SANDPIPEK. 77 



LETTEE XX. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, Oct. 8, 1768. 



IT is, I find, in zoology as it is in botany ; all nature is so 

 full, that that district produces the greatest variety which 

 is the most examined. Several birds, which are said to 

 belong to the north only, are, it seems, often in the south. 

 I have discovered this summer three species of birds with 

 us, which writers mention as only to be seen in the northern 

 counties. The first that was brought me (on the 14th ol 

 May) was the sandpiper (tringa hypoleucus) : it was a cock 

 bird, and haunted the banks of some ponds near the village ; 

 and*, as it had a companion, doubtless intended to have bred 

 near that water. Besides, the owner has told me since, 

 that on recollection he has seen some of the same birds 

 round his ponds in former summers.* 



The next bird that I procured (on the 21st of May) was 

 a male red-backed butcher-bird (lanius collurio). My neigh- 

 bour, who shot it, says that it might easily have escaped his 

 notice, had not the outcries and chattering of the white- 

 throats and other small birds drawn his attention to the 

 bush where it was : its craw was filled with the legs and 

 wings of beetles. 



* This species, the totanus hypoleucus of modern ornithologists, is most 

 abundant on all the rocky brooks in the north of England and Scotland, arriv- 

 ing to breed early in spring, and in autumn again retiring to our coasts, in 

 small flocks, with its young. About October they are again dispersed, 

 migrating to warmer shores. I have received specimens from Africa, the 

 Delft Islands, and various parts of India and China. W. J. 



There is nothing very remarkable in the occurrence of these birds in 

 southern counties. The sandpiper is disposed to breed in any part of England, 

 where it can be free from disturbance. The red-backed butcher-bird belongs 

 rather to the south, and is scarcely ever met in the north. The ring-ousel is 

 in Hampshire a bird of passage, crossing that county in the spring and autumn, 

 in its way to and from its breeding-places, in the rocky districts of the north 

 and west. E. T. B. 



