XH.] OF SELBORNE. 53 



pests in a garden, destroying the peas, cherries, and currants, 

 and are so tame that a gun will not scare them. 1 



My countrymen talk much of a bird that makes a clatter with 

 its bill against a dead bough, or some old pales, calling it a jar- 

 bird. I procured one to be shot in the very fact ; it proved to 

 be the nuthatch (Sitta Europcea). Mr. Ray says that the less 

 spotted woodpecker does the same. This noise may be heard a 

 furlong or more oft! 



Now is the only time to ascertain the short-winged summer 

 birds; for when the leaf is out there is no making any remarks on 

 such a restless tribe : and when once the young begin to appear 

 it is all confusion: there is no distinction of genus, species or sex. 



In breeding-time snipes play over the moors, piping and 

 humming: they always hum as they are descending. Is not 

 their hum ventriloquous, like that of the turkey ? Some suspect 

 it is made by their wings. 



This morning I saw the golden-crowned wren, whose crown 

 glitters like burnished gold. It often hangs like a titmouse, 

 with its back downwards. 



i A list of the Summer Birds of Passage discovered in this neighbourhood 

 ranged somewhat in the order in which they appear : 



Linnsei Nomina. 



Smallest willow-wren, Motacilla trochilus. 



Wryneck, Junx torquilla. 



House-swallow, Hirundo rustica, 



Martin, Chelidon urbica. 



Sand-martin, Cotile riparia. 



Cuckoo, Cuculus canarus, 



Nightingale, Lusinia. philomela. 



Blackcap, Motacilla atricapilla. 



Whitethroat, Motacilla sylvia. 



Middle willow- wren, Motacilla trochilus. 



Swift, Hirundo apus. 



Stone curlew, ? Charadrius oedicnemus. ? 



Turtle-dove, ? Turtur aldrovcmdi. ? 



Grasshopper-lark, Alauda trivialis. 



Landrail, Rallus crex. 



Largest willow-wren, Motacilla trochilus. 



Redstart, Kuticilla phasnicura. 



Goatsucker, or fern-owl, Caprirnulgus Europtra. 



Fly-catcher, Muscicapa grisola. 

 SELBORNE, April 18, 1768'. 



