NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 135 



Birds that sing as they fly are but few : 



RAII NOMINA. 



Skylark, Alauda vulgaris. Rising, suspended, and falling. 



{In its descent ; also sitting on 

 trees, and walking on the, 

 ground. 



c Suspended ; in hot summer 

 Woodlark, Alauda arborea. J nights all night long> 



Blackbird, Merula. Sometimes from bush to bush. 



f Uses when singing on the wing 

 White-throat, ficedula affinis. | odd jerkg and gesticulatioils . 



Swallow, Hirundo domestica. In soft sunny weather. 



Wren, Passer troglodytes. Sometimes from bush to bush. 



Birds that breed most early in these parts : 



( 

 Raven, Corvus. \ 



Hatches in Feb-uary and 

 March> 



Song-thrush, Turdus. In March. 



Blackbird, Merula. In March. 



Rook, Cornix frugilega. Builds the beginning of March . 



Woodlark, Alauda arborea. Hatches in April. 



Ring-dove, Palumbus torquatus. Lays the beginning of April. 



All birds *hat continue in full song till after Midsummer appear 

 to me to breed more than once. 



Most kinds of birds seem to me to be wild and shy somewhat in 

 proportion to their bulk ; I mean in this island, where they are 

 much pursued and annoyed ; but in Ascension Island, and many 

 other desolate places, mariners have found fowls so unacquainted 

 with a human figure, that they would stand still to be taken ; as 

 is the case with boobies, etc. As an example of what is advanced, 

 I remark that the golden-crested wren (the smallest British bird) 

 will stand unconcerned till you come within three or four yards of 

 it, while the bustard (Otis), the largest British land fowl, does not 

 care to admit a person within so many furlongs. 1 



I am, etc. 



NOTE TO LETTER II. 



1 The bustard, once common in several parts of the country, is now almost 

 extinct. Its last abiding place was the fenny part of Norfolk, but the gun ana 



