XLI.] OF SELBORNE. 119 



The best authority that we can have for the nidification of 

 the birds above-mentioned in any district, is the testimony of 

 faunists that have written professedly the natural history of 

 particular countries. Now, as to the fieldfare, Linnaeus, in his 

 " Fauna Suecica," says of it, that " it builds in the largest 

 trees," " maximis in arboribus nidificat ; " and of the redwing 

 he says, in the same place, that " it builds in the middle of 

 shrubs or hedges, and lays six bluish-green eggs with black 

 spots," " nidificat in mediis arbusculis, sive sepibus : ova sex 

 cseruleo-viriclia maculis nigris variis." Hence we may be assured 

 that fieldfares and redwings breed in Sweden. Scopoli says, in 

 his " Annus Primus," of the woodcock, that " it comes to us 

 about the vernal equinox, and, after pairing, it builds its nest in 

 marshy places, and lays its eggs," " nupta ad nos venit circa 

 sequinoctium vernale ; " meaning in Tyrol, of which ho is a native. 

 And afterwards he adds, " nidificat in paludibus alpinis : ova 

 ponit 3 5."" It does not appear from Kramer that wood- 

 cocks breed at all in Austria ; but he says : " This bird dwells 

 in the northern regions in summer, where, too, it generally builds 

 its nest. As winter comes on it goes farther south, leaving 

 this about the October full-moon. After pairing, it usually 

 conies back to the north about the, full March moon," " Avis 

 hsec septeutrionalium provinciaruin sestivo tempore incola est ; 

 ubi plerumque nidificat. Appropinquante hyerne australiores 

 provincias petit : hinc circa plenilunium mensis Octobris ple- 

 rumque Austrian! transmigrat. Tune rursus circa plenilunium 

 potissimum mensis Martii per Austriam matrimonio juncta ad 

 septentrionales provincias redit." For the whole passage (which 

 I have abridged) see " Elenchus," (fee. p. 351. This seems to be a 

 full proof of the migration of woodcocks ; though little is proved 

 concerning the place of breeding. 



There fell in the county of Eutland, in three weeks of this 

 present very wet weather, seven inches and a-half of rain, which 

 is more than has fallen in any three weeks for these thirty year 

 past in that part of the world. A mean quantity in that county 

 for one year is twenty inches and a-half. 



SELBORNE, Dec. 20, 1770. 



