166 NOTES OF OWLS AND CUCKOOS. 



A neighbour of mine, who is said to have a nice 

 ear, 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 different 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 flat, and the other 

 in D sharp, which 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 of grallce, who all, to a bird, forsake the 

 northern parts of Europe at the approach of 

 winter, " Grallce tanquam conjuratce unanimiter in 

 fugam se conjiciunt ; ne earum unlearn quidem inter 

 nos habitantem invenire possimus ; ut enim (estate 

 in australibus degere nequeunt ob defectum lum- 

 bricorum, terramque siccam ; ita nee in frigidis 

 ob eandem causam" says Ekmarck the Swede, 

 in his ingenious little treatise called Migrationes 

 Avium, which by all means you ought to read 

 while your thoughts run on the subject of mi- 



