OF SELBORNE. 235 



went almost half a note below A. The pipe he tried 

 their notes by was a common half-crown pitch-pipe, 

 such as masters use for tuning of harpsichords ; it was 

 the common London pitch. 



A neighbour of mine, who is said to have a nice ear, 

 remarks that the owls about this village hoot in three 

 different keys, in G flat, or F sharp, in B flat and A flat. 

 He heard two hooting to each other, the one in A flat, 

 and the other in B flat. Query : Do these different 

 notes proceed from different species, or only from 

 various individuals ? The same person finds upon trial 

 that the note of the cuckoo (of which we have but one 

 species) varies in different individuals ; for, about Sel- 

 borne wood, he found they were mostly in D : he heard 

 two sing together, the one in D, the other in D sharp, 

 who made a disagreeable concert : he afterwards heard 

 one in D sharp, and about Wolmer Forest some in C. 

 As to nightingales, he says that their notes are so 

 short, and their transitions so rapid, that he cannot 

 well ascertain their key. Perhaps in a cage and in a 

 room, their notes may be more distinguishable. This 

 person has tried to settle the notes of a swift, and of 

 several other small birds, but cannot bring them to any 

 criterion. 



As I have often remarked that redwings are some of 

 the first birds that suffer with us in severe weather, it is 

 no wonder at all that they retreat from Scandinavian 

 winters : and much more the Ordo of Grallce, who all, 

 to a bird, forsake the northern parts of Europe at the 

 approach of winter. " Grallce tanquam conjuratce una- 

 nimiter in fugam se conjiciunt ; ne earum unicam quidem 

 inter nos habitantem invenire possimus ; ut enim cestate in 

 australibus degere nequeunt ob defection lumbricorum, ter- 

 ramque siccam ; ita nee in frigidis ob eandem causam" 

 says Ekmarck, the Swede, in his ingenious little 

 treatise called Migrationes Avium, which by all means 

 you ought to read while your thoughts run on the 



