44 The Natural History 



A LIST of the Summer Birds of Passage discovered in 



this neighbourhood^ ranged somewhat in the Order in 



which they appear : 



Linnaei Nomina. 



Smallest willow-wren, Motacilla trochihis : 



Wry- neck, fynx torquilla : 



I louse-swallow, Hirundo ncstica: 



Martin, Hirundo iirbic a : 



Sand-martin, Hirundo riparia: 



Cuckoo, Cuctdus canorus : 



Nightingale, Motacilla luscinia : 



Black-cap, Alotacilla atricapilla : 



White-throat, Alotacilla sylvia : 



Middle willow-wren, Motacilla trochihis: 



Swift, Hirundo apus : 



Stone curlew, ? Charadrius oedicnemiis 1 



Turtle-dove, ? Turtttr aldrovandi ? 



Grasshopper-lark, Alauda trivialis : 



Landrail, Rallus crex : 



Largest willow- wren, Afotacilla trochihis : 



Redstart, Motacilla phcenicurus . 

 Goat-sucker, or fern-owl, Caprimulgus europccus : 



Fly-catcher, Muscicapa grisola : 



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 jar-bird. I procured one to be shot in 

 the very fact ; it proved to be the sitta europcBa (the nut- 

 hatch). Mr. Ray says that the less spotted woodpecker 

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

 more. 



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, etc., etc. 



