3 6 - N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y
fummer three fpecies of birds with us, which writers mention
as only to be feen in the northern counties. The firft .that was
brought me (on the 14th of May), was the fandpiper, tringa
hypoleucus-: it was a cock bird, and haunted the banlfs of fome ponds
near the village; and, as it had a companion, dpub.tlels intended
to have bred near that water. Bolides, the, owner, has told me
iince, that, on recollection, he has feen fome of the fame birds
round his ponds in former fummers.
The next bird that I procured (on the 21ft of May) was a male.
red-backed butcher bird, lanius coUuria. My neighbour, who Ihot
it, fays that it might eafily have efcaped his notice., had not the
outcries and chattering of the white-throats-and other fmall birds
drawn his attention to the bulh where it was : it’s craw was filled
■ with the legs and wings of beetles.
The next rare birds (which were procured for me laft. week)
were fome ring-oufels, turdi torquati.
This week twelve months a gentleman from London, being with
us, was atnufing himfelf with a gun, and found, he told us, on
an old yew hedge where there were berries, fome birds like blackbirds,
with rings of white round their necks • a neighbouring
Farmer alfo at the fame time obferved the fame; but, as no fpeci-
mens were procured, little notice was taken. I mentioned this
circumftance to you in my letter of November the 4th, 1767 : (you
however paid but fmall regard to what I faid, as I had not feen
fhefe birds myfelf)- but laft week the aforefaid farmer, feeing a
large flock, twenty or thirty of thefe birds, (hot two cocks and two
hens: and fays, on recojle&ion, that he remembers to have obferved
fhefe birds again laft fpring, about Lady-day, as it were, on their
return to the north. Now perhaps thefe oufels are not the oufels
o f the north of England, but belong tc the more northern parts of
Europe;
O F S E L B O R N E . 57
Europe; and may retire before the exceflive rigor of the frofts in
thofe parts; and return to breed in the fpring, when the cold
abates. I f this be the cafe, here is difcovered a new bird of winter
paflage, concerning whofe migrations the writers are filent: but if
-thefe birds (hould prove the oufels of the north of England, then
here is a migration difclofed within our own kingdom never before
remarked. It does not yet appear whether they retire beyond
-the bounds of our ifland to the fouth; but it is moft probable that
they ufually do, or elfe one cannot fuppofe that they would have
continued fo long unnoticed in the fouthern counties. The oufel
is larger than a blackbird, and feeds on haws; but laft autumn
(when there were no haws) it fed on yew-berries-: in the fpring it
feeds on ivy-berries, which ripen only at that feafon, in March
and Jpril.
I muft not omit to tell you (as you have been fo lately on the
•ftudy of reptiles) that my people, every now- and then of late,
draw up with a bucket of water from my well, which, is 63 feet
deep, a large black warty lizard with a fin-tail and yellow belly.
How they firft came down at that depth, and how they were
ever to have got out .thence without .help, is more -than I am
able to fay.
My thanks are due to you for your trouble and care in the examination
of a buck’s head. As far as your difcoveries reach at
prefent, they feem much to corroborate my fufpicions; and I
hope M r .------may find reafon to give his decifion in my favour;
and then,- I think, we may advance this extraordinary provifion of
nature as a new.inftance of the wifdom of God in the creation.
As yet I have not quite done with my hiftory of the oedfcnemus,
or ftone-curlew; for I (hall defire a gentleman in Suffix (near
whofe houfe thefe birds congregate in vaft flocks in the autumn)
I to