42 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



the middle of June. The willow-wrens (the smaller sort) 

 are horrid pests in a garden, destroying the pease, cherries, 

 currants, etc. ; and are so tame that a gun will not scare 

 them. 



A List of the Summer Birds of Passage discovered in this 

 neighbourhood, ranged somewhat in the Order in which 



they appear: 



Linnaei Nomma. 



Smallest willow-wren, Motacilla trochilus : 



Wryneck, Jy nx torquilla: 



House-swallow, Hirundo rustica : 



Martin, Hirundo urbica : 



Sand-martin, Hirundo riparia : 



Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus : 



Nightingale, Motacilla luscinia : 



Blackcap, Motacilla atricapilla : 



Whitethroat, Motacilla sylvia : 



Middle willow-wren, Motacilla trochilus : 



Swift, Hirundo apus : 



Stone curlew,? Charadrius oedicnemus ? 



Turtle-dove, ? Turtur aldrovandi ? 



Grasshopper-lark, Alauda trivialis : 



Landrail, Rallus crex : 



Largest willow-wren, Motacilla trochilui : 



Redstart, Motacilla phaenicurus : 



Goatsucker, or fern-owl, Caprimulgus europaeus : 



Fly-catcher, Muscicapa grisola : 



My countrymen talk much of a bird that makes a clatter 

 with its bill against a dead bough, or some old pales, calling 

 it a jar-bird. I procured one to be shot in the very fact ; 

 it proved to be the sitta europaea (the nuthatch). Mr. Ray 

 says that the less spotted woodpecker does the same. This 

 noise may be heard a furlong or more. 



Now is the only time to ascertain the short-winged 

 summer birds ; for, when the leaf is out, there is no 

 making any remarks on such a restless tribe ; and, when 

 once the young begin to appear, it is all confusion : there 

 is no distinction of genus, species, or sex. 



In breeding-time snipes play over the moors, piping and 

 humming : they always hum as they are descending. Is 

 not their hum ventriloquous like that of the turkey ? 

 Some suspect it is made by their wings. 



