OF SELBORNE. 127 
ed that his dogs devoured all the little red mice 
that they could catch, but rejected the common 
mice ; and that his cats ate the common mice, re- 
fusing the red. 
Redbreasts sing all through the spring, summer, 
and autumn. The reason that they are called au- 
tumn scongsters is, because in the two first seasons 
their voices are drowned and lost in the general 
chorus; in the latter their song becomes distin- 
guishable. Many songsters of the autumn seem to 
be the young cock redbreast of that year : notwith- 
standing the prejudices in their favour, they do 
much mischief in gardens to the summer fruits.* 
The titmouse, which early in February begins to 
make two quaint notes, like the whetting of a saw, 
is the marsh titmouse; the great titmouse sings 
with three cheerful, joyous notes, and begins about 
the same time. 
Wrens sing all the winter through, frost excepted. 
House-martins came remarkably late this year, 
both in Hampshire and Devonshire : is this circum- 
stance for or against either hiding or migration ? 
Most birds drink sipping at intervals, but pigeons 
take a long-continued draught, like quadrupeds. 
Notwithstanding what I have said in a former 
letter, no gray crows were ever known to build their 
nests on Dartmoor ; it was my mistake. 
The appearance and flying of the scarabeus sol. 
Stitialis, or fern-chafer, commence with the month 
of July, and cease about the end of it. These 
scarabs are the constant food of caprimu/gi, or fern- 
owls, through that period. They abound on the 
* They eat also the berries of the ivy, the honeysuckle, and 
the euonymus Europeus, or spindle-tree. 
