A gentleman, curious in birds, wrote me word that his servant had shot one last January, in that severe weather, which he believed would puzzle me. I called to see it this summer, not knowing what to expect: but the moment I took it in hand, I pronounced it the male garrulus bohemicus, or German silk-tail, from the five peculiar crimson tags, or points which it carries at the ends of five of the short remiges. It cannot, I suppose, with any propriety, be called an English bird; and yet I see by Ray's Philosophical Letters that great flocks of them, feeding on haws, appeared in this kingdom in the winter of 1685.*

The mention of haws puts me in mind that there is a total failure of that wild fruit, so conducive to the support of many of the winged nation. For the same severe weather, late in the spring, which cut off all the produce of the more tender and curious trees, destroyed also that of the more hardy and common.

Some birds, haunting with the missel-thrushes, and feeding on the berries of the yew-tree, which answered to the description of the merula torquata, or ring-ousel, were lately seen in this neighbourhood. I employed some people to procure me a specimen, but without success. (See Letter VIII.)

Query-Might not Canary birds be naturalised to this. climate, provided their eggs were put in the spring into the nests of their congeners, as goldfinches, greenfinches, &c. ? Before winter, perhaps, they might be hardened, and able to shift for themselves.

About ten years ago, I used to spend some weeks yearly at Sunbury, which is one of those pleasant villages lying on the Thames, near Hampton Court.

In the autumn I could

not help being much amused with those myriads of the swallow kind which assemble in those parts. But what struck me most was, that from the time they began to congregate, forsaking the chimneys and houses, they roosted every night in the osier beds of the aits of that river.t

The Bohemian Chatterer. In 1810, large flocks of this species were dispersed through various parts of the kingdom; and from that period, few appear to have visited the island, until February, 1822, when several occurred, and one was killed on the Calton Hill, Edinburgh. They appeared also during the severe storm of 1823, and several were killed in East Lothian last winter, (1828.)-W. J.

Swallows, in countless numbers still assemble every autumn on the

Now, this resorting towards that element, at that season of the year, seems to give some countenance to the northern opinion (strange as it is) of their retiring under water. A Swedish naturalist is so much persuaded of that fact, that he talks, in his Calendar of Flora, as familiarly of the swallow's going under water in the beginning of September, as he would of his poultry going to roost a little before sunset.

An observing gentleman in London writes me word, that he saw a house-martin,* on the 23rd of last October, flying in and out of its nest in the Borough; and I myself, on the 29th of last October, as I was travelling through Oxford, saw four or five swallows hovering round and settling on the roof of the County Hospital.†

willows growing on the aits of the river Thames. I have not only witnessed their departure, but also their arrival in this country. On the latter occasion they alighted on the ground and appeared much exhausted.-ED.

In a mild winter I have seen solitary swallows as late as the beginning of December.-ED.

In Mr. Bennett's edition of White's Selborne, there is a very interesting note of the late Dean of Manchester's (Mr. Herbert) on the instinct of birds. He says that young swifts, the moment they leave the nest, have often occasion to make the great migration, and that the various species of hirundines remain in their nests till they are more completely feathered than other birds. Thus when they come forth, they are matured for flight. He thinks that the troublesome insects which infest their nests (hippobosca hirundinis), are a resource in the scheme of Providence to force the young birds to venture upon the wing from the perilous height at which their nest is placed, by making the abode insupportable.

Each bird, Mr. Herbert says, builds its nest in the same form and of the same materials as its parent, and for the most part in a similar situation; but he thinks that, if the eggs were transposed into the nest of some nearly related species, and the produce kept separate from all others of their own kind, they would doubtless make their nests like those of the birds which had reared them, and would also adopt their notes. I have observed, he adds, young blackcaps raised from the nest in a large cage in which the perches were very low, as soon as they fed themselves show a sudden anxiety at roosting-time to find a higher perch, and flutter about so intent upon this as to notice nothing else, and at last settle to roost clinging to the wires near

the top of the cage. This appears like a marvellous instinctive impulse; but I apprehend that, while in their native bush, they had noticed the parents every evening, at roosting-time, fly upwards to a loftier situation in which to pass the night. I therefore refer this to observation.

Amongst other notices of peculiar instincts, Mr. Herbert refers to that of young birds brought up in cages, selecting their proper food from amongst a variety placed before them, and also that of migratory birds washing, and

E

Now, is it likely that these poor little birds, which perhaps had not been hatched but a few weeks, should, at that late season of the year, and from so midland a county, attempt a voyage to Goree or Senegal, almost as far as the equator ?*

I acquiesce entirely in your opinion that, though most of the swallow kind may migrate, yet some do stay behind and hide with us during the winter.

