several other small birds, but cannot bring them to any criterion.

As I have often remarked that redwings are some of the first birds that suffer with us in severe weather, it is no wonder at all that they retreat from Scandinavian winters; and much more the ordo of gralla, who all, to a bird, forsake the northern parts of Europe at the approach of winter. "Gralle tanquam conjurata unanimiter in fugam se conjiciunt; ne earum unicam quidem inter nos habitantem invenire possimus; ut enim æstate in australibus degere nequeunt ob defectum lumbricorum, terramque siccam; ita nec in frigidis ob eandem causam,' ," "The gralla, as if by agreement, take flight, nor can we find one residing here; for as, during summer, the deficiency of earth-worms and the hardness of the ground prevents them from abiding in hot countries; so neither can they dwell in cold climes, for the same reason,' says Ekmarck, the Swede, in his ingenious little treatise called Migrationes Avium, which, by all means, you ought to read, while your thoughts run on the subject of migration.— See Amanitates Academicæ, vol. iv. p. 565.

Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to migrate in one country, and not in another; but the gralle (which procure their food from marshes and boggy ground,) must, in winter, forsake the more northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want of food.

I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnæus concerning the woodcock; it is expected of him that he should be able to account for the motions and manner of life of the animals of his own Fauna.

Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare descriptions, and a few synonymes: the reason is plain, because all that may be done at home in a man's study; but the investigation of the life and conversation of animals is a concern of much more trouble and difficulty, and is not to be attained but by the active and inquisitive, and by those that reside much in the country.

Foreign systematists are, I observe, much too vague in their specific differences; which are almost universally constituted by one or two particular marks, the rest of the description running in general terms. But our countryman, the excellent Mr. Ray, is the only describer that conveys

some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his superiority over his followers and imitators, in spite of the advantage of fresh discoveries and modern information.

At this distance of years, it is not in my power to recollect at what periods woodcocks used to be sluggish or alert, when I was a sportsman; but, upon my mentioning this circumstance to a friend, he thinks he has observed them to be remarkably listless against snowy, foul weather; if this should be the case, then the inaptitude for flying arises only from an eagerness for food, as sheep are observed to be very intent on grazing against stormy wet evenings.

LETTER XLVI.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

September, 1771. DEAR SIR,-The summer through, I have seen but two of that large species of bat which I call vespertilio altivolans, from its manner of feeding high in the air. I procured one of them, and found it to be a male, and made no doubt, as they accompanied together, that the other was a female; but happening, in an evening or two, to procure the other likewise, I was somewhat disappointed when it appeared to be also of the same sex. This circumstance, and the great scarcity of this sort, at least in these parts, occasions some suspicions in my mind whether it is really a species, or whether it may not be the male part of the more known species, one of which may supply many females, as is known to be the case in sheep, and some other quadrupeds. But this doubt can only be cleared by a farther examination, and some attention to the sex, of more specimens. All that I know at present is, that my two were amply furnished with the parts of generation, much resembling those of a boar.

In the extent of their wings, they measured fourteen inches and a half, and four inches and a half from the nose to the tip of the tail: their heads were large, their nostrils

bilobated, their shoulders broad and muscular, and their whole bodies fleshy and plump. Nothing could be more sleek and soft than their fur, which was of a bright chestnut colour; their maws were full of food, but so macerated, that the quality could not be distinguished; their livers, kidneys, and hearts, were large, and their bowels covered with fat. They weighed each, when entire, full one ounce and one drachm. Within the ear, there was somewhat of a peculiar structure that I did not understand perfectly; but refer it to the observation of the curious anatomist. These creatures send forth a very rancid and offensive smell.

LETTER XLVII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, 1771. DEAR SIR,-On the twelfth of July, I had a fair opportu nity of contemplating the motions of the caprimulgus, or fern-owl, as it was playing round a large oak that swarmed with scarabai solstitiales, or fern-chafers.* The powers of its wing were wonderful, exceeding, if possible, the various evolutions and quick turns of the swallow genus. But the circumstance that pleased me most was, that I saw it distinctly more than once put out its short leg when on the wing, and, by a bend of the head, deliver somewhat into its mouth. If it takes any part of its prey with its foot, as I

Several species of phalana live upon the oak; but one, the phalœna viridana of Donovan's British Insects, and which also appears to have been <nown to Mr. White, does considerable damage among the young oak copses .n Scotland, while in the larva state. In the summer of 1828, and again in that of 1829, I met with this species in immense profusion about Inverary, and near Loch Katrine, where many hundred acres of oak copse appeared as in early spring, with the leaves much destroyed by this insect. This must undoubtedly check the growth, and, of course, when so extensively dispersed, be of some consequence to the proprietor. Though White describes it as phalana quercus, it is undoubtedly this species which he means.-W. J.

