spring, it is not easy to say how the Hirundines subsist; for they withdraw themselves, and are hardly ever seen, nor do any insects appear for their support. That they can retire to rest, and sleep away these uncomfortable periods as the bats do, is a matter rather to be suspected than proved: or do they not rather spend their time in deep and sheltered vales near waters, where insects are more likely to be found? Certain it is that hardly any individuals of this genus have at such times been seen for several days together. September 13, 1791. The congregating flocks of Hirundines on the church and tower are very beautiful and amusing! When they fly off all together from the roof, on any alarm, they quite swarm in the air. But they soon settle in heaps, and preening their feathers, and lifting up their wings to admit the sun, seem highly to enjoy the warm situation. Thus they spend the heat of the day, preparing for their emigration, and, as it were, consulting when and where they are to go. The flight about the church seems to consist chiefly of house martins, about four hundred in number; but there are other places of rendezvous about the village frequented at the same time. It is remarkable that though most of them sit on the battlements and roof, yet many hang or cling for some time by their claws against the surface of the walls, in a manner not practised by them at any other time of their remaining with us. The swallows seem to delight more in holding their assemblies on trees. November 3, 1789. Two swallows were seen this morning at Newton vicarage-house, hovering and settling on the roofs and out-buildings. None have been observed at Selborne since October 11. It is very remarkable that after the Hirundines have disappeared for some weeks, a few are occasionally seen again, sometimes in the first week in November, and that only for one day. Do they not withdraw and slumber in some hiding-place during the interval? for we cannot suppose they had migrated to warmer climes, and so returned again for one day. Is it not more probable that they are awakened from sleep, and, like the bats, are come forth to collect a little food? Bats appear at all seasons through the autumn and spring months, when the thermometer is at 50°, because then moths, Phalana, are stirring. These swallows looked like young ones.1 WAGTAILS. WHILE the cows are feeding in moist low pastures, broods of wagtails, white and gray,' run round them close up to their noses, and under their very bellies, availing themselves of the flies that settle on their legs, and probably finding worms and larvæ that are roused by the trampling of their feet. Nature is such an economist, that the most incongruous animals can avail themselves of each other! Interest makes strange friendships.3 WRYNECK. THESE birds appear on the grassplots and walks: they walk a little as well as hop, and thrust their bills into the turf, in 1 Of their migration the proofs are such as will scarcely admit of a doubt. Sir Charles Wager and Captain Wright saw vast flocks of them at sea, when on their passage from one country to another. Our author, Mr. White, saw what he deemed the actual migration of these birds, and which he has described in his History of Selborne, [see Letter XXIII. to Pennant, p. 78.-ED.] and of their congregating together on the roofs of churches and other buildings, and on trees, previous to their departure, many instances occur; particularly I once observed a large flock of house martins on the roof of the church here at Catsfield, which acted exactly in the manner here described by Mr. White, sometimes preening their feathers and spreading their wings to the sun, and then flying off all together, but soon returning to their former situation. The greatest part of these birds seemed to be young ones.-MARKWICK. 2 This is the bird previously called the yellow wagtail in Letter XIII. to Pennant. See page 47, note 4.-ED. 3 Birds continually avail themselves of particular and unusual circumstances to procure their food; thus wagtails keep playing about the noses and legs of cattle as they feed, in quest of flies and other insects which abound near those animals, and great numbers of them will follow close to the plough to devour the worms, &c., that are turned up by that instrument. The redbreast attends the gardener when digging his borders, and will, with great familiarity and tameness, pick out the worms almost close to his spade, as I have frequently seen. Starlings and magpies very often sit on the backs of sheep and deer to pick out their ticks.