CHAPTER OF CRITICISM. 425 



at least not with our Warwickshire Thrushes, which 1 have often observed. 

 They generally sit high in the tree, but not on the " top branch." 



2. P. 64. " Containing fruit which are of course unattainable to its tender 

 beak." Not clearly expressed, and surely not correct in fact, is it? Why do 

 you call it the Tree Redstart ? 



3. " Brake Nightingale." Are there really more than one species in England ? 

 This bird sings as much by day as by night ; but at night he has it all to himself, 

 and so is more remarked. When at Oxford I observed a Nightingale singing on 

 the bough of a tree which hung over the turnpike-road from Kedington Hill, in 

 the middle of the day. 



4. P. 99. The Blackcap "arrives in the middle or towards the end of April." 

 Earlier generally. I have heard him even in March ; he is among our first sum- 

 mer visitants. 



5. P. 165-6. From what Dr. Liverpool states, we might infer that the Tits 

 do not crack nuts, and you yourself (in the foot-note) do not seem to be aware of 

 the fact. I have often observed them here striking nuts with their beaks, as 

 the Nuthatch does. 



6. The Longtailed Tit on my premises sometimes builds in Gorse ( Ulex) and 

 Box, and frequently in Blackthorn. I never saw more than one hole to the nest ; 

 certainly two are not usual. 



7. You have some excellent remarks at p. 220, under the head of " Spring 

 Oatear," about "birds which actually do good where they are supposed to be most 

 mischievous." But are you not going too far in saying that the Nightjar " leaps 

 up at the Cows' udders and legs, in order to obtain the insects and larvae lodged 

 in the poor animal's skin" ? I much doubt its taking any insects but such as are 

 on the wing. 



8. P. 267. " Though I never heard this bird Qhe Wood Lark] make any 

 attempt at a song in winter," &c. It does sing beautifully in winter, as I used 

 often to hear it when a boy, before the Christmas holidays were expired ; it also 

 sings very much in autumn. 



9. P. 346. " In the middle of March **** the ChafFFinch commences its merry 

 and oft-repeated strains." Long before this time — in February, and sometimes 

 in January ; I have even heard him in December, but always, I think, before the 

 middle of March. I consider him to afford one of the very first indications oi 

 spring, and accordingly he is a great favourite with me, notwithstanding his 

 mischievous propensities in the garden. 



10. P. 371- The generic name Linaria is inadmissible, being preoccupied as 

 such in Botany for several species of Toadflax. 



1 1. P. 379. You speak of the Redpoll as a shy bird. I well remember, when a 

 very young sportsman, or rather a young carrier of a gun, falling in with a flock 



