NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 155 



of his owls hoot in B flat ; but that one went almost half a note 

 below A. The pipe he tried their notes by was a common half- 

 crown pitch-pipe, such as masters use for tuning of harpsichords ; 

 it was the common London pitch. 



A neighbour of mine, who is said to have a nice ear, remarks 

 that the owls about this village hoot in three different keys, in 

 G flat, or F sharp, in B flat and A flat. He heard two hooting 

 to each other, the one in A flat, and the other in B flat. Query : 

 Do these different notes proceed from different species, or only 

 from various individuals ? The same person finds upon trial that 

 the note of the cuckoo (of which we have but one species) varies 

 in different individuals ; for, about Selborne wood, he found they 

 were mostly in D : he heard two sing together, the one in D, the 

 other in D sharp, who made a disagreeable concert : he afterwards 

 heard one in D sharp, and about Wolmer Forest some in C. As 

 to nightingales, he says that their notes are so short, and their 

 transitions so rapid, that he cannot well ascertain their key; 

 Perhaps in a cage, and in a room, their notes may be more 

 distinguishable. This person has tried to settle the notes of a 

 swift, and of several other small birds, but cannot bring them to 

 any criterion. 



As I have often remarked that redwings are some of the first 

 birds that suffer with us in severe weather, it is no wonder at all 

 that they retreat from Scandinavian winters : and much more the 

 ordo of grallcz, who, all to a bird, forsake the northern parts of 

 Europe at the approach of winter. " Grall<z tanquam conjuratce, 

 unanimiter in fugam se conjidunt ; ne earum unicam quidem inter 

 nos habitantem invenire possimus ; ut enim (estate in australibus 

 degere nequeunt ob defectum lumbricorum, terramque siccam ; ita nee 

 in frigidis ob eandem causam" says Ekmarck the Swede, in his 

 ingenious little treatise called " Migrationes Avium," which by all 

 means you ought to read while your thoughts run on the subject 

 of migration. See " Amcenitates Academicae," vol. iv., p. 565. 



Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to migrate in 

 one country, and not in another : but the grallce (which procure 

 their food from marshes and boggy grounds), must in winter for- 

 sake the more northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want of food. 



