110 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



partial Sittings of individuals from one part of the 

 country to another, may not arise from the desire, 

 perhaps the necessity, of seeking some new abode. 

 White has observed, that " there are, doubtless, 

 many home internal migrations within this kingdom 

 that want to be better understood";* and though 

 the instance he adduces of the vast flocks of hen 

 chaffinches that appear at Selborne in the winter is 

 probably quite independent of the above cause, his 

 remark is not the less deserving of consideration in 

 reference to the subject we are speaking of. Flocks 

 of individuals, of several species, may occasionally 

 be seen, at all seasons, wending their way steadily in 

 a direct line, as if under the influence of some com- 

 mon impulse. There are also flittings which appear 

 to have nothing to do with the ordinary migrations, 

 inasmuch as they occur in species which do not, so 

 far as we are aware, migrate. It would be an 

 interesting record if naturalists, resident in the 

 country, would enter in their journals any facts of 

 this kind that might come under their observation, 

 as also any cases of new species taking up a per- 

 manent abode in their neighbourhood,-)- or of old 

 ones experiencing a marked increase, or falling off, 

 of their numbers. 



There is one circumstance, not wholly uncon- 



* Eighth letter to Pennant. 



f One such instance in the case of the turtle-dove, a migra- 

 tory species however, I have mentioned further on in this work. 

 This species was not observed in the neighbourhood of Bottisham 

 and SwafFham Bulbeck before the year 1823. Since then they 

 have visited it regularly each season, and in increasing numbers. 



