OF SELBOENE. 
50 
A List of the Summfir Birds of Passage discovered in this Neighbour- 
hood, ranged somewhat in the Order in which they appear : 
The Rev. W. Herbert observed that his gardeners were in the habit of 
catching the hens on their nests in the strawberry beds, and killing them, 
under the impression that they made great havoc among the cherries ; 
yet he affirmed that they never tasted the fruit, nor could those which 
were reared from the nest in confinement be induced to touch it. They 
merely peck off the Aphides which are injurious to the fi-uit trees. 
The birds which were mistaken for them are the young of the garden 
warbler (^Sylvia hoi^tensis), with which species apparently White was 
not acquainted, as it is not mentioned by him, nor does it appear in his 
list of summer bu'ds. The young of this species have a strong tinge of 
yellow on the sides, which disappears after the moult, and gives them 
very much the appearance of the willow wren when seen upon the tree, 
though they are larger and stouter, and in habits more nearly resemble 
the blackcaps, with whom they are associated in the plunder of fruit. 
Mr. Herbert remarks — " I could not persuade my gardener that the 
yellow wrens did not eat the cherries, till he had shot some of the 
petty chaps (garden- warbler) in the act of eating them, and compared 
them with the wrens, when he became satisfied of the error. In order 
to ascertain, beyond doubt, whether the yellow wrens ever eat fruit, I 
left some which had been reared tame from the nest, and of course were 
more likely to feed upon any new thing than the wild birds, without 
victuals, till they were very hungry, and I then offered them little bits 
of ripe cherry. They seized them with avidity, but immediately threw 
them down again, and it was evident that they would rather have 
starved than eat the fruit. I had no doubt of the fact, but I wished to 
set the question completely at rest ; for I have seen them pulling the 
leaves of the cherry-trees so near the fruit, that any person might be de- 
ceived, and think they were eating it, and the young of the petty chaps 
(garden- warbler) look so like them, that I am not in the least surprised 
at their having got into bad repute with the gardeners." — Ed. 
^ White seems to have applied the Latin name Motacilla trochilus 
to three difierent birds in this list, probably because he was unable to 
identify them with the Latin names respectively bestowed on them by 
older authors. He therefore employed the expression Motacilla 
trochilus as he would say " a kind of willow wren." — Ed. 
Smallest willow wren, 
Wryneck, 
House swalloAV, 
Martin, 
Sand martin, 
Cuckoo, 
Nightingale^ 
Blackcap, 
Linncei Nomina, 
Motacilla trochilus : ^ 
Yunx torquilla: 
Hirundo rustica : 
Hirundo urhica: 
Hirundo riparia: 
Cuculus canorus: 
3Iotacilla luscinia : 
Motacilla atricapilla : 
