OF SELBORNE. 



197 



All birds that continue in full song till after Mid- 

 summer appear to me to breed more than once. 



Most kinds of birds seem to me to be wild and shy 

 somewhat in proportion to their bulk ; I mean in this 

 island, where they are much pursued and annoyed : but 

 in Ascension Island, and many other desolate places, 

 mariners have found fowls so unacquainted with a 

 human figure, that they would stand still to be taken ; 

 as is the case with boobies, &c. As an example of 

 what is advanced, T remark that the golden crested 

 wren (the smallest British bird) will stand unconcerned 

 till you come within three or four yards of it, while the 

 bustard (Otis), the largest British land fowl, does not 

 care to admit a person within so many furlongs 1 . 



1 The bustard is extinct in Scotland ; and as it is now so scarce in 

 England, owing to population and enclosures, it becomes interesting to 



