30 A SUMMER DAY AT SEI,BORNE. 



•with a sieve below in the barn to catch the game, which is to be caught 

 napping above and thrown down; but need it be said that after a little 

 time a shower of dirty water, from a pailful taken aloft on purpose, soon 

 discovers the true nature of this "Owl-catching." 



Much controversy has arisen as to what is really a u Screech Owl." 

 My own experience would decidedly fix this name on the Yellow Owl. 

 The Brown Owl hoots, with the peculiar melancholy tremulous sound, 

 which fills the ignorant with such terror as it breaks the silence of the 

 midnight air. How often I have watched him against the moonlight, 

 quivering on his perch! and, when all is said and done, there is great 

 melancholy in it. 



Another heath-bird which is nowhere numerous is the Stone Curlew, 

 (Charadrius (Edicnemus,) and, from his wild habits and habitat, can never 

 be so familiar as other wild birds. It is evident to me that these birds 

 take very long flights. I have been in districts where they were by no 

 means numerous, and yet it was evident as darkness came on, by their 

 cries, which resounded on all sides, that there were very many on the 

 wing. The note is between a whistle and a scream, and they have also 

 a running note; the former supposed by Buffon to resemble the word 

 turlui. These birds are somewhat wild, and difficult to come near, unless 

 flushed by chance; they run very swiftly, and are off on the least alarm. 

 Amongst the country people they are known under the general name of 

 " Curlews." They bear a striking resemblance to the Golden Plover in 

 shape, and vary a good deal in plumage, some specimens being very dark 

 indeed, whilst others exhibit only the varieties of greyish brown, with a 

 dark bar across the wing; and when in flight they have much the ap- 

 pearance of water-birds, and the same shape and buoyant flight. The eggs 

 of these birds much resemble those of the Peewit, but lighter, and are 

 placed on the ground, and very difficult to discover. The Common Peewit 

 is somewhat of a nocturnal bird, as are many of the Ducks and Snipe 

 genus, but the small hours of darkness are left to the undisturbed possession 

 of the true nocturnals. 



C To be continued.) 



A SUMMER DAY AT SELBORNE, HAMPSHIRE. 



BY W. G. J. 



Sixty years have come and gone since he that made Selborne a house- 

 hold word was laid under the sod; or, to count time as he in his lifetime 

 used to do, sixty times has the Cuckoo left the vale, and sixty times has 

 he returned; sixty times has the Swallow taken his migration to and from 



