OF SELBORNE. 59 



A List of the Summer Birds of Passage discovered in this Neighbour- 

 hood, ranged somewhat in the Order in which they appear: 



Linruei Nomina. 



Smallest willow wren, Motacilla trochilus : * 



Wryneck, Yunx torquilla : 



House swallow, Hirundo rustica : 



Martin, Hirundo urbica: 



Sand martin, Hirundo riparia : 



Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus: 



Nightingale, Motacilla luscinia : 



Blackcap, Motacilla atricapilla : 



The Rev. W. Herbert observed that his gardeners were in the habit of 

 catching the hens on their nests in the strawberry beds, and killing them, 

 under the impression that they made great havoc among the cherries ; 

 yet he affirmed that they never tasted the fruit, nor could those which 

 were reared from the nest in confinement be induced to touch it. They 

 merely peck off the Aphides which are injurious to the fruit trees. 



. The birds which were mistaken for them are the young of the garden 

 warbler {Sylvia hortensis), with which species apparently White was 

 not acquainted, as it is not mentioned by him, nor does it appear in his 

 list of summer birds. The young of this species have a strong tinge of 

 yellow on the sides, which disappears after the moult, and gives them 

 very much the appearance of the willow wren when seen upon the tree, 

 though they are larger and stouter, and in habits more nearly resemble 

 the blackcaps, with whom they are associated in the plunder of fruit. 



Mr. Herbert remarks " I could not persuade my gardener that the 

 yellow wrens did not eat the cherries, till he had shot some of the 

 petty chaps (garden- warbler) in the act of eating them, and compared 

 them with the wrens, when he became satisfied of the error. In order 

 to ascertain, beyond doubt, whether the yellow wrens ever eat fruit, I 

 left some which had been reared tame from the nest, and of course were 

 more likely to feed upon any new thing than the wild birds, without 

 victuals, till they were very hungry, and I then offered them little bits 

 of ripe cherry. They seized them with avidity, but immediately threw 

 them down again, and it was evident that they would rather have 

 starved than eat the fruit. I had no doubt of the fact, but I wished to 

 set the question completely at rest ; for I have seen them pulling the 

 leaves of the cherry-trees so near the fruit, that any person might be de- 

 ceived, and think they were eating it, and the young of the pettychaps 

 (garden- warbler) look so like them, that I am not in the least surprised 

 at their having got into bad repute with the gardeners." ED. 



1 White seems to have applied the Latin name Motacilla trochilus 

 to three different birds in this list, probably because he was unable to 

 identify them with the Latin names respectively bestowed on them by 

 older authors. He therefore employed the expression Moiacilla 

 trochilus as he would say " a kind of willow wren." ED. 



