OF SELBORNE 35 



a gentle twittering before they make their respective 

 departure. 



You may depend on it that the bunting, emberiza 

 miliaria, does not leave this country 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 wheat- 

 ear, (aenanthe] 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 multi- 

 tudes 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 frequently coming on board his 

 ship all the way from our channel quite up to the Levant, 

 especially before squally weather. 



What you suggest, with regard to Spain, is highly 

 probable. The winters of Andalusia are so mild, that, 



