166 



NATURAL HISTORY 



backed butcher-bird at Selborne : they are 

 rarcB aves in this country. 



Crows * go in pairs the whole year 

 round. 



Cornish choughsf abound, and breed on 

 Beachy-Head and on all the cliffs of the 

 Sussex coast. 



The common wild pigeon,;}: or stock 

 dove, is a bird of passage in the south of 

 England, seldom appearing till towards the 

 end of November : is usually the latest win- 

 ter-bird of passage. Before our beechen 

 woods were so much destroyed, we had 

 myriads of them, reaching in strings for a 

 mile together as they went out in a morn- 

 ing to feed. They leave us early in Spring ; 

 where do they breed ? 



The people of Hampshire ^.nd Sussex call 

 the missel-bird§ the storm-cock, because it 

 sings early in the Spring in blowing show,ery 

 weather ; its song often commences with 

 the year: with us it builds much in 

 orchards. 



* British Zoology, vol. i. p. 167- t P. 198- 

 J P. 216. § p. 224. 



