112 ORNITHOLOGY OF SELBORNE. 



XXXIX. 



As you desire me to send you such observations 

 as may occur, I take the liberty of making 

 the following remarks, that you may, according as 

 you think me right or wrong, admit or reject what 

 I here advance in your intended new edition of the 

 British Zoology. 



The osprey l was shot about a year ago at 

 Frinsham-pond, a great lake, at about six miles 

 from hence, while it was sitting on the handle of 

 a plough and devouring a fish ; it used to precipi- 

 tate itself into the water, and so take its prey by 

 surprise. 



A great ash- coloured 2 butcher-bird was shot 

 last winter in Tisted Park, and a red-backed 

 butcher-bird at Selborne. They are rarce aves 

 in this country. 



Crows 3 go in pairs the whole year round. 



Cornish choughs 4 abound, and breed on Beechy 

 Head, and on the cliffs of the Sussex coast 5 . 



The common wild pigeon 6 , or stock- dove, is a 

 bird of passage in the south of England, seldom 

 appearing till towards the end of November ; is 

 usually the latest winter bird of passage. Before 

 our beechen woods were so much destroyed, we 

 had myriads of them, reaching in strings for a mile 

 together, as they went out in a morning to feed. 

 They leave us early in spring; where do they 

 breed ? 



1 British Zoology, vol. i. p. 128. 2 p. 161. 



3 P. 167. 4 P. 198. 



5 Cornish choughs abound in the Isle of Man. and breed 

 there. They are also found on the Galloway and Kirkcud- 

 bright coasts. W. J. 



6 British Zoology, vol. i. p. 216. 



