xxvu.] 
OF SELBORNE. 
89 
Birds that sing as they fly are but few :- 
Skylark, 
Titlark, 
Woodlark, 
Blackbird, 
White-throat, 
Swallow, 
Wren, 
RAII NOMINA. 
Alauda vulgaris: 
Alauda iwatorum : 
Alauda arhorea : 
Merula : 
Ficedula affinis : 
Hirundo domestica. 
Fasser troglodytes: 
Rising, suspended, and falling, 
rin its descent; also sitting on 
-< trees, and walking on the 
( ground. 
5 Suspended ; in hot summer nights 
\ all night long. 
Sometimes from bush to bush, 
j Uses when singing on the wing 
I odd j erks and gesticulations. 
' In soft sunny weather. 
' Sometimes from bush to bush. 
Birds that breed most early in these parts :- 
Raven, 
Song-thrush, 
Blackbird, 
Rook, 
Woodlark, 
Ring-dove, 
Corvus : 
Turd'iis : 
Merula : 
Comix frugilega : 
Alauda arbor ea: 
( Palumhus torqua- 
\ tus : 
Hatches in February and March. 
In March. 
Ditto. 
Builds the beginning of March. 
Hatches in April. 
Lays the beginning of April. 
All birds that continue in full song till after Midsummer 
appear to me to breed more than once. 
Most kinds of birds seem to me to be wild and shy somewhat 
in proportion to their bulk ; I mean in this island, where they are 
much pursued and annoyed : but in Ascension Island, and many 
other desolate places, mariners have found fowls so unacquainted 
with a human figure, that they w^ould stand still to be taken ; 
as is the case with boobies, &c. As an example of what is 
advanced, I remark that the golden-crested wren (the smallest 
British bird) will stand unconcerned till you come within three 
or four yards of it, while the bustard (otis), the largest British 
land fowl, does not care to admit a person within so many 
furlonc^s. 
Selborne, Nov. 2, 1769. 
