NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 105 
the two first seasons their voices are drowned and lost in the 
general chorus ; in the latter their song becomes distinguishable. 
Many songsters of the autumn seem to be the young cock red- 
breasts of that year: notwithstanding 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.f 
Wrens sing all the winter through, frost excepted. 
House-martins came remarkably late this year both in Hamp- 
shire and Devonshire: is this circumstance 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 grey 
crows were ever known to breed on Dartmoor ; it was my mistake. 
The appearance and flying of the Scarabeus solstitialis, or fern- 
chafer, commence with the month of July, and cease about the end 
of it. These scarabs are the constant food of Caprimulgt, or fern- 
owls, through that period! They abound on the chalky downs and 
in some sandy districts, but not in the clays. 
In the garden of the Black Bear inn in the town of Reading is a 
stream or canal running under the stables and out into the fields 
on the other side of the road: in this water are many carps, which 
lie rolling about in sight, being fed by travellers, who amuse them- 
selves by tossing them bread ; but as soon as the weather grows at 
all severe these fishes are no longer seen, because they retire under 
the stables, where they remain till the return of spring. Do they 
lie in a torpid state ? if they do not, how are they supported ? 
The note of the white-throat, which is continually repeated, and 
often attended with odd gesticulations on the wing, is harsh and 
displeasing. These birds seem of a pugnacious disposition; for 
they sing with an erected crest and attitudes of rivalry and 
defiance ; are shy and wild in breeding-time, avoiding neighbour- 
hoods, and haunting lonely lanes and commons ; nay even the very 
tops of the Sussex Downs, where there are bushes and covert ; 
* They eat also the berries of the ivy, the honeysuckle, and the Euonymus europaeus, 
or spindle-tree. 
+ It is the notes of the greater and cole titmice, Parus major and ater, that resemble 
the whetting of a saw. 