As to the short-winged, soft-billed birds which come trooping in such numbers in the spring, I am at a loss even what to suspect about them. I watched them narrowly this year, and saw them abound till about Michaelmas, when they appeared no longer. Subsist they cannot openly among us and yet elude the eyes of the inquisitive; and as to their hiding, no man pretends to have found any of them in a torpid state in the winter. But with regard to their migration, what difficulties attend that supposition! that such feeble bad fliers, who the summer long never flit but from hedge to hedge, should be able to traverse vast seas and continents, in order to enjoy milder seasons amidst the regions of Africa.t

LETTER XIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Jan. 22, 1768. SIR,-As in one of your former letters you expressed the more satisfaction from my correspondence on account of my living in the most southerly county; so now I may return

those which remain with us, dusting themselves. He thinks that this is a wise dispensation of the Great Creator; for if the little wren in winter were to wash in cold water instead of dusting, it would perish from the chill.

The result of these observations is that there are certain impulses given to birds, independent of their early imitative propensities, which seem to proceed directly from the Almighty Power that governs the universe. The more this subject is investigated, the more clearly will the direct agency of God be discovered.

* See Adanson's Voyage to Senegal.

They not only traverse vast seas and continents, but they take their departure at night; for they have been found dead in lighthouses, having flown against the strong light.-ED.

the compliment, and expect to have my curiosity gratified by your living much more to the north.

For many years past, I have observed, that towards Christmas vast flocks of chaffinches have appeared in the fields-many more, I used to think, than could be hatched in any one neighbourhood. But, when I came to observe them more narrowly, I was amazed to find that they seemed to me to be almost all hens.* I communicated my suspicions to some intelligent neighbours, who, after taking pains about the matter, declared that they also thought them mostly all females; at least fifty to one. This extraordinary occurrence brought to my mind the remark of Linnæus, that before winter, all their hen chaffinches migrate through Holland into Italy." Now, I want to know from some curious person in the north, whether there are any large flocks of these finches with them in the winter, and of which sex they mostly consist? For, from such intelligence one might be able to judge whether our female flocks migrate from the other end of the island, or whether they come over to us from the continent.

We have, in the winter, vast flocks of the common linnets, more, I think, than can be bred in any one district. These, I observe, when the spring advances, assemble on some tree in the sunshine, and join all in a gentle sort of chirping, as if they were about to break up their winter quarters, and betake themselves to their proper summer homes. It is well known, at least, that the swallows and the fieldfares do congregate with a gentle twittering before they make their respective departures.

You may depend on it that the bunting, emberiza miliaria, does not leave this country in the winter. In January, 1767, I saw several dozens of them, in the midst of a severe frost, among the bushes on the downs near Andover : in our woodland enclosed districts it is a rare bird.†

*Cock chaffinches are found all the year through, although they probably make partial migrations. One is now feeding (January 5th) before my window, and as a boy I have constantly taken them when out batfowling.-ED.

Sir W. Jardine says, that, a proportion of the common buntings do not migrate; but we certainly receive a considerable number at the great general migration, at the commencement of winter, most probably from Sweden and Norway. They generally breed and frequent unenclosed countries, and assemble in flocks during winter.-ED.

Wagtails, both white and yellow,* are with us all the winter. Quails crowd to our southern coast, and are often killed in numbers by people that go on purpose.

Mr. Stillingfleet, in his Tracts, says, that" if the wheatear (enanthe) does not quit England, it certainly shifts places; for, about harvest, they are not to be found where there was before great plenty of them." This well accounts for the vast quantities that are caught about that time on the south downs near Lewes, † where they are esteemed a delicacy. There have been shepherds, I have been credibly informed, that have made many pounds in a season by catching them in traps. And though such multitudes are taken, I never saw (and I am well acquainted with those parts) above two or three at a time; for they are never gregarious. They may perhaps migrate in general; and, for that purpose, draw towards the coast of Sussex in autumn; but that they do not all withdraw I am sure, because I see a few stragglers in many counties, at all times of the year, especially about warrens and stone quarries.

I have no acquaintance at present among the gentlemen of the navy, but have written to a friend, who was a sea chaplain in the late war, desiring him to look into his minutes, with respect to birds that settled on their rigging during their voyage up or down the Channel. What Hasselquist says on that subject is remarkable; there were little short-winged birds frequently coming on board the ship all the way from our Channel quite up to the Levant, especially before squally weather.

What you suggest with regard to Spain is highly

*Wagtails certainly perform partial migrations. I lose sight of them in my neighbourhood for weeks together. A curious fact may here be related of them. A pair of pied wagtails built their nest last summer in a vacuum under a sleeper of the Brighton railway, near the terminus at that place. Trains at all times of the day were passing close to the nest, but in this situation the young were hatched and reared. A gentleman in the neighbourhood who watched the progress of the birds in their nidification, can vouch for the truth of this anecdote.-ED.

The Lewes shepherds here informed me that the wheatear has nearly forsaken their downs. I find it in Bushy-park all the year round, where they breed in the rabbit-burrows.-ED.

Many naval men have assured me of the fact of migratory birds settling on the rigging of their ships. Indeed the circumstance may now be considered as indisputable.-ED.