The Natural History of Selborne [22]
and when undisturbed, it sings on the top of a twig, gaping and shivering with its wings. Mr. Ray himself had no knowledge of this bird, but received his account from Mr. Johnson, who apparently confounds it with the reguli non cristati, from which it is very distinct. See Ray's Philosophical Letters, p. 108.
The fly-catcher (stoparola) has not yet appeared: it usually breeds in my vine. The redstart begins to sing: its note is short and imperfect, but is continued till about the middle of June. The willow-wrens (the smaller sort) are horrid pests in a garden, destroying the pease, cherries, currants, etc., and are so tame that a gun will not scare them.
A List of the summer birds of passage discovered in this neighbourhood, ranged somewhat in the order in which they appear: Smallest willow-wren, Linnaei Nomina Motacilla trochilus. Wryneck, Lynx torquilla. House-swallow, Hirundo rustica. Martin, Hirundo urbica. Sand-martin, Hirundo riparia . Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus. Nightingale, Motacilla luscinia. Black-cap, Motacilla atricapilla. White-throat, Motacilla sylvia. Middle willow-wren, Motacilla trochilus. Swift, Hirundo apus. Stone curlew? Charadrius oedicnemus? Turtle-dove? Turtur aldrovandi? Grasshopper-lark, Alauda trivialis. Landrail, Rallus crex. Largest willow-wren, Motacilla trochilus. Redstart, Motacilla phoenicurus. Goat-sucker, or fern-owl, Caprimulgus europaeus. Fly-catcher, Muscicapa grisola.
My countrymen talk much of a bird that makes a clatter with its bill against a dead bough, or some old pales, calling it a jar-bird. I procured one to be shot in the very fact; it proved to be the sitta europaea (the nut-hatch). Mr. Ray says that the less spotted woodpecker does the same. This noise may be heard a furlong or more.
Now is the only time to ascertain the short-winged summer birds; for, when the leaf is out, there is no making any remarks on such a restless tribe; and, when once the young begin to appear, it is all confusion: there is no distinction of genus, species, or sex.
In breeding-time snipes play over the moors, piping and humming: they always hum as they are descending. Is not their hum ventriloquous like that of a turkey? Some suspect it is made by their wings.
This morning I saw the golden-crowned wren, whose crown glitters like burnished gold. It often hangs lice a titmouse, with its back downwards.
Yours, etc., etc.
Letter XVII To Thomas Pennant, Esquire
Selborne, June 18, 1768.
Dear Sir,
On Wednesday last arrived your agreeable letter of June the 10th. It gives me great satisfaction to find that you pursue these studies still with such vigour, and are in such forwardness with regard to reptiles and fishes.
The reptiles, few as they are, I am not acquainted with, so well as I could wish, with regard to their natural history. There is a degree of dubiousness and obscurity attending the propagation of this class
The fly-catcher (stoparola) has not yet appeared: it usually breeds in my vine. The redstart begins to sing: its note is short and imperfect, but is continued till about the middle of June. The willow-wrens (the smaller sort) are horrid pests in a garden, destroying the pease, cherries, currants, etc., and are so tame that a gun will not scare them.
A List of the summer birds of passage discovered in this neighbourhood, ranged somewhat in the order in which they appear: Smallest willow-wren, Linnaei Nomina Motacilla trochilus. Wryneck, Lynx torquilla. House-swallow, Hirundo rustica. Martin, Hirundo urbica. Sand-martin, Hirundo riparia . Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus. Nightingale, Motacilla luscinia. Black-cap, Motacilla atricapilla. White-throat, Motacilla sylvia. Middle willow-wren, Motacilla trochilus. Swift, Hirundo apus. Stone curlew? Charadrius oedicnemus? Turtle-dove? Turtur aldrovandi? Grasshopper-lark, Alauda trivialis. Landrail, Rallus crex. Largest willow-wren, Motacilla trochilus. Redstart, Motacilla phoenicurus. Goat-sucker, or fern-owl, Caprimulgus europaeus. Fly-catcher, Muscicapa grisola.
My countrymen talk much of a bird that makes a clatter with its bill against a dead bough, or some old pales, calling it a jar-bird. I procured one to be shot in the very fact; it proved to be the sitta europaea (the nut-hatch). Mr. Ray says that the less spotted woodpecker does the same. This noise may be heard a furlong or more.
Now is the only time to ascertain the short-winged summer birds; for, when the leaf is out, there is no making any remarks on such a restless tribe; and, when once the young begin to appear, it is all confusion: there is no distinction of genus, species, or sex.
In breeding-time snipes play over the moors, piping and humming: they always hum as they are descending. Is not their hum ventriloquous like that of a turkey? Some suspect it is made by their wings.
This morning I saw the golden-crowned wren, whose crown glitters like burnished gold. It often hangs lice a titmouse, with its back downwards.
Yours, etc., etc.
Letter XVII To Thomas Pennant, Esquire
Selborne, June 18, 1768.
Dear Sir,
On Wednesday last arrived your agreeable letter of June the 10th. It gives me great satisfaction to find that you pursue these studies still with such vigour, and are in such forwardness with regard to reptiles and fishes.
The reptiles, few as they are, I am not acquainted with, so well as I could wish, with regard to their natural history. There is a degree of dubiousness and obscurity attending the propagation of this class