Why are martins less agile than swallows?

Because their wings and tails are shorter, wherefore they are not capable of such surprising turns, and quick and glancing evolutious, as the swallow. G. White.

Why is the nest of the house-martin so frequently destroyed?

Because, in July and August, when it usually brings out its young, one rainy day, attended with wind, will moisten the earthy nest, the cement then fails, and all the unfledged ones are dashed to the ground; and there are some places to which these poor birds are unfortunately partial, though their nests are annually washed down. The parent birds at times seem aware of the misfortune that awaits them; as, before the calamity is completed, we may observe them, with great anxiety hovering about their nests. -Knapp.

THE SWIFT.

Why is the swift so called?

Because it is almost continually on the wing. It eats, drinks, collects materials for its nest, and even propagates on the wing; thus appearing to live in the air more than any other bird,and performingall functions there,save those of sleeping and incubation. In general they feed in a higher district than the other species; a proof that gnats and other insects do also abound to a considerable height in the air; they also range to vast distances; since locomotion is no labour to them, who are endowed with such wonderful powers of wing. Their powers seem to be in proportion to their levers, and their wings are longer in proportion than those of almost any other bird.-G. White. Why are swifts out all day long on wet days?

Because many insects abide high in the air, even in rain, and the feathers of these birds are well preened to resist the wet. G. White.

Why do swifts seldom settle on the ground? Because, when down, they can hardly rise, on account of the shortness of their legs and the length of their wings; neither can_they_walk, but only crawl. Their bodies being flat, they can enter a very narrow crevice; and where they cannot pass on their bellies, they will turn up edgewise. - G. White.

TURTLE DOVES.

Why are turtle-doves emblematic of faithfulness in love?

Because of their adoption by the poets;- 'as to its highly prized fidelity and chastity, setting aside idle fables, it presents nothing superior to other birds which lead the same mode of life.' Blumenbach. The turtle-dove is also called the culver. Spenser, in a sonnet, has

Like as the culver on the bared bough,

Sits mourning for the absence of her mate. The cooing of the turtle-dove of the United States sounds very melancholy, but is,nevertheless, joyful — this being,in reality,the notes of its amorous affection.

The dove, in the wild state, breeds twice, but when domesticated, nine or ten times in the year; so that a single couple would, in four years, produce 14,672.

PIGEONS.

Why is the carrier pigeon so called?

Because of the service to which it was formerly applied, particularly in the Levant, of carrying letters. It appears that as soon as young pigeons are hatched, a whitish ash-coloured fluid is secreted in their crop, both in the male and female, in abundance, with which they feed for some time the young before they feed them with grain; so that, though pigeons' milk would be considered a solecism, yet this fluid seems to be very like milk in its properties.- Jennings. Why are such numbers of London pigeons lost during the winter?

Because of the slight falcon, which takes up its

abode every year, from October and November, until the spring, upon Westminster Abbey, and other churches in the metropolis.

THE RAIL.

Why is the rail, in Germany, called the King of the Quails?

Because it was formerly supposed to head them in their migrations.

Why does a partridge sometimes tumble along before a sportsman ?

Because she may draw away the dog from her helpless covey. G. White.

Why is it erroneous to suppose that black game drive away red grouse?

Because the two species require very different kinds of cover, and will never interfere.Sir W. Jardine. Why are the spurs of cocks of great strength?

Because they are supported in the centre by bone. Why are the bones of fowls sometimes of a red tint ? Because madder, a plant yielding a red colour, has been mixed with their food. The nature of the food, generally, also exercises a considerable influence over the colour of their bones.

THE PEACOCK.

Why is it improper to call the long feathers of pea

cocks a tail?

Because the feathers do not grow from the rump, but all up the back. A range of short, brown, stiff feathers, about six inches long, fixed in the rump, is the real tail, and props up the long feathers, or train, which is top-heavy when set on end. By a strong muscular vibration, these birds can make the shafts of their long feathers clatter like the shafts of a sword-dancer. G. White,

Why were peacocks and pheasants the peculiar food of knights?

Because they were said to be the nutriment of lovers, and the viand of worthies. - Mills.

Why were the highest honours conferred on peacocks? Because knights associated them with all their ideas of fame, and vowed by the peacock, as well as by the ladies, to perform their highest enterprises. Mills.

THE HERON.

Why do herons, in flying, seem encumbered with too much sail for their light bodies?

Because of their vast hollow wings, which are necessary in carrying burdens, such as large fishes, &c. G. White.

THE CURLEW.

Why is the stone-curlew so called?

Because, when hatched, the young run immediately from the egg, like partridges, &c; and are withdrawn to some flinty field by the dam, where they skulk among the stones, which are their best security; for their feathers are so exactly the colour of our gray spotted flints, that the most exact observer, unless he catches the eye of the young bird, may be eluded. -- G. White.

WOODCOCKS.

Why do poachers light fires on the coast, to catch woodcocks?

Because woodcocks, migrating during the night, and being attracted by the light, bend their course thither; in which manner great numbers are annually destroyed.

Why are the nests of woodcocks and fieldfares so rarely found in England?

Because those birds leave us in the spring, in order to cross the seas, and to retire to some districts more suitable to the purpose of breeding. That the former

and

pair before they retire,' observes Mr White, that the hens are forward with egg, I myself, when I was a sportsman, have often experienced.'- Nat. Hist. of Selborne.

THE RUFF.

Why is a certain bird called 'the Ruff"?

Because the neck and ear feathers are much produced in the breeding season, in the males, the heads of which are in part naked. Fleming.

PHE PETREL..

Why were petrels, in past times, thought to predict a

storm?

Because they seem to repose in a common breeze, but, upon the approach, or during the continuation, of a gale, they surround a ship, and catch up the small animals which the agitated ocean brings near the surface, or any food that may be dropped from the vessel. Whisking like an arrow through the deep valleys of the abyss, and darting away over the foaming crest of some mountain wave, they attend the labouring bark in all her perilous course. When the storm subsides, they retire to rest, and are no more seen. Our sailors have, from very early times, called these birds 'Mother Cary's Chickens.' Knapp.

The inhabitants of the Faroe islands use them as lamps: they pass a wick through their bodies, which, when lighted, burns a long time, from the quantity of fat they contain.- Blumenbach.

THE SWAN.

Why has the swan the epithet of mute? Because it utters no sound except its hissing. Why has a Swan with Two Necks' been adopted as a tavern-sign?

Because, it appears, from the roll of swan's marks in the time of Henry VIII, that the king's swans were