+ Titmice do the same. I have frequently observed them to catch bees

with their feet.-ED.

L

have now the greatest reason to suppose it does these chafers, I no longer wonder at the use of its middle toe, which is curiously furnished with a serrated claw.

Swallows and martins, the bulk of them, I mean, have forsaken us sooner this year than usual; for, on September the 22nd, they rendezvoused in a neighbour's walnut tree, where it seemed probable they had taken up their lodgings for the night. At the dawn of the day, which was foggy, they rose all together in infinite numbers, occasioning such a rushing from the strokes of their wings against the hazy air, as might be heard to a considerable distance; since that, no flock has appeared, only a few stragglers.

Some swifts staid late, till the 22nd of August; a rare instance! for they usually withdraw within the first week.* On September the 24th, three or four ring-ousels appeared in my fields for the first time this season. How punctual are these visitors in their autumnal and spring migrations!

LETTER XLVIII.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, February 8, 1772.

DEAR SIR,-When I ride about in winter, and see such prodigious flocks of various kinds of birds,† I cannot help admiring at these congregations, and wishing that it was in my power to account for those appearances, almost peculiar

*See Letter XCVII. to the Hon. Daines Barrington.

Mr. Bennett seems to think that the flocking of birds in winter is occasioned by hunger. Starlings, finches, linnets, and other birds, however, flock early in the autumn when food is plentiful. I have always thought, however, that birds flock by a benevolent arrangement of Providence, for selfpreservation. Whenever they are gregarious, they are much more easily alarmed than when there are only a few together. Thus it is well known to sportsmen that when partridges and grouse assemble in large packs, it is very difficult to get within shot of them. Besides many gregarious birds, such as rooks, wood-pigeons, &c., plant sentinels on a tree who give an alarm when danger is apprehended. Large flocks of wild geese and ducks are generally very wild. ED.

to the season. The two great motives which regulate the proceedings of the brute creation are love and hunger; the former incites animals to perpetuate their kind, the latter Induces them to preserve individuals. Whether either of these should seem to be the ruling passion in the matter of congregating, is to be considered. As to love, that is out of the question at a time of the year when that soft passion is not indulged; besides, during the amorous season, such a jealousy prevails between the male birds, that they can hardly bear to be together in the same hedge or field. Most of the singing and elation of spirits at that time seem to me to be the effect of rivalry and emulation; and it is to this spirit of jealousy that I chiefly attribute the equal dispersion of birds in the spring over the face of the country.

Now as to the business of food. As these animals are actuated by instinct to hunt for necessary food, they should not, one would suppose, crowd together in pursuit of sustenance, at a time when it is most likely to fail; yet such associations do take place in hard weather chiefly, and thicken as the severity increases. As some kind of self-interest and self-defence is, no doubt, the motive for the proceeding, may it not arise from the helplessness of their state in such rigorous seasons; as men crowd together, when under great calamities, though they know not why? Perhaps approximation may dispel some degree of cold: and a crowd may make each individual appear safer from the ravages of birds of prey, and other dangers.

If I admire when I see how much congenerous birds love to congregate, I am the more struck when I see incongruous ones in such strict amity. If we do not much wonder to see a flock of rooks usually attended by a train of daws, yet it is strange that the former should so frequently have a flight of starlings for their satellites.* Is it because rooks have a more discerning scent than their attendants, and can lead them to spots more productive of food? Anatomists say that rooks, by reason of two large nerves which run down

Mr. White says it is strange that rooks and starlings accompany each other, but this is the case with other birds. The short-eared owl often accompanies flights of woodcocks in this country. In Greece, the cuckoo migrates with the turtle-flocks; thence they are called trigonokracti, or turt-leader.-REV. J. MITFORD.