82 WHITE 



The osprey was shot about a year ago at Frinsham Pond, a 

 great lake at about six miles from hence, while it was sitting 

 on the handle of a plough and devouring a fish : it used to pre- 

 cipitate itself into the water, and so take its prey by surprise. 



A great ash-colored butcher-bird was shot last winter in 

 Tisted Park, and a red-backed butcher-bird [shrike] at Sel- 

 borne : they are rarce aves in this country. 1 



Crows go in pairs all the year round. 



Cornish choughs abound, and breed on Beechy Head, and 

 on all the cliffs of the Sussex coast. 



The common wild pigeon, or stock-dove, 2 is a bird of pas- 

 sage in the south of England, seldom appearing till towards 

 the end of November ; is usually the latest winter bird of pas- 

 sage. 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 blowing 

 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-ousels 

 on Dartmoor : they build in banks on the sides of streams. 



Titlarks 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 they stand on the ground. 



Adanson's testimony seems to me to be a very poor evidence 

 that European swallows migrate during our winter to Senegal : 

 he does not talk at all like an ornithologist ; and probably saw 

 only the swallows of that country, which I know build within 

 Governor O'Hara's hall against the roof. Had he known 

 European swallows, would he not have mentioned the species ? 



The house-swallow washes by dropping into the water as it 

 flies : this species appears commonly about a week before the 

 house-martin, and about ten or twelve days before the swift. 



In 1772 there were young house-martins in their nest till 

 October 23rd. 



The swift appears about ten or twelve days later than the 

 house-swallow, viz., about the 24th or 26th April. 





