NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 47 



female flocks migrate from the other end of the island, or whether 

 they come over to us from the continent. 



We have, in the winter, vast flocks of the common linnets ; 

 more, I think, than can be bred in any one district. These, 

 I observe, when the spring advances, assemble on some tree 

 in the sunshine, and join all in a gentle sort of chirping, as 

 if they were about to break up their winter quarters and 

 betake themselves to their proper summer homes. It is w t ell 

 known, at least, that the swallows and the fieldfares do congre- 

 gate with a gentle twittering before they make their respective 

 departure. 



You may depend on it that the bunting, Embenza miliaria, 

 does not leave this county in the winter. In January, 1767, I 



QUAIL. 



saw several dozen of them, in the midst of a severe frost, among 

 the bushes on the downs near Andover : in our woodland enclosed 

 district it is a rare bird. 



Wagtails, both white and yellow, are with us all the winter. 

 Quails crowd to our southern coast, and are often killed in 

 numbers by people that go on purpose. 



Mr. Stillingfleet, in his Tracts, says that "if the wheatear 

 (osnanthe) does not quit England, it certainly shifts places; for 

 about harvest they are not to be found, where there was before 

 great plenty of them." This well accounts for the vast quantities 

 that are caught about that time on the south downs near Lewes, 

 where they are esteemed a delicacy. There have been shepherds, 

 I have been credibly informed, that have made many pounds in a 

 season by catching them in traps. And though such multitudes 



