258 Country Rambles. 



flutter of the goldfinch about the thistle-stems; the rich 

 and massive sailing of the rooks when homeward bound, 

 so grand, in particular, as they descend to their night 

 covert in the trees. "Who was it," asks Mr. Bright, who 

 so happily applied to rooks the lines in the sixth ^Eneid, 

 where Virgil, speaking of the descent of y^neas and his 

 guide upon the Elysian plains, says, 



Devenere locos Isetos, et amoena vireta 

 Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas ? 



And down they came upon the happy haunts, 

 The pleasant greenery of the favoured groves, 

 Their blissful resting-place. * 



We propose, accordingly, now to add a brief account 

 of the ornithology of the district these Rambles cover, 

 so far, at all events, as regards the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Manchester. The detailed observations upon 

 the habits of the various species as originally given in 

 the " Walks and Wild-flowers " were, as stated in that 

 work, supplied to a considerable extent by two old 

 friends, both long since deceased, Samuel Carter and 

 Edward Jacques. Many others will now be found, and 

 for these we have chiefly to thank Mr. Charles E. Reade. 



When Dr. Latham published his famous history of 

 birds, exactly a hundred years ago, the number of ascer- 

 tained species, in all countries, was about four thousand. 

 It is now beyond question that the number is not less than 

 eleven thousand, and many others no doubt exist in 

 remote corners of which little or nothing has yet been 



* "A Year in a Lancashire Garden," p. 27. 



