots, under the throat. The note is very sweet, and they are much esteemed on that account, as well as for their great docility. Toward winter they assemble in flocks, and feed on seeds of different kinds, particularly those of the thistle. It is fond of orchards, and frequently builds in an apple or pear tree: its nest is very elegantly formed of fine moss, liver-worts, and bents on the outside; lined first with wool and hair, and then with the goslin, or cotton of the sallow. It lays five white eggs, marked with deep purple spots on the upper end. * This bird seems to have been the xęvooμręs of Aristotle: being the only one, that we know of, that could be distinguished by a golden fillet round its head, feeding on the seeds of prickly plants. The very ingenious translator (Dr. Martyn) of Virgil's Eclogues and Georgics, gives the name of this bird to the acalanthis or acanthis, Littoraque alcyonen resonant, acanthida dumi. In our account of the Halcyon of the ancients, we followed his opinion; but having since met with a passage in Aristotle, that clearly proves that acanthis could not be used in that sense, we beg, that, till we can discover what it really is, the word may be rendered linnet; since it is impossible the philosopher could distinguish a bird of such striking and brilliant colours as the goldfinch, bythe epithet xaxoxeoos, or bad coloured; and as he celebrates his acanthis for a fine note, Qana jer tol Aiyugav 1x80, both characters will suit the linnet, being a bird as remarkable for the sweetness of its note, as for the plainness of its plumage. [Pennant. * Which he places among the axadoPaya. Scaliger reads the word guroμręs, which has no meaning; neither does the critic support his alteration with any SECTION XII. Canary Bird. Fringilla Canaria.-LINN. THIS bird is of the finch tribe. It was originally peculiar to those islse to which it owes its name; the same that were known to the ancients by the addition of the fortunate. The happy temperament of the air; the spontaneous productions of the ground in the varieties of fruits; the sprightly and cheerful disposition of the inhabitants; and the harmony arising from the number of the birds found there, procured them that romantic distinction. Though the ancients celebrate the isle of Canaria for the multitude of birds, they have not mentioned any in particular. It is probable then, that our species was not introduced into Europe till after the second discovery of these isles, which was between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. We are uncertain when it first made its appearance in this quarter of the globe. Belon, who wrote in 1555, is silent in respect to these birds: Gesner is the first who mentions them; and Aldrovandi speaks of them as rarities that they were very dear on account of the difficulty attending the bringing them from so distant a country, and that they were purchased by people of rank alone. Olina says, that in his time there was a degenerate sort found on the isle of Elba, off the coast of Italy, which came there originally by means of a ship bound from the Canaries to Leghorn, and was wrecked on that island. We once saw some small birds brought directly from the Canary islands, that we suspect to be the genuine sort; they were of a dull green colour; but as they did not sing, we supposed them to be hens. These birds will produce with the goldfinch and linnet, and the offspring is called a mule bird; because, like that animal, it proves barren. They are still found on the same spot to which we were first indebted for the productions of such charming songsters; but they are now become so numerous in our country, that we are under no necessity of crossing the ocean for them. [Pennant. |