3. Wren, 4. Redbreast, 5. Hedge-sparrow, 6. Yellowhammer, 7. Skylark, 8. Swallow, 9. Black-cap, 10. Titlark, 11. Blackbird, 12. White-throat, 13. Goldfinch, 14. Greenfinch, ris: Hirundo domestica: Atricapilla: Alauda prato rum: {Merula vulga Ficedula Chloris: to October. From April to Sep tember. Beginning of April to ( From middle of April af- In April, and on to 15. Less reed-spar- ( Passer arundi row, { naceus minor: 16. Common linnet, Linaria vul garis: Breeds and whistles on till August; reassumes its note when they begin to congregate in October, and again early before the flocks separate. Birds that cease to be in full song, and are usually silent at or before Midsummer: in the spring: Birds that sing for a short time, and very early 21. Missel-bird, Turdus visci- 22. Great titmouse, Fringillago: or ox-eye, January the 2nd, 1770, in February. Is called in Hampshire and Sussex the storm-cock, because its song is supposed to forbode windy wet weather: is the largest singing bird we have. (In February, March, April: reassumes for a short time in September. Birds that have somewhat of a note or song, and yet are hardly to be called singing birds : Its note as minute as its person; frequents the tops of high oaks and firs: the smallest British bird. Haunts great woods: two harsh sharp notes. Sings in March, and on to September. "Cantat voce stridulâ locustæ;" from end of April to August. Alauda minima (Chirps all night, from voce locustæ : the middle of April to the end of July. All singing birds, and those that have any pretensions to song, not only in Britain, but perhaps the world through, come under the Linnæan ordo of passeres. The above-mentioned birds, as they stand numerically, belong to the following Linnæan genera :— Skylark, 6, 30. Loxia. Birds that sing as they fly are but few: {Alauda vulga-{Risin ris: and falling. suspended In its descent; also sitting on trees, and walking on the ground. Suspended; in hot summer nights all night long. Sometimes from bush to bush. Uses when singing on the wing odd jerks and gesticulations. Passer troglo- ( Sometimes from bush dytes: to bush. In soft sunny weather. Birds that breed most early in these parts : All birds that continue in full song till after Midsummer appear to me to breed more than once. Most kinds of birds seem to me to be wild and shy somewhat in proportion to their bulk; I mean in this island, where they are much pursued and annoyed: but in Ascension Island, and many other desolate places, mariners have found fowls so unacquainted with a human figure, that they would stand still to be taken; as is the case with boobies, &c. As an example of what is advanced, I remark that the golden-crested wren (the smallest British bird) will stand unconcerned till you come within three or four yards of it, while the Bustard (otis), the largest British land fowl, does not care to admit a person within so many furlongs. SELBORNE, Nov. 2, 1769. LETTER XXVIII. TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. WAS much gratified by your communicative letter on your return from Scotland, where you spent, I find, some considerable time, and gave yourself good room to examine the natural curiosities of that extensive kingdom, both those of the islands, as well as those of the highlands. The usual bane of such expeditions is hurry; because men seldom allot themselves half the time they should do: but, fixing on a day for their return, post from place to place, rather as if they were on a journey that required dispatch, than as philosophers investigating the works of nature. You must have made, no doubt, many discoveries, and laid up a good fund of materials for a future edition of the British Zoology; and will have no reason to repent that you have bestowed so much pains on a part of Great Britain that perhaps was never so well examined before. It has always been matter of wonder to me that fieldfares, which are so congenerous to thrushes and blackbirds, should never choose to breed in England: but that they should not think even the high |