OF SELBORNE. 209 



were in the room ; but in their wild state 

 no one supposes they sing in the night. 



I should be almost ready to doubt the 

 fact, that there are to be seen much fewer 

 birds in July than in any former month, 

 notwithstanding so many yo ung are hatched 

 daily. Sure I am, that it is far otherwise 

 with respect to the swallow tribe, which 

 increases prodigiously as the Summer ad- 

 vances : and I saw, at the time mentioned, 

 many hundreds of young wagtails on the 

 banks of the Cherwell, which almost co- 

 vered the meadows. If the matter appears 

 as you say in the other species, may it not 

 be owing to the dams being engaged in 

 incubation, while the young are concealed 

 by the leaves ? 



Many times have I had the curiosity to 

 open the stomach of woodcocks and snipes ; 

 but nothing ever occurred that helped to 

 explain to me what their subsistence might 

 be : all that I could ever find was a soft 

 mucus, among which lay many pellucid 

 small gravels. I am, &c. 



VOL. I. 



p. 



