60 The Natural History of Selborne 



brought to my mind the remark of Linnaeus ; that " before 

 winter all their hen chaffinches migrate through Holland into 

 Italy." Now I want to know, from some curious person in 

 the north, whether there are any large flocks of these finches 

 with them in the winter, and of which sex they mostly con- 

 sist ? For, from such intelligence, one might be able to judge 

 whether our female flocks migrate from the other end of the 

 island, or whether they come over to us from the continent. 



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 tniliaria, 

 does not leave this county [Hampshire] in the winter. In 

 January 1767, I saw several dozen of them, in the midst of 

 a severe frost, among the bushes on the downs near Andover : 

 in our woodland 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 



