XX. 
OF SELBORNE. 
since, that, on recollection, he has seen some of the same birds 
round his ponds in former summers. 
The next bird that I procured (on the 21st of May) was a 
male red-back butcher bird, {Lanius collurio). My neighbour who 
shot it says that it might easily have escaped his notice, had 
not the outcries and chattering of the white-throats and other 
small birds drawn his attention to the bush where it was : its 
craw was filled with legs and wings of beetles. 
THE BUTCHER BIRD. 
The next rare birds (which were procured for me last week) 
were some ring-ousels, (Turchis torquatus). 
This week twelve months a gentleman Irom London being 
with us, was amusing himself with a gun, and found, he told us, 
on an old yew hedge where there were berries, some birds like 
blackbirds, with rings of white round their necks : a neighbour- 
ing farmer also at the same time observed the same ; but, as no 
specimens were procured, little notice was taken. I mentioned 
