48 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



himself had no knowledge of this bird, but received his account 

 from Mr. Johnson, who apparently confounds it with the reguli 

 non cristati, from which it is very distinct. See Ray's Philoso- 

 phical Letters, p. 108. 



The fly-catcher (stoparola)* has not yet appeared : it usually 



Gray Fly-catcher. White-fronted Redstart. 



breeds in my vine. The redstart begins to sing : its note is 

 short and imperfect, but is continued till about the middle of 

 June.f The willow-wrens (the smaller sort) are horrid pests in 

 a garden, destroying the pease, cherries, currants, &c. ; and are 

 so tame that a gun will not scare them.]: 



bramble covert, and is extremely difficult to find. It differs in character from those of the true 

 reedlings, more resembling those of the different fauvets (ficedula) , but is of a* more compact 

 structure than the latter, and contains a greater portion of material. The eggs, four or five in 

 number, are grayish, with numerous specks of a deeper, sometimes brownish, tint. They vary 

 somewhat in plumage, some being rather more spotted than others, but there is no fixed dif- 

 ference between the sexes. The female is very hard to procure. I have noticed that the tendons 

 of the leg around the tibia are in this species invariably very firm and stiff, and not soft, and 

 flexible, and contractile when cut, as in the reedlings, and indeed as in every other insessorial bird 

 that I have examined. The intent of this I do not exactly comprehend. ED. 



* Muscicapa gri ' 



t Thei 



all the notes of the fauvette. ED. 



J Mr. White is altogether wrong in what he here advances. It is quite true that the different 

 species of pettychaps (or "willow-wren," as he terms them) are continually seen about the fruit, 

 and particularly upon raspberry -bushes when the berries are ripe; but, so far from being consi- 

 1 " ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' rather in the light of preservers, their 



