A great ash-coloured* butcher-bird was shot last winter in Tisted Park, and a red-backed butcher-bird at Selborne. They are rare aves in this country. Crows go in pairs the whole year round. Cornish choughs abound, and breed on Beechy Head, and on all the cliffs of the Sussex coast. The common wild pigeon, or stock-dove, is a bird of passage in the south of England, seldom appearing till towards the end of November; || is usually the latest winter bird of passage. Before our beechen woods were so much destroyed, we had myriads of them, reaching in strings for a mile together, as they went out in a morning to feed. They leave us early in spring: where do they breed? The people of Hampshire and Sussex call the missel-bird ¶ the storm-cock, because it sings early in the spring, in blowing, after carrying a short distance, he probably drops, or yields up to the bald eagle, (falco leucocephalus,) and again ascends by easy spiral circles, to the higher regions of the air, where he glides about in all the ease and majesty of his species. At once, from this sublime aërial height, he descends like a perpendicular torrent, plunging into the sea with a loud rushing sound, and with the certainty of a rifle. In a few moments, he emerges, bearing in his claws his struggling prey, which he always carries head foremost; and, having risen a few feet above the surface, shakes himself as a water spaniel would do, and directs his heavy and laborious course straightway to the land." Mr Lloyd mentions, that in Sweden, the eagle sometimes strikes so large a pike, and so firmly do his talons hold their grasp, that he is carried under water by the superior gravity of the pike, and drowned. Dr Mullenbog says, he himself saw an enormous pike with an eagle fixed to its back by his talons, lying dead on a piece of ground which had been overflowed by a river, and from which the water had subsided. This naturalist also gives an account of a conflict between an eagle and a pike, which a gentleman saw on the river Gotha, near Wenersborg. In this case, when the eagle first seized the pike, he soared a short distance into the air, but the weight and struggling of the fish together, soon obliged the eagle to descend. Both fell into the water and disappeared. Presently, however, the eagle again came to the surface, uttering the most piercing cries, and making apparently every endeavour to extricate his talons, but in vain; and, after a violent struggle, was carried under water. Montagu tell us, an osprey was seen to stoop and carry off a half-grown duck from the surface of the water, at Slapton Ley. In the struggle, the duck fell from the talons of the eagle, but was recovered before it reached the water. Ed. *British Zoology, vol. i. p. 161. See our note, p. 112.-ED. + Ibid. p. 167. MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 137 showery weather. Its song often commences with the year: with us it builds much in orchards. A gentleman assures me he has taken the nests of ringousels * on Dartmoor: they build in banks on the sides of streams. Titlarks not only sing sweetly as they sit on trees, but also as they play and toy about on the wing; and particularly while they are descending, and sometimes as they stand on the ground. + Adanson's testimony seems to me to be a very poor evidence that European swallows migrate during our winter to Senegal; he does not talk at all like an ornithologist, and probably saw only the swallows of that country, which I know build within Governor O'Hara's hall against the roof. Had he known European swallows, would he not have mentioned the species? The house-swallow washes by dropping into the water as it flies; this species appears commonly about a week before the house-marten, and about ten or twelve days before the swift. In 1772, there were young house-martens || in their nest till October the 23d. The swift appears about ten or twelve days later than the house-swallow; viz. about the 24th or 26th of April. Whin-chats ** and stone-chatters †† stay with us the whole year. Some wheatears ‡‡ continue with us the winter through. §§ Wagtails, all sorts, remain with us all the winter. |||| *British Zoology, vol. i. p. 229. + Ibid. vol. ii. p. 237. This must have been the tree pipet, anthus arboreus, as the titlark generally sits on the ground.- ED. $ British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 242. Ibid. p. 244. ¶Ibid. p. 245. This is a migratory species, appearing in Britain about the middle of April. — ED. tt British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 270, 271. ‡‡ Ibid. p. 269. $$ Wheatears are migratory, and some few do remain. Montagu mentions the fact, and Mr Sweet says, "I observed a pair on the 17th November, near the gravel pit in Hyde-Park, which were quite lively, and flying about after the insects, as brisk as if it had been the middle of summer. They generally migrate in September. - ED. There are three species of wagtails in Britain,-the pied, gray, and yellow. The pied wagtail is to be found in the south of England, during the whole year; but, in the northern parts, it is migratory, retiring to the southward about the middle of October, and returning to the north about the beginning of March. The gray wagtail is only known Bullfinches,* when fed on hempseed, often become wholly black. We have vast flocks of female chaffinches † all the winter, with hardly any males among them. When you say that, in breeding time, the cock snipes make a bleating noise, and a drumming, (perhaps I should have rather said a humming,) I suspect we mean the same thing. However, while they are playing about on the wing, they certainly make a loud piping with their mouths; but whether that bleating or humming is ventriloquous, or proceeds from the motion of their wings, I cannot say; but this I know, that when this noise happens, the bird is always descending, and his wings are violently agitated. Soon after the lapwings § have done breeding, they congregate, and, leaving the moors and marshes, betake themselves to downs and sheep walks. Two years ago last spring, the little auk was found alive and unhurt, but fluttering and unable to rise, in a lane a few miles from Alresford, where there is a great lake; it was kept a while, but died. I saw young teals ¶ taken alive in the ponds of Wolmer Forest in the beginning of July last, along with flappers, or