OF SELBORNE. 139 



Birds that sing in the night are but few. 1 



vr. t * ! 7- ( " In shadiest covert hid." 



Nightingale, Luscima: 



( MILTON. 



Woodlark, Alauda wlorea: Suspended in mid air. 



Less reed spar- ( Passer arundina- ) . 



< . > Among reeds and willows, 



row, ] ceus minor: \ 



I should now proceed to such birds as continue to sing 

 after midsummer, but as they are rather numerous, they 

 would exceed the bounds of this paper; besides, as this 

 is now the season for remarking on that subject, I am 

 willing to repeat my observations on some birds concerning 

 the continuation of whose song I seem at present to have 

 some doubt. 



LETTER II. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 



SELBORNE, Nov. 2, 1769. 



EN I did myself the honour to write to you 

 about the end of last June on the subject of 

 natural history, I sent you a list of the 

 summer birds of passage which I have 

 observed in this neighbourhood ; and also 

 a list of the winter birds of passage ; I mentioned besides 

 those soft-billed birds that stay with us the winter through 

 in the south of England, and those that are remarkable for 

 singing in the night. 



According to niy proposal, I shall now proceed to such 

 birds (singing birds strictly so called) as continue in full 

 song till after midsummer ; and shall range them somewhat 



1 Some others might have been added, as the reed warbler, the grass- 

 hopper warbler, and the cuckoo. The sky-lark often sings very late, 

 and the note of the corncrake may frequently be heard in May between 

 11 and 12 P.M. The "less reed sparrow," Passer arundaccus minor, 

 above mentioned is the sedge warbler, Salicaria phragmitis (Bech- 

 stein). Er>. 



