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live exactly the same life with the swallow and housemartin, should leave us before the middle of August invariably while the latter stay often till the middle. of October; and once I saw numbers of housemartins on the 7th of November. The martins and redwing fieldfares were flying in sight together; an uncommon assemblage of summer and winter birds!

A little yellow bird (it is either a species of the alauda trivialis, or rather, perhaps, of motacilla trochilus,) still continues to make a sibilous shivering noise in the tops of tall woods. The stoparola1 of Ray (for which we have as yet no name in these

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parts) is called, in your Zoology, the FLY-CATCHER. There is one circumstance characteristic of this bird, which seems to have escaped observation; and that

1 Mr. Rennie states that it is called in the county of Kent the "Post-bird," from the habit alluded to in the text.-T. B.

is, it takes its stand on the top of some stake or post, from whence it springs forth on its prey, catching a fly in the air, and hardly ever touching the ground, but returning still to the same stand for many times together.

I perceive there are more than one species of the motacilla trochilus: Mr. Derham supposes, in Ray's Philosophical Letters, that he has discovered three. In these, there is again an instance of some very common birds that have as yet no English name.

or not.

Mr. Stillingfleet makes a question whether the blackcap (motacilla atricapilla) be a bird of passage I think there is no doubt of it; for in April, in the first fine weather, they come trooping all at once into these parts, but are never seen in the winter. They are delicate songsters.

Numbers of snipes build every summer in some moory ground on the verge of this parish. It is very amusing to see the cock bird on wing at that time, and to hear his piping and humming notes.

I have had no opportunity yet of procuring any of those mice which I mentioned to you in town. The person that brought me the last says they are plenty in harvest, at which time I will take care to get more; and will endeavour to put the matter out of doubt whether it be a nondescript species or not. I suspect much there may be two species of WATERRATS. Ray says, and Linnæus after him, that the

1 It is very probable that this suspicion arose from the fact that the common brown rat (Mus decumanus) takes water readily, and swims with considerable facility. The true water-rat (Arvicola amphibius) continued until very recently to haunt the stream before the church at Selborne.-T. B.

water-rat is web-footed behind. Now I have discovered a rat on the banks of our little stream that is not web-footed, and yet is an excellent swimmer and diver: it answers exactly to the mus amphibius, (See Syst. Nat.) which he says, "natat in fossis et urinatur."

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I should be glad to procure one "plantis palmatis." Linnæus seems to be in a puzzle about his mus amphibius, and to doubt whether it differs from his mus terrestris; which, if it be, as he allows, the "mus agrestis capite grandi brachyuros" of Ray, is widely different from the water-rat, both in size, make, and manner of life.

As to the falco, which I mentioned in town, I shall take the liberty to send it down to you into Wales; presuming on your candour, that you will excuse me if it should appear as familiar to you as it is strange

to me. Though mutilated, "qualem dices... ante hac fuisse, tales cum sint reliquiæ!"

It haunted a marshy piece of ground in quest of wild ducks and snipes; but, when it was shot, had just knocked down a rook, which it was tearing in pieces. I cannot make it answer to any of our English hawks; neither could I find any like it at the curious exhibition of stuffed birds in Spring Gardens. I found it nailed up at the end of a barn, which is the countryman's museum.

The parish I live in is a very abrupt, uneven country, full of hills and woods, and therefore full of birds.

LETTER XI.

Selborne, September 9, 1767.

IT will not be without impatience that I shall wait for your thoughts with regard to the falco: as to its weight, breadth, &c., I wish I had set them down at the time; but to the best of my remembrance, it weighed two pounds and eight ounces, and measured, from wing to wing, thirty-eight inches. Its cere and feet were yellow, and the circle of its eyelids a bright yellow. As it had been killed some days, and the eyes were sunk, I could make no good observation on the colour of the pupils and the irides.

The most unusual birds I ever observed in these parts were a pair of HOOPOES (upupa), which came several years ago in the summer, and frequented an ornamented piece of ground, which joins to my garden, for some weeks. They used to march about in

a stately manner, feeding in the walks, many times in the day, and seemed disposed to build in my outlet;

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but were frighted and persecuted by idle boys, who never let them be at rest.1

Three grossbeaks (loxia coccothraustes) appeared some years ago in my fields, in the winter; one of which I shot. Since that, now and then, one is occasionally seen in the same dead season.2

1 A pair of hoopoes made their appearance some years since on the lawn of the Parsonage at Newton Valence; and one was seen by the present Editor on the new road by Norton Farm, in the spring of 1854.-T. B.

2 From Miscellaneous Observations. "Mr. B. shot a cock grossbeak, 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

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