Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

10. Titlark,

11. Blackbird,

12. White-throat, 13. Goldfinch,

14. Greenfinch,

15. Less reed-sparrow, {

16. Common linnet,

Hirundo domestica.

Atricapilla.

Alauda pratorum.

Merula vulgaris.

Ficedula affinis.

Carduelis.

Chloris.

J Passer arundina-
ceus minor,

Linaria vulgaris.

on

[In February, and to October.

From April to September.

Beginning

of April

July the 13th.

to

From middle of April to
July the 16th.
Sometimes in February
and March, and so on to
July the 23d; re-assumes
in autumn.

In April, and on to July
the 23rd.

April, and through to September the 16th.

On to July and August
the 2nd.

May, on to beginning of
July.

Breeds and whistles on till

August; re-assumes 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 :

[blocks in formation]

Birds that sing for a short time, and very early in the

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Birds that have somewhat of a note or song, and yet are hardly to be called singing birds :

-

[blocks in formation]

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:

[blocks in formation]

Birds that sing as they fly are but few:

[blocks in formation]

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.

LETTER XXVIII.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, Dec. 8, 1769.

DEAR SIR,-I 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 Highlands cold, and northerly, and sequestered enough, is a cifcumstance still more strange and wonderful. The ring-ousel, you find, stays in Scotland the whole year round; so that we have reason to conclude that those migrators that visit us for a short space every autumn, do not come from thence.

And here, I think, will be the proper place to mention, that those birds were most punctual again in their migration this autumn, appearing, as before, about the 30th of September; but their flocks were larger than common, and their stay protracted somewhat beyond the usual time. If they came to spend the whole winter with us, as some of their congeners do, and then left us, as they do, in spring, I should not be so much struck with the occurrence, since it

would be similar to that of the other winter birds of passage; but when I see them for a fortnight at Michaelmas, and again for about a week in the middle of April, I am seized with wonder, and long to be informed whence these travellers come, and whither they go, since they seem to use our hills merely as an inn, or baiting place.

Your account of the greater brambling, or snow-fleck, is very amusing; and strange it is that such a short-winged bird should delight in such perilous voyages over the northern ocean! Some country people in the winter time have every now and then told me that they have seen two or three white larks on our downs; but, on considering the matter, I begin to suspect that these are some stragglers of the birds we are talking of, which sometimes, perhaps, may rove so far to the southward.*

It pleases me to find that white hares are so frequent on the Scottish mountains, and especially as you inform me that it is a distinct species; for the quadrupeds of Britain are so few, that every new species is a great acquisition.

The eagle-owl,† could it be proved to belong to us, is so majestic a bird, that it would grace our fauna much. I never was informed before where wild geese are known to breed.

You admit, I find, that I have proved your fen salicaria to be the lesser reed-sparrow of Ray; and I think you may be secure that I am right; for I took very particular pains to clear up that matter, and had some fair specimens; but as they were not well preserved they are decayed already. You will, no doubt, insert it in its proper place in your next edition. Your additional plates will much improve, your work.

* In the snow-fleck, which is now separated from the buntings, and, with the Lapland finch, forms the genus plectrophanes of Meyer and modern ornithologists, the wings are of considerable length, fitting them for more extensive journeys than the true emberiza.-W. J.

This is now admitted into the British Fauna, having been killed at different times in various parts of Great Britain.-W. J. Mr. Bennett says it has been shot in Yorkshire and Suffolk as well as in Scotland.

Under the term "wild geese," four or five species are generally included. They used to breed in the fens of Lincolnshire, but improvements in agricul ture have driven them from that locality. They now probably breed much in Sweden, but not far inland.-Ed.

« PreviousContinue »