NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 109 



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 ab<5ut 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 after- 

 wards 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 or do ofgrallce, 

 who, all to a bird, forsake the northern parts of Europe at the approach 

 of winter. " Orallce tanquam conjuratce unanimiter in fugam se conji- 

 ciunt j ne earum unicam quidem inter nos habitantem invenire 

 possimus ; ut enim cestate in australibus degere nequeunt ob defectum 

 lumbricorum, terramque siccam ; ita nee infrigidis ob eandem causam," 

 says Ekmarck the Swede, in his ingenious little treatise called " Migra- 

 tiones AviUm," which by all means you ought to read while your thoughts 

 run on the subject of migration. See " Amoenitates Academicae," 

 vol. iv., p. 565. 



Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to migrate in one 

 country, and not in another : but the grallce (which procure their food 

 from marshes and boggy grounds), must in winter forsake the more 

 northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want of food. 



I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnaeus concerning the 

 woodcock : it is expected of him that he should be able to account for 

 the motions and manner of life of the animals of his own " Fauna." 



Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare descriptions, 

 and a few synonyms : the reason is plain ; because all that may be 

 done at home in a man's study, but the investigation of the life and 

 conversation of animals, is a concern of much more trouble and difficulty, 

 and is not to be attained but by the active and inquisitive, and by those 

 that reside much in the country. 



Foreign systdmatics are, I observe, much too vague in their specific 

 differences ; which are almost universally constituted by one or two 

 particular marks, the rest of the description running in general terms. 

 But our countryman, the excellent Mr. Eay, is the only described that 

 conveys some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his 

 superiority over his followers and imitators in spite of the advantage of 

 fresh discoveries and modern information. 



