MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 161 



sitting on the handle of a plough and devouring a fish ; it 

 used to precipitate itself into the water, and so take its prey 

 by surprise. 



A great ash-coloured * butcher-bird was shot last winter 

 in Tisted Park, and a red-backed butcher-bird at Selborne. 

 They are scarce birds in this country. 



Crowsf go in pairs the whole year round. 



Cornish choughs J abound, and breed on Beechy Head, 

 and on all the cliffs of the Sussex coast. 



The common wild pigeon, || or stock- dove, is a bird of pass- 

 age in the south of England, seldom appearing till towards 

 the end of November, is usually the latest winter bird of 

 passage. Before our beechen woods were so much destroyed, 

 we had myriads of them, reaching in strings for a mile 

 together, as they went out in a morning to feed. They leave 

 us early in spring. Where do they breed ? 



The people of Hampshire and Sussex call the missel-bird ^[ 

 the storm-cock,** because it sings early in the spring, in blow- 

 ing, showery weather. Its song often commences with the 

 year : with us it builds much in orchards. 



A gentleman assures me he has taken the nests of ring- 

 ouselsft on Dartmoor ; they build in banks on the sides of 

 streams. 



Titlarks J J not only sing sweetly as they sit on trees, but 

 also as they play and toy about on the wing ; and particularly 

 while they are descending, and sometimes as they stand on 

 the ground. 



Adamson's|||| testimony seems to me to be a very poor evi- 

 dence that European swallows migrate^]" during our winter 



* British Zoology, p. 161. f Ibid. p. 167. J Ibid. p. 198. 



Cornish choughs abound in the Isle of Man, and breed there. They are 

 also found on the Galloway and Kirkcudbright coasts. W. J. 



|| British Zoology, vol. i. p. 216. 1 Ibid. vol. i. p. 224. 



** In Staffordshire it is called the thrice cock ; but for what reason I know 

 not. ED. 



ft British Zoology, p. 22.9. JJ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 237. 



Mr. White must have mistaken this for anthusarboreus, or tree-lark. 

 The titlark (anthus pratensis) seldom sits on trees. W. J. 



|| || British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 242. 



^fU I have reason to believe that there is no portion of the world in which 

 swallows congregate at certain seasons, from which they do not periodically 

 migrate. ED. 



11 



