NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORXR. 49 



perfect, but is continued till about the middle of June. The willow- 

 wrens (the smaller sort) are horrid pests in a garden, destroying the 

 peas, cherries, currants, c. ; and are so tame that a gun will not 

 scare them. 



My countrymen talk much of a bird that makes a clatter with its 

 bill against a dead bough, or some old pales, calling it a jarbird. I 

 procured one to be shot in the very fact ; it proved to be the Sitta 

 europtea (the nuthatch). Mr. Ray says that the less spotted wood- 

 pecker does the same. This noise may be heard a furlong or 

 more. 



THE NUTHATCH 



Now is the only time to ascertain the short-winged summer birds ; 

 for, when the leaf is out, there is no making any remarks on such a 

 restless tribe ; and, when once the young begin to appear, it is all 

 confusion : there is no distinction of genus, species, or sex. 



In breeding-time snipes play over the moors, piping and humming : 

 they always hum as they are descending. Is not their hum 

 ventriloquous like that of the turkey ? Some suspect it is made by 

 their wings. 



This morning I saw the golden-crowned wren, whose crown 

 glitters like burnished gold. It often hangs like a titmouse, with its 

 back downwards. 



Yours, &c., &c. 



