of Selborne 125 



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 dif- 

 ferent 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 

 Selborne 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 o^ grallce, who, all to a 

 bird, forsake the northern parts of Europe at the approach 

 of winter. " Gra/lce tanqttam conjitratcz vnanimitej- in 

 Jiigavi se conjiciunt ; ne earmn unicafii quidcfn inter nos 

 habitante77i inve7iire possiuuis ; ut enim cestafe in austra- 

 libus degere 7ieque.iint ob defectiun hinihricorum^ terramqjte 

 siccain ; ita nee iji frigidis ob eandem ca74sam,^' says 

 Eckmarck the Swede, in his ingenious little treatise called 

 Migraiiones Avium, which by all means you ought to 

 read while your thoughts run on the subject of migration. 

 See Amesnifates Academicee, vol 4, p. 565. 



Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to 

 migrate in one country and not in another : but the 

 grallm (which procure their food from marshes and boggy 

 grounds) must in winter forsake the more northerly parts 

 of Europe, or perish for want of food. 



I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnaeus 

 concerning the woodcock : it is expected of him that he 



