234 NATURAL HISTORY 



the last winter bird of passage which appears with us ; 

 and is not seen till towards the end of November: 

 about twenty years ago they abounded in the district 

 of Selborne ; and strings of them were seen morning 

 and evening that reached a mile or more : but since the 

 beechen woods have been greatly thinned, they are 

 much decreased in number 5 . The ring-dove, (Palumbm, 

 RAII), stays with us the whole year, and breeds several 

 times through the summer. 



Before I received your letter of October last I had 

 just remarked in my journal that the trees were un- 

 usually green. This uncommon verdure lasted on late 

 into November ; and may be accounted for from a late 

 spring, a cool and moist summer ; but more particularly 

 from vast armies of chafers, or tree-beetles, which, in 

 many places, reduced whole w r oods to a leafless naked 

 state. These trees shot again at Midsummer, and then 

 retained their foliage till very late in the year. 



My musical friend, at whose house I am now visiting, 

 has tried all the owls that are his near neighbours with 

 a pitch-pipe set at concert-pitch, and finds they all 

 hoot in B flat. He will examine the nightingales next 

 spring. 



I am, &c. &c. 



LETTER X. 



TO THE SAME. 

 DEAR SIR, SELBORNE, Aug. 1, 1771. 



FROM what follows, it will appear that neither owls 

 nor cuckoos keep to one note. A friend remarks that 

 many (most) of his owls hoot in B flat; but that one 



5 This subject is treated of, in more detail, in Letter XLIV. to Pen- 

 nant. E. T. B. 



