The Natural History of Selborne igi 



April and May, and that these kind of birds (what few remained 

 of them) did not depart as usual, but were seen lingering about till 

 the beginning of June. 



The best authority that we can have for the nidification of the 

 birds above-mentioned in any district, is the testimony of faunists 

 that have written professedly the natural history of particular 

 countries. Now as to the fieldfare, Linnaeus, in his " Fauna 

 Suecica," says of it, that " maximis in arboribus nidificat " and 

 of the redwing he says, in the same place, that " nidificat in mediis 

 arbusculis, sive sepibus : ova sex c<eruleo-viridia maculis nigris 

 variis" Hence we may be assured that fieldfares and redwings 

 breed in Sweden. Scopoli says, in his " Annus Primus," of the 

 woodcock, that " nupta ad nos venit circa <equinoctium vernale ; " 

 meaning in Tyrol, of which he is a native. And afterwards he 

 adds, " nidificat in paludibus alpinis : ova ponit 3-5." It does not 

 appear from Kramer that woodcocks breed at all in Austria ; 

 but he says, " Avis h<ec septentrionalium provinciarum <estivo tempore 

 incola est ; ubi plerumque nidificat. Appropinquante hyeme australiores 

 provincias petit; hinc circa plenilunium mensis Octobris plerumque 

 Austrian transmigrate Tune rursus circa plenilunium potissimum 

 mensis M.artii per Austriam matrimonio juncta ad septentrionales 

 provincias redit" For the whole passage (which I have abridged) 

 see "Elenchus," &c. p. 351. This seems to be a full proof of the 

 migration of woodcocks ; though little is proved concerning the 

 place of breeding. 



P.S. There fell in the county of Rutland, in three weeks of this 

 present very wet weather, seven inches and a half of rain, which is 

 more than has fallen in any three weeks for these thirty years past 

 in that part of the world. A mean quantity in that county for one 

 year is twenty inches and a half. 



