150 NOTES OF OWLS AND CUCKOOS, 



LETTER XLV. 



TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. 



SELBORNE, Aug. I, 1771. 

 DEAR SIR, 



FROM what follows, it will appear that neither 

 owls nor cuckoos keep to one note. A friend remarks 

 that many (most) 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 spe- 

 cies, 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, and the other in D sharp, which 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. 



