The Natural History of Selborne 45 



Ply-catcher 



flying in sight together, an uncommon assemblage of summer and 

 winter birds ! 



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

 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 charac- 

 teristic of this bird which seems to have escaped observation, and 

 that is, its 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. 



Mr. Stillingfleet makes a question whether the black-cap (motacilla 

 atricapilla) be a bird of passage or not : I think there is no doubt 

 of it : for, in April, in the first fine weather, they come trooping, 



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

 2 The spotted fly-catcher, {Muscicapa grisola. ED. 



