20. Fly-catcher,
Stoparola:
May 12. A very mute bird: this is the latest summer bird of
passage.
This assemblage of curious and amusing birds belongs to ten
several genera of the Linnaean system; and are all of the ordo of
passeres, save the jynx and cuculus, which are picae, and the
charadrius (oedicnemus) and rallus (ortygometra) which are
grallae.
These birds, as they stand numerically, belong to the following
Linnaean genera:
1.
Jynx.
2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18.
Motacilla.
3, 4, 5, 15.
Hirundo.
8.
Cuculus.
12.
Charadrius.
13.
Columba.
17.
Rallus.
19.
Caprimulgus.
14.
Alauda.
20. Muscicapa.
Most soft-billed birds live on insects, and not on grain and seeds;
and therefore at the end of summer they retire: but the following
soft-billed birds, though insect-eaters, stay with us the year round:
Red-breast,
Raii nomina: Rubecula:
Wren,
Passer troglodytes:
These frequent houses; and haunt outbuildings in the winter; eat
spiders.
Hedge-sparrow,
Curruca:
Haunt sinks for crumbs and other sweepings.
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