-MARKWICK. quest, I conclude, of ants, which are their food. While they hold their bills in the grass, they draw out their prey with their tongues, which are so long as to be coiled round their heads. HAWFINCH OR GROSBEAK. MR. B. shot a cock grosbeak, which he had observed to haunt his garden for more than a fortnight. I began to accuse this bird of making sad havoc among the buds of the cherries, gooseberries, and wall-fruit of all the neighbouring orchards. Upon opening its crop or craw, no buds were to be seen, but a mass of kernels of the stones of fruits. Mr. B. observed that this bird frequented the spot where plum trees grow, and that he had seen it with somewhat hard in its mouth, which it broke with difficulty: these were the stones of damsons. The Latin ornithologists call this bird Coccothraustes, i.e. berry-breaker, because with its large horny beak it cracks and breaks the shells of stone fruits for the sake of the seed or kernel. Birds of this sort are rarely seen in England, and only in winter.1 OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND INSECTS IN GENERAL. : HE day and night insects occupy the annuals alternately the Papilios, Musco, and Apes are succeeded at the close of the day by Phalana, earwigs, woodlice, &c. In the dusk of the evening, when beetles begin to buz, partridges begin to call; these two circumstances are exactly coincident. I I have never seen this rare bird but during the severest cold of the hardest winters, at which season of the year I have had in my possession two or three that were killed in this neighbourhood in different years.MARKWICK. Of late years this species has become much commoner in England, Ivy is the last flower that supports the hymenopterous and dipterous insects. On sunny days, quite on to November, they swarm on trees covered with this plant; and when they disappear, probably retire under the shelter of its leaves, concealing themselves between its fibres and the trees which it entwines.1 Spiders, woodlice, Lepisma in cupboards and among sugar, some Empides, gnats, flies of several species, some Phalance in hedges, earthworms, &c., are stirring at all times, when winters are mild; and are of great service to those soft-billed birds that never leave us. On every sunny day the winter through, clouds of insects, usually called gnats (I suppose Tipula and Empides) appear sporting and dancing over the tops of the evergreen trees in the shrubbery, and frisking about as if the business of generation was still going on. Hence it appears that these Diptera (which by their sizes appear to be of different species) are not subject to a torpid state in the winter as most winged insects are. At night, and in frosty weather, and when it rains and blows, they seem to retire into those trees. They often are out in a fog." 2 HUMMING IN THE AIR. THERE is a natural occurrence to be met with upon the highest part of our down in hot summer days, which always amuses me much, without giving me any satisfaction with respect to the cause of it; and that is a loud audible humming of bees in the air, though not one insect is to be seen. This sound is to be heard distinctly the whole common through, from the Money-dells, to Mr. White's avenue gate. Any person would suppose that a large swarm of bees was Jesting now in many counties where formerly it was chiefly observed & a winter visitant. Cf. “Handbook of British Birds,” p. 29.-Ed. 1 This I have often observed, having seen bees and other winged insects swarming about the flowers of the ivy very late in the autumn. -MARKWICK. 2 This I have also seen, and have frequently observed swarms of little winged insects playing up and down in the air in the middle of winter, even when the ground has been covered with snow.-MARKWICK. in motion, and playing about over his head. This noise was heard last week, on June 28th. "Resounds the living surface of the ground, Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum "Thick in yon stream of light a thousand ways, CHAFERS. COCKCHAFERS seldom abound oftener than once in three or four years; when they swarm they deface the trees and hedges. Whole woods of oaks are stripped bare by them. Chafers are eaten by the turkey, the rook, and the house sparrow. The Scarabaeus solstitialis first appears about June 26; they are very punctual in their coming out every year. They are a small species, about half the size of the May chafer, and are known in some parts by the name of the fern chafer.1 PTINUS PECTINICORNIS. THOSE maggots that make worm holes in tables, chairs, bedposts, &c., and destroy wooden furniture, especially where there is any sap, are the larvæ of the Ptinus pectinicornis. This insect, it is probable, deposits its eggs on the surface, and the worms eat their way in. In their holes they turn into their pupa state, and so come forth winged in July; eating their way through the valances or curtains of a bed, or any other furniture that happens to obstruct their passage. 1 A singular circumstance relative to the cockchafer, or, as it is called here, the May-bug, Scarabæus melolontha, happened this year (1800):— My gardener in digging some ground found, about six inches under the surface, two of these insects alive and perfectly formed so early a the 24th of March. When he brought them to me, they appeared t be as perfect and as much alive as in the midst of summer, crawling about as briskly as ever: yet I saw no more of this insect till the 22nd of May, when it began to make its appearance. How comes it, that though it was perfectly formed so early as the 24th of March, it did not show itself above ground till nearly two months afterwards ?—MARK WICK |