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NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE.
Birds that sing for a short time, and very early in the spring:
RAII NOMINA. | |||
21. | Missel-bird. | Turdus viscivorus. | January 2nd, 1770, in February. Is called in Hampshire and Sussex the storm-cock, because its song is supposed to forbode windy wet weather; it is the largest singing bird we have. |
22. | Great titmouse or ox-eye, | Fringillago. | In February, March, April: re-assumes for a short time in September. |
Birds that have somewhat of a note or song, and yet are hardly to be called singing birds:
23. | Golden-crowned wren, | Regulus cristatus. | Its note as minute as its person; frequents the tops of high oaks and firs; the smallest British bird. |
24. | Marsh-titmouse, | Parus palustris. | Haunts great woods: two harsh sharp notes. |
25. | Small willow-wren, | Regulus non cristatus. | Sings in March, and on to September. |
26. | Largest ditto, | Ditto. | Cantat voce stridulâ locustæ; from end of April to August. |
27. | Grasshopper-lark, | Alauda minima voce locustæ. | Chirps all night, from the middle of April to the end of July. |
28. | Martin, | Hirundo agrestis. | All the breeding time; from May to September. |
29. | Bullfinch, | Pyrrhula. | |
30. | Bunting, | Emberiza alba. | From the end of January to July. |
All singing birds, and those that have any pretensions to song, not only in Britain, but perhaps the world through, come under the Linnæan ordo of Passeres.
The above-mentioned birds, as they stand numerically, belong to the following Linnæan genera:
1, 7, 10, 27, | Alauda. | 8, 28, | Hirundo. | |
2, 11, 21, | Turdus. | 13, 16, 19, | Fringilla. | |
3, 4, 5, 9, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25, 26, |
Motacilla. | 22, 24, | Parus. | |
14, 29, | Loxia. | |||
6, 30, | Emberiza. |