MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 101 



in Sussex, assured me that about seven years ago ring-ousels 

 abounded so about that town in the autumn that he killed six- 

 teen himself in one afternoon : he added further, that some had 

 appeared since in every autumn ; but he could not find that any 

 had been observed before the season in which he shot so many. 

 I myself have found these birds in little parties in the autumn 

 cantoned all along the Sussex downs, wherever there were shrubs 

 and bushes, from Chichester to Lewes ; particularly in the autumn 

 of 1770. I am, &c. 



LETTER XXXIX. To T. PENNANT, Esa. 



DEAR SIR, Selborne, Nov. 9, 1773. 



As you desire me to send you such observations as may occur, 

 I take the liberty of making the following remarks, that you 

 may, according as you think me right or wrong, admit or reject 

 what I here advance, in your intended new edition of the British 

 Zoology. 



The osprey was shot about a year ago at Frinsham-pond, a 

 great lake, at about six miles from hence, 

 while it was sitting on the handle of a plough 

 and devouring a fish : it used to precipitate 

 itself into the water, and so take its prey by 

 surprise.* 



A great ash-coloured butcher-bird was 

 shot last winter in Tisted-park, and a red- 

 backed butcher-bird at Selborne : they are 

 rarce aves in this county, f 



Crows go in pairs the whole year round. 



Cornish choughs abound, and breed on o sp rey. 



Beachy-head and on all the cliffs of the Sussex coast. J 



The common wild pigeon, or stock-dove, is a bird of passage 

 in the south of England, seldom appearing till towards the end 

 of November ; is usually the latest winter-bird of passage. Be- 



* The only instance I have met with of its occurring in the south-east of England, though it 

 is by no means unfrequent in some parts of the west. In Scotland it is rather more abundant, 

 and is indeed quite plentiful in Sutherland and other similar districts. ED. 



t The former is certainly a rare species in this country, being only an occasional straggler in 

 the winter season, occurring chiefly in the eastern counties ; but the latter, as observed in a 

 former note, is rather plentiful in Surrey and the adjoining counties. ED. 



t This species rarely ventures far inland ; but there is an account of one having been shot on 

 Salisbury-plain, and I have known it to occur on Mitcham-common, Surrey. ED. 



