THE PURR. ' 29$:

The colours of the females are more uniform :—pale brown,
the back streaked with black, the breast and belly white, and
the neck plain Without the ruff.

It feeds on insects, worms, and roots, and makes its nest in a
tuft of grass or rushes. The females are tolerably good for the
table, but the male must be fattened before it is eatable. ‘The
irritable and quarrelsome disposition of these birds is astonish-
ing. When two males meet they are often so enraged with
each other that a net may be passed over them without their
perceiving it. If several are placed in the same cage, they will
kill one another. The young ones may easily be reared; but
it is extraordinary, that in the house, their inclination to fight
abandons them; whilst most other birds, pacific in a state or
freedom, are continually quarrelling and pecking one another
when confined. It is customary in the duchy of Bremen to
put these birds into enclosed gardens to destroy worms and
other insects, but they retire into the house for the Winter;
and here the old ones still quarrel both for food and the place
they wish to lie down in. They are fed on bread soaked in
milk, and meat.

THE PURR.

a Tringa Cinclus, Lmuzsus; L’Alouette de Mer, Burrow; Der Meerlerche,
Bscnsrsxu

Tms is a marsh bird, about the size of the redwing, and is
very common on the banks of rivers, lakes, and large ponds.
When it rises in the air it cries continually “ tzi, tzi, tzi, tzi.”
Its beak is black, and its feet dark brownish green; the feathers
on the upper part of the body are grey, glossy, and silky, with
blackish bands notched on the sides, and bordered on the outer
edge with rust red; a whitish streak passes above the eyes,

a whilst a narrow dark brown line crosses them ; the under part

of the body is pure white, but the breast is striped with dark
brown ; the quill-feathers are black, the anterior having a broad
white streak on the inner web, the others having the same on
the outer web ; the greater coverts are tipped with white,
which form two spots on the wings ; the three middle feathers
of the tail are grey brown with black bands; the others are
white, with dark brown bands.
The female is rather larger, and her plumage is paler.