Page:White - The natural history of Selborne, and the naturalist's calendar, 1879.djvu/80

on such a restless tribe; and when once the young begin to appear it is all confusion: there is no distinction of genus, species, or sex.

Nuthatch.

In breeding-time snipes play over the moors, piping and humming; they always hum as they are descending. Is not their hum ventriloquous like that of the turkey? Some suspect it is made by their wings.

This morning I saw the golden-crowned wren, whose crown glitters like burnished gold.^[e3] It often hangs like a titmouse, with its back downwards.

Yours, etc., etc.⁠

 

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notes to letter xvi.

^e1 ↑  White probably means the willow-wren and chiff-chaff which are common, and the wood-wren which is rare.

^e2 ↑  The nuthatch builds in holes in trees, and if the opening is too large, it builds it up with mud, leaving only sufficient room for its own egress and ingress.