XI.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



35 



this bird frequented the spot where plum-trees grow ; and that 

 he had seen it with somewhat hard in its mouth, which it broke 

 with difficulty ; these were the stones of damsons. The Latin 

 ornithologists call this bird coccothraustes, i.e., berry-breaker, 

 because with its large horny beak it cracks and breaks the shells 

 of stone-fruits for the sake of the seed or kernel. Birds of this 

 sort are rarely seen in England, and only in winter.] OBSERVA- 

 TIONS ON NATURE. 



A cross-bill (Loxia curvirostra) was killed last year in this 

 neighbourhood. 





THK HOOPOE. 



Our streams, which are small, and rise only at the end of the 

 village, yield nothing but the bull's head, 1 or miller's thumb 

 (Gobius fluviatilis capitatus), the trout (Trutta fluviatilis), the 

 eel (anguilla), the lampern (Lampetra parva et fluviatilis), and 

 the stickleback (Pisciculus aculeatiis]. 



We are twenty miles from the sea, and almost as many from 

 a great river, and therefore see but little of sea-birds. As to 

 wild fowls, we have a few teams of ducks bred in the moors 



1 Salmo fario. Linn. 



