368 SUMMER. 



winter in more situations and greater numbers than 

 the whin chat. Still it is probable that a portion, and 

 a very considerable portion, do migrate out of the 

 country in the autumn, as they are less abundant in 

 the winter than in the spring ; and of the little birds 

 that are wholly resident, the majority appear in by 

 far the greatest numbers during winter, as both the 

 coldness of the weather and the failure of food drive 

 them from their summer retreats to the cultivated 

 lands and the neighbourhood of houses, where they 

 come in flocks, and of course attract more attention. 

 One habit which this bird is said to possess, would, 

 if verified (the means of doing which would not, 

 however, be very easy) be a curious fact in ornithology. 

 The young are said to travel in the autumn of the 

 first year of their lives, as if it were to see the world 

 before they settle in life, and take upon them the cares 

 of a succession of families. Whether they make the 

 tour of all, or every part of the continent, or merely 

 take a jaunt to a different part of England, is not of 

 course known, but Selby says that he has found the 

 young ones to leave the place of their birth before the 

 winter, and it is not very likely that he could be mis- 

 taken ; and yet the young have a good deal of resem- 

 blance to the adult females. The fact is by no means 

 unlikely ; for there are many of those birds that build, 

 year after year, the same pair in the same nest, on the 

 same tree, of which the young take their departure as 

 soon as they have attained the requisite strength, and 

 never return to the place of their nativity. In all birds 

 where that is the case, the actual increase is a minimum 

 in respect of the numbers reared ; and possibly the 