young wild ducks. Speaking of the swift, ** that page says, "its drink the dew;" whereas it should be, "it drinks on the wing;" for all the swallow kind sip their water as they sweep over the face of pools or rivers: like Virgil's bees, they drink flying,-“ flumina summa libant." In this method of drinking, perhaps this genus may be peculiar. Of the sedge-bird, ++ be pleased to say, it sings most part of the night; its notes are hurrying, but not unpleasing, and imitative of several birds, as the sparrow, swallow, skylark. ‡‡ as an equatorial migrant in the southern counties of England, but is a regular summer visitant in the northern parts of the kingdom, arriving in April, and departing in the end of September, or beginning of October. The yellow wagtail, motacilla flava of Linnæus, is also migratory, appearing about the end of March: it leaves Britain in September, in search of a warmer residence for winter. - ED. * British Zoology, vol. ii. P. 300. Ibid. p. 358. § Ibid. p. 360. Ibid. p. 475. ** Ibid. p. 15. + Ibid. p. 306. Ibid. p. 409. ++ lbid. p. 16. ft In Loudon's Magazine, a correspondent says, "The sedge-bird has a variety of notes, which partake of that of the skylark and the swallow, When it happens to be silent in the night, by throwing a stone or clod into the bushes where it sits, you immediately set it a-singing, or, in other words, though it slumbers sometimes, yet, as soon as it is awakened, it reassumes its song. It will be proper to premise here, that the fifty-fifth, fifty-seventh, fifty-ninth, and sixty-first letters have been published already in the Philosophical Transactions; but, as nicer observation has furnished several corrections and additions, it is hoped that the republication of them will not give offence; especially as these sheets would be very imperfect without them, and as they will be new to many readers who had no opportunity of seeing them when they made their first appearance. LETTER LV. TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. SELBORNE, November, 20, 1773. DEAR SIR,-In obedience to your injunctions, I sit down to give you some account of the house-marten, or martlet; and, if my monography of this little domestic and familiar bird should happen to meet with your approbation, I may probably soon extend my inquiries to the rest of the British hirundines, the swallow, the swift, and the bank-marten. A few house-martens begin to appear about the 16th of April; usually some few days later than the swallow. For some time after they appear, the hirundines in general pay no attention to the business of nidification, but play and sport about, either to recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if as well as that of the house-sparrow. I have heard it imitate, in succession, (intermixed with its own note of chur chur,) the swallow, the house-marten, the greenfinch, the chaffinch, and lesser redpole, the redstart, the willow-wren, the whinchat, the pied and spring wagtails; yet its imitations are confined to the notes of alarm of these birds, and so exactly does it imitate them, both in tone and modulation, that, if it were to confine itself to one, (no matter which,) and not interlard the wailings of the little redpole and the shrieks of the marten, with the curses of the house-sparrow, and the twink twink of the chaffinch, and its own carefor-nought chatter, the most practised ear would not detect the difference. After being silent for a while, it often begins with the chur chur of the sparrow, so exactly imitated, in every respect, that, were it not for what follows, no one would suppose it to be any other bird. It is called the mocking bird here, (Lancashire,) and it well deserves the name; for it is a real scoffer at the sorrows of other birds, which it laughs to scorn, and turns into ridicule, by parodying them so exactly."—ED. they do migrate at all, or else that their blood may recover its true tone and texture after it has been so long benumbed by the severities of winter.* About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, the marten begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion for its family. The crust, or shell, of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought together with little bits of broken straws, to render it tough and tenacious. As this bird often builds against a perpendicular wall, without any projecting ledge under it, it requires its utmost efforts to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it may safely carry the superstructure. On this occasion the bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a fulcrum; and, thus steadied, it works and plasters the materials into the face of the brick or stone. But then, that this work may not, while it is soft and green, pull itself-down by its own weight, the provident architect has prudence and forbearance enough not to advance her work too fast; but, by building only in the morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About half an inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus, careful workmen, when they build mud-walls, (informed at first, perhaps, by this little bird,) raise but a moderate layer at a time, and then desist; lest the work should become topheavy, and so be ruined by its own weight. By this method, in about ten or twelve days, is formed an hemispheric nest, with a small aperture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm; and perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. But then, nothing is more common than for the house-sparrow, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it as its own, to eject the owner, and to line it after its own manner.† After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as *We are surprised to find that the more our author seems to have investigated the subject of swallows and their congeners, the greater is his leaning to the side of their hybernation. We need only again refer to our notes at pages 22 and 30. The ancient authors all speak of their migratory habits. From a passage in the Birds of Aristophanes, we are told that the swallow pointed out the time to dress in summer attire: and agreeable to the Greek calendar of Flora, which was kept at Athens by Theophrastus, the Ornithian winds blow, and the swallow arrives, between the 28th February and the 12th March. - ED. See our note at page 88. ED. |