OF BIRDS. 641 



3. Wryneck. Is a bird that leaves us in the winter. If its diet 

 be ants alone, as several assert, the cause of its migration is very 

 evident. This bird disappears before winter, and revisits us in the 

 spring, a little earlier than the cuckoo. 



4. Hoopoe. Conies to England but by accident : Mr. Pennant 

 once indeed heard of a pair that attempted to make their nest in a 

 meadow at Selborne, Hampshire, but were frightened away by the 

 curiosity of people. It breeds in Germany. 



5. Grous. The whole tribe, except the quail, lives here all the 

 year round ; that bird either leaves us, or else retires towards the 

 sea-coasts. 



6. Pigeons. Some few of the ring-doves breed here ; but the 

 multitude that appears in the winter is so disproportioned to what 

 continue here the whole year, as to make it certain that the great- 

 est part quit the country in the spring. It is most probable they 

 go to Sweden to breed, and return from thence in autumn ; as Mr. 

 Eckmark informs us, they entirely quit that country before winter. 

 Multitudes of the common wild pigeons also make the northern 

 retreat, and visit us in winter ; not but numbers breed in the high 

 cliffs in all parts of this island. The turtle also probably leaves us 

 in the winter, at least changes its place, removing to the southern 

 counties. 



7. Stare. Breeds here. Possibly several remove to other coun- 

 tries for that purpose, since* the produce of those that continue 

 here seems unequal to the clouds of them that appear in the win- 

 ter. It is not unlikely that many of them migrate into Sweden, 

 where Mr. Berger observes they return in spring. 



8. Thrushes. The fieldfare and the redwing breed and pass their 

 summers in Norway and other cold countries ; their food is berries, 

 which abounding in our kingdoms, tempt them here in the winter. 

 These two, and the Royston crow, are the only land birds that re- 

 gularly and constantly migrate into England, and do not breed 

 here. The hawfinch and crossbill come here at such uncertain 

 times as not to deserve the name of birds of passage. 



9. Chatterer. The chatterer appears annually about Edinburgh 

 in flocks during winter, and feeds on the berries of the mountain 

 ash. In South Britain, it is an accidental visitant. 



10. Grosbeaks. The grosbeak and crossbill come here but sel- 

 dom ; they breed in Austria. The pine grosbeak probably breed* 

 in the forests of the highlands of Scotland. 



vol. v. 2 x 



