124 ^^he Natural History 



The stock-dove, or wood-pigeon, oenas Rail^ is 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. The ring-dove, palimibics 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 unusually 

 green. This unconmion 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 woods 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. 



1 am, etc., etc. 



LETTER X 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON 



Selborne, Aug. i, 1 77 1. 



Dear Sir, 

 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 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, 



