OF SELBORNE. 43 



wing fieldfares were flying in sight together ; an uncom- 

 mon assemblage of summer and winter birds ! 



A little yellow bird (it is either a species of the 

 Alauda trwialis, or rather perhaps of the Motacilla 

 Trochilus) still continues to make a sibilous shivering 

 noise in the tops of tall woods 5 . 



The Stoparola of Ray (for which we have as yet no 

 name in these parts) is called, in your Zoology, the 

 flycatcher. There is one circumstance characteristic 

 of this bird, which seems to have escaped observation, 

 and that is, it takes its stand on the top of some stake 

 or post, from whence it springs forth on its prey, 

 catching a fly in the air, and hardly ever touching the 

 ground, but returning still to the same stand for many 

 times together 6 . 



I perceive there are more than one species of the 



3 The Motacilla or Sylvia Trochilus does not make a sibilous shivering 

 noise. The bird meant is the Sylvia sylvicola, called by Bechstein Sylv. 

 sibilatrix.W. H. 



6 This little visitant, the Muscicapa Grisola, LINN., arrives about the 

 same time as the whitethroat and redstart, and during the period of 

 incubation seeks the shelter afforded by our dwellings ; trusting, like 

 the martin and swallow, to the forbearance, while it seems to court the 

 protection, of man. Building most commonly, as White subsequently 

 describes it (in Letter XL.), at the end of a plate (a term employed in 

 Hampshire and Surrey to signify a beam, or rafter, that projects a little 

 from a house or building,) the bird has thence derived two of its local 

 names : in some districts it is called rafter, in others it is known as the 

 beam bird. In open exposed situations it has also acquired the name of 

 bee bird, on account of its being very destructive to hive bees ; not only 

 taking them flying, but waiting for them at the tee hole, or mouth of the 

 hive. But in sheltered places, near houses, and in villages, where 

 insects abound, it appears to be principally known as an expert fly- 

 catcher. G. D. 



Elsewhere the spotted flycatcher is known by other names. Mr. Ren- 

 nie informs us that in Kent it is called the post bird, from the habit 

 described in the text. In Northamptonshire, according to Morton, " This, 

 though called a bird without a name by Mr. Willughby, is well known, 

 and vulgarly called the copweb ; as usually building in the corners of 

 walls, and the like places, where spiders weave their webs." A MS. 

 note by Morton, in the copy of his work in the library of the British 

 Museum, adds, " and also building its nest in part of copwebs, inter- 

 woven with moss, straws, and the like." E. T. B. 



