SINGING BIRDS. 73 



f Uses, when singing on the 

 WMte- throat, ficedulce affinis. -J wing, odd jerks and 



(. gesticulations. 

 Swallow, Hirundo domestica. In soft, sunny weather. 



T-> 7 j j. f Sometimes from bush to 



Wren,* Passer troglodytes. < ^ ^ 



Birds that breed most early in these parts : 



Raven, Corvus. < '* 



Song-thrush, Turdus. In March. 



Blackbird, Merula. In March. 



Rook, Comix frugilega. ^^^ be innin ^ 



Woodlark, Alauda arborea. Hatches in April. 



Ringdove, Palumbus torquatus. { La > f s ^ ril * he be ^ innin " 



All birds that continue in full song till after midsummer, 

 appear to me to breed more than once. 



Most kinds of birds seem to me to be wild and shy, some- 

 what in proportion to their bulk ; I mean in this island, where 

 they are much pursued and annoyed ; but in Ascension Island, 

 and many other desolate places, mariners have found fowls so 

 unacquainted with a human figure, that they would stand still 

 to be taken, as is the case with boobies, &c. As an example 

 of what is advanced, I remark that the golden-crested wren, 

 (the smallest British bird,) will stand unconcerned till you 

 come within three or four yards of it, while the bustard, (o&,) 

 the largest British land fowl, does not care to admit a person 

 within so many furlongs. 



LETTER XXVIII. 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



SELBORNE, December 8, 1709. 



DEAR SIR, I was much gratified by your communicative 

 letter on your return from Scotland, where you spent, I find, some 



* The missel-thrush occasionally sings on the wing. In London's 

 Magazine, we have the following statement by a correspondent: " I 

 have once in my life observed one to sing, whilst in the act of flying from 

 one side of a field to the other ; " and the Rev. W. T. Bree remarks, in 

 the above, " On the 3d of March, 1831, 1 was an eye and ear witness of 

 the fact of a missel- thrush singing and singing in good style on the 

 wing, flying over the Lammas Fields, between the village of Allesley and 

 Coventry." Eo. 



H 



