272 BRITISH BIRDS. 



HiRUNDINES. 



Swallows (be they either house Swallows or banck* 

 Swallows.) . . . 



CURRUCA. 



The Titling, Cucknell, or unfortunate Nurse (for the Cuckoe 

 ever lays his eggs in the Titlings nest) feeds upon gnats, flies 

 and worms, it is a very hot bird, coming in and going out with 

 the nightingale. . . . 



Pari. 



Titmise are of divers shapes with us in England ; some be 

 long, others be very short taild ; some have black heads, some 

 blew, some green, some plain and some copped . . . 



[Copped = crested. This reference to the Crested- tit is a 

 remarkable one if Muffett really had observed it in England. 

 The first British record is generally ascribed to John Walcott 

 {ob. 1831), who in his Synopsis of British Birds, 1789, figures 

 the Crested-tit and states that this bird had been lately 

 observed in Scotland.] 



MOTACILL.^. 



Wagtailes live upon flies, worms, and fat earth . . . 



Reguli. 

 Wrens feed finely and sometimee fill themselves so full of 

 little flies, that their bellies are like to burst. 



Galguli. 

 Yellow Hammers feed (as the most part of Titmise) of seeds 

 and grain . . . 



CHAPTER XII. 



Cygni Sylvestres. 



Of all water fowl the wild Swan is the biggest and fairest in 

 outward shew . . . 



Anseres Sylvestres. 

 Wild Geese . . . their high and long flight breedeth tender- 

 ness of body . . . but of all others the Bergander [probably 

 the Sheldrake] is the best and lightest. 



Anates fer.^. 

 Wild Ducks feed chiefly upon a green narrow leaved grass 

 (called therefore Ducks grass by Crescentiusf . . . 



* i.e. Sand-martins. 



t Pietro Crescenzi, 7iat. 1230, author of Riiraliam Commodorum ? 



