88 Mr Selby on the Early Departure 



being unable to cover or sit upon them under circumstances so 

 unpropitious. Notwithstanding the premature destruction of 

 each succeeding nest, these attempts at reproduction were 

 persisted in till the time when that ardour which irresistibly 

 impels them to the fulfilment of this important law of nature had 

 nearly expired, and%as about to be succeeded by the exhausting 

 effects of another equally imperative law to which they are 

 subject, viz. the moult, or general renewal of plumage, which 

 takes place soon after the necessary duties attendant upon re- 

 production have ceased. 



July had now commenced ; and, up to this time, I had noticed 

 the usual species about the grounds. I restrict my observation 

 to old birds, as very few young of any kind had hitherto ap- 

 peared ; the weather still continued very wet, and the rain fell 

 in greater quantities during the first week of this month, than it 

 had done during any period of the preceding, and all our burns 

 and rivulets were swollen to an unusual size. About the 10th, 

 I first observed the sudden deficiency in the number of our 

 visitants, and was surprised, on walking through the woods and 

 other usual places of resort, to find them deserted and abandoned 

 by almost the whole of their lovely and interesting inhabitants. 

 I was led, in consequence, to extend my observations, and found 

 the same result in all the surrounding district; and having, in 

 my correspondence M'ith Sir William Jardine, mentioned the 

 fact, and directed his attention towards it, I afterwards learned 

 from him, that the same cause appeared to have operated equally 

 in Dumfries-shire. Towards the beginning of August, and long 

 before the usual time of departure of our warblers, I made an 

 excursion into Scotland, by way of the Trosachs, Dunkeld, 

 Dalmally, and Inveraray, situations where I had frequently before 

 seen all the usual varieties of the sylviadce which visit the north ; 

 and in all these parts I found a similar desertion — the only 

 species visible, and that in numbers comparatively few, being the 

 Sylvia trochilus^ (willow wren,) some stragglers of which were 

 also left sparingly dispersed in my own grounds, and other parts 

 in Northumberland, till the usual period of departure. The 

 species which came more particularly under my observation, and 

 which appeared to yield to these unusual circumstances of the 

 season, were the Curruca atricapilla, (blackcap warbler ;) Cur^ 

 ruca hortensis (pettychaps warbler ;) Curruca cinerea, (white- 

 throat warbler ;) Sylvia sibilatrix, (wood wren ;) and Sylvia 

 trochilusy (willow wren ;) but, as I observed before, the desertion 

 of the last named species was not so general as of the others. 

 With respect to other migratory species, it would appear, that 

 some of them were not affected in an equal degree, as I remarked 

 that individuals of Salicaria phragmitis^ (sedge warbler,) were 

 visible in their appropriate localities till nearly the usual period 

 of departure ; nor have I been able satisfactorily to ascertain 

 how far to the south of this district the same cause was in active 



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