NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 35 



We have, in the winter, vast flocks of the common linnets ; 

 more, I think, than can be bred in any one district. These, I 

 observe, when the spring advances, assemble on some tree in 

 the sunshine, and join all in a gentle sort of chirping, as if 

 they were about to break up their winter quarters and betake 

 themselves to their proper summer homes. It is well known, 

 at least, that the swallows and the fieldfares do congregate 

 with a gentle twittering before they make their respective 

 departure. 



You may depend on it that the bunting, Emberiza miliaria, 

 does not leave this county in the winter. In January, 1767, 1 

 saw several dozen of them, in the midst of a severe frost, 

 among the bushes on the downs near Andover : in our wood- 

 land enclosed district it is a rare bird. 



Wagtails, both white and yellow, are with us all the winter. 

 Quails crowd to our southern coast, and are often killed in 

 numbers by people that go on purpose. 



Mr. Stillingfleet, in his Tracts, says that " if the wheatear 

 (cenanthe) does not quit England, it certainly shifts places ; 

 for about harvest they are not to be found, where there was 

 before great plenty of them." This well accounts for the 

 vast quantities that are caught about that time on the south 

 downs near Lewes, where they are esteemed a delicacy. There 

 have been shepherds, I have been credibly informed, that have 

 made many pounds in a season by catching them in traps. 

 And though such multitudes are taken, I never saw (and I am 

 well acquainted with those parts) above two or three at a time, 

 for they are never gregarious. They may perhaps migrate 

 in general; and, for that purpose, draw towards the coast 

 of Sussex in autumn: but that they do not all withdraw I 

 am sure ; because I see a few stragglers in many counties, 

 at all times of the year, especially about warrens and stone 

 quarries. 



I have no acquaintance, at present, among the gentlemen of 

 the navy ; but have written to a friend, who was a sea-chaplain 

 in the late war, desiring him to look into his minutes, with 

 respect to birds that settled on their rigging during their 

 voyage up or down the Channel. What Hasselquist says on 

 that subject is remarkable; there were little short- winged birds 



