198 The Natural History of Selborne 



D sharp, and about Wolmer forest some in C. As to nightingales, 

 he says that their notes are so short, and their transitions so rapid, 

 that he cannot well ascertain their key. Perhaps in a cage, and in a 

 room, their notes may be more distinguishable. This person has 

 tried to settle the notes of a swift, and of several other small birds, 

 but cannot bring them to any criterion. 



As I have often remarked that redwings are some of the first 

 birds that suffer with us in severe weather, it is no wonder at all 

 that they retreat from Scandinavian winters : and much more the 

 ordo of grall<e, who, all to a bird, forsake the northern parts of 

 Europe at the approach of winter. " Grails tanquam conjuratte 

 unanimiter in fugam se conjiciunt ; ne earum unicam quidem inter 

 nos habitantem invenire possimus ; ut enim testate in australibus degere 

 nequeunt ob defectum lumbricorum, terramque siccam ; ita nee infrigidis 

 ob eandem causam" says Ekmarck the Swede, in his ingenious little 

 treatise called " Migrationes Avium," which by all means you ought 

 to read while your thoughts run on the subject of migration. See 

 " Amcenitates Academics," vol. iv., p. 565. 



Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to migrate in one 

 country, and not in another : but the grail* (which procure their 

 food from marshy and boggy grounds), must in winter forsake the 

 more northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want of food. 1 



I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnasus concerning the 

 woodcock : it is expected of him that he should be able to account 

 for the motions and manner of life of the animals of his own 

 " Fauna." 



Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare descrip- 

 tions, and a few synonyms : the reason is plain ; because all that 

 may be done at home in a man's study, but the investigation of the 

 life and conversation of animals is a concern of much more trouble 

 and difficulty, and is not to be attained but by the active and 

 inquisitive, and by those that reside much in the country. 2 



1 The question of food-supply has far more to do with the migrations of 

 birds than mere climate. ED. 2 In this passage White strikes the keynote of 

 the modern school of natural history, the school which culminated in Darwin, 

 and which is interested rather in the facts and problems of life than in mere 

 classification. ED. 



