Page:White - The natural history of Selborne, and the naturalist's calendar, 1879.djvu/152

	RAII NOMINA.	USUALLY APPEARS ABOUT.
14. Grasshopper-lark,	Alauda minima locustæ voce.	Middle April: a small sibilous note, till the end of July
15. Swift,	Hirundo apus.	About April 27th.
16. Less reed-sparrow,	Passer arundinaceus minor.	A sweet polyglot, but hurrying; it has the notes of many birds.
17. Land-rail,	Ortygometra.	A loud harsh note, crex, crex.
18. Largest willow-wren,	Regulus non cristatus.	Cantat voce stridulâ locustæ; end of April, on the tops of high beeches.
19. Goat-sucker, or fern-owl,	Caprimulgus.	Beginning of May: chatters by night with a singular noise.
20. Fly-catcher,	Stoparola.	May 12th: a very mute bird; this is the latest summer bird of passage.

This assemblage of curious and amusing birds belongs to ten several genera of the Linnæan system; and are all of the ordo of passeres save the Jynx and Cuculus, which are picæ, and the Charadrius (Œdicnemus) and Rallus (Ortygometra), which are grallæ.

These birds, as they stand numerically, belong to the following Linnæan genera:

1,	Jynx.	13. Columba.
2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18,	Motacilla.	17. Rallus.
3, 4, 5, 15,	Hirundo.	19. Caprimulgus.
8,	Cuculus.	14. Alauda.
12,	Charadrius.	20. Muscicapa.

Most soft-billed birds live on insects, and not on grain and seeds; and therefore at the end of summer they retire: but the following soft-billed birds, though insect-eaters, stay with us the year round:

	RAII NOMINA.
Redbreast, Wren,	Rubecula. Passer troglodytes.	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	These frequent houses; and haunt out-buildings in the winter: eat spiders.
Hedge-sparrow,	Curruca.		Haunt sinks for crumbs and other sweepings.

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