138 NATURAL HISTOliY OF SELBORNE. 



LETTER X. 



Selboene, Aug. \st, 1771. 



From what follows, it will appear that neither owls nor 

 cuckoos keep to one note. A friend remarks that many 

 (most) of his owls hoot in B flat ; but that one went almost 

 half a note below A. The pipe he tried their notes by was 

 a common half-crown pitch-pipe, such as masters use for 

 tuning of harpsichords ; it was the common London pitch. 



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, the other in D sharp, who 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 



