NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
109 
The pipe he tried their notes by was a common half-crown pitch-pipe, 
such as masters use for tuning of harpsichords ; it was the common 
London pitch. 
A neighbour of mine, who is said to have a nice ear, remarks that 
the owls about this village hoot in three different keys, in G flat, or F 
sharp, in B flat and A flat. He heard two hooting to each other, the one 
in A flat, and the other in B flat. Query : Do these different notes proceed 
from different species, or only from various individuals'? The same 
person finds upon trial that the note of the cuckoo (of which we have 
but one species) varies in different individuals ; for, about Selborne 
wood, he found they were mostly in D : he heard two sing together, the 
one in D, the other in D sharp, who made a disagreeable concert : he after- 
wards heard one in D sharp, and about Wolmer Forest some in C. 
As to nightingales, he says that their notes are so short, and their 
transitions so rapid, that he cannot well ascertain their key. Perhaps 
in a cage, and in a room, their notes may be more distinguishable. 
This person has tried to settle the notes of a swift, and of several other 
small birds, but cannot bring them to any criterion. 
As I have often remarked that redwings are some of the first birds 
that suffer with us in severe weather, it is no wonder at all that they 
retreat from Scandinavian winters : and much more the ordo of grallce, 
who, all to a bird, forsake the northern parts of Europe at the approach 
of winter. " Orallce tanquam conjuratce unanimiter in fugam se conji- 
ciunt ; ne earum unicam quidem inter nos habitantem invenire 
possimus ; ut enim cestate in australihus degere nequeunt oh defectum 
lumhricorum, terramque siccam ; ita nec in frigidis oh eandem causam,^' 
says Ekmarck the Swede, in his ingenious little treatise called " Migra- 
tiones Avium," which by all means you ought to read while your thoughts 
run on the subject of migration. See Amoenitates Academicse," 
vol. iv., p. 565. 
Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to migrate in one 
country, and not in another : but the grallm (which procure their food 
from marshes and boggy grounds), must in winter forsake the more 
northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want of food. 
I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnaeus concerning the 
woodrock : it is expected of him that he should be able to account for 
the n lotions and manner of life of the animals of his own " Fauna." 
Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare descriptions, 
and a few synonyms : the reason is plain ; because all that may be 
done at home in a man's study, but the investigation of the life and 
conversation of animals, is a concern of much more trouble and difficulty, 
and is not to be attained but by the active and inquisitive, and by those 
that reside much in the country. 
Foreign systematics are, I observe, much too vague in their specific 
differences ; which are almost universally constituted by one or two 
particular marks, the rest of the description running in general terms. 
But our countryman, the excellent Mr. Eay, is the only describer that 
conveys some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his 
superiority over his followers and imitators in spite of the advantage of 
fresh discoveries and modern information. 
