From all
my observations, it constantly appeared that each sex has the long
feathers in its tail that give it that forked shape; with this
difference, that they are longer in the tail of the male than in that of
the female.
Nightingales, when their young first come abroad, and are helpless,
make a plaintive and a jarring noise: and also a snapping or
cracking, pursuing people along the hedges as they walk: these last
sounds seem intended for menace and defiance.
The grasshopper-lark chirps all night in the height of summer.
Swans turn white the second year, and breed the third.
Weasels prey on moles, as appears by their being sometimes
caught in mole-traps.
Sparrow-hawks sometimes breed in old crows' nests, and the
kestrel in churches and ruins.
There are supposed to be two sorts of eels in the island of Ely. The
threads sometimes discovered in eels are perhaps their young: the
generation of eels is very dark and mysterious.
Hen-harriers breed on the ground, and seem never to settle on trees.
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