The Natural History of Selborne 45 



Fly-catcher 



numbers of house-martins on the 7th of November. The 

 martins and red-wing fieldfares were flying in sight together, 

 an uncommon assemblage of summer and winter birds ! 



A little yellow bird (it is either a species of the alauda 

 trivialis, or rather perhaps of the motacilla trochilus) still 

 continues to make a sibilous shivering noise in the tops of 

 tall woods. 1 The stoparola of Ray (for which we have as 

 yet no name in these parts) is called in your zoology the 

 fly-catcher. 2 There is one circumstance characteristic of this 

 bird which seems to have escaped observation, and that is, it 

 takes its stand on the top of some stake or post, from whence 

 it springs forth on its prey, catching a fly in the air, and 

 hardly ever touching the ground, but returning still to the 

 same stand for many times together. 



I perceive there are more than one species of the motacilla 

 trochilus. Mr. Derham supposes, in " Ray's Philos. Letters," 

 that he has discovered three. In these there is again an instance 

 of some very common birds that have as yet no English name. 



1 The yellow willow-wren, Sylvia sibilatrix (Phylloscopus sibilatrix). 

 ED. 2 The spotted fly-catcher, Muscicapa gi-isola. ED. 



