MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 137 



showery weather. Its song often commences with the year : 

 with us it builds much in orchards. 



A gentleman assures me he has taken the nests of ring- 

 ousels * on Dartmoor : they build in banks on the sides of 

 streams. 



Titlarks f not only sing sweetly as they sit on trees, but 

 also as they play and toy about on the wing ; and particularly 

 while they are descending, and sometimes as they stand on the 

 ground. J 



Adanson's testimony seems to me to be a very poor 

 evidence that European swallows migrate during our winter 

 to Senegal ; he does not talk at all like an ornithologist, and 

 probably saw only the swallows of that country, which I know 

 build within Governor O'Hara's hall against the roof. Had 

 he known European swallows, would he not have mentioned 

 the species ? 



The house-swallow washes by dropping into the water as it 

 flies ; this species appears commonly about a week before the 

 house-marten, and about ten or twelve days before the swift. 



In 1772, there were young house-martens || in their nest till 

 October the 23d. 



The swift f appears about ten or twelve days later than 

 the house-swallow ; viz. about the 24th or 26th of April. 



Whin-chats ** and stone-chatters f f stay with us the whole 

 year. 



Some wheatears J J continue with us the winter through. 



Wagtails, all sorts, remain with us all the winter. || || 



* British Zoology, vol. i. p. 229. f Ibid. vol. ii. p. 237. 

 \ This must have been the tree pipet, anthus arboreus, as the titlark 



generally sits on the ground ED. 



British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 242. 



1| Ibid. p. 244. ' f Ibid. p. 245. 



* * This is a migratory species, appearing in Britain about the middle of 

 April ED. 



ff British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 270, 271. \\ Ibid. p. 269. 



Wheatears are migratory, and some few do remain. Montagu 

 mentions the fact, and Mr Sweet says, " 1 observed a pair on the 17th 

 November, near the gravel pit in Hyde-Park, which were quite lively, 

 and flying about after the insects, as brisk as if it had been the middle of 

 summer." They generally migrate in September ED. 



j| || There are three species of wagtails in Britain, the pied, gray, 

 and yellow. The pied wagtail is to be found in the south of England, 

 during the whole year ; but, in the northern parts, it is migratory, retiring 

 to the southward about the middle of October, and returning to the 

 north about the beginning of March. The gray wagtail is only known 



