NATURAL HISTORY OF S EL BORNE. 37 



summer, and frequented an ornamented piece of ground, which 

 joins to my garden, for some weeks. They used to march about 

 in a stately manner, feeding in the walks, many times in the day ; 

 and seemed disposed to breed in my outlet j but were frighted 

 and persecuted by idle boys, who would never let them be at rest. 



THE GROSSBEAK. 



Three grossbeaks 2 (loxia coccothraustes) appeared some years 

 ago in my fields, in the winter; one of which I shot. Since that, 

 now and then, one is occasionally seen in the same dead season. 



A crossbill 3 (loxia curvirostrd) was killed last year in this neigh- 

 bourhood. 



Our streams, which are small, and rise only at the end ot the 

 village, yield nothing but the bull's head or miller's thumb 4 (gobius 

 fiuviatilis capitatus\ the trout (trutta fluviatilis), the eel 5 (anguilla), 

 the lampern 6 (lampcetra parva et fluviatilis\ and the stickle-back 7 

 (pisciculus acuhatus}. 



We are twenty miles from the sea, and almost as many from a 

 great river, and therefore see but little of sea birds. As to wild 

 fowls, we have a few teems of ducks bred in the moors where the 



