A List of the summer birds of passage discovered in this neighbourhood, ranged somewhat in the order in which they appear:
| Linnæi Nomina | |
| Smallest willow-wren, | Motacilla trochilus. |
| Wryneck, | Lynx torquilla. |
| House-swallow, | Hirundo rustica. |
| Martin, | Hirundo urbica. |
| Sand-martin, | Hirundo riparia. |
| Cuckoo, | Cuculus canorus. |
| Nightingale, | Motacilla luscinia. |
| Black-cap, | Motacilla atricapilla. |
| White-throat, | Motacilla sylvia. |
| Middle willow-wren, | Motacilla trochilus. |
| Swift, | Hirundo apus. |
| Stone curlew,? | Charadrius oedicnemus? |
| Turtle-dove,? | Turtur aldrovandi? |
| Grasshopper-lark, | Alauda trivialis. |
| Landrail, | Rallus crex. |
| Largest willow-wren, | Motacilla trochilus. |
| Redstart, | Motacilla phœnicurus. |
| Goat-sucker, or fern-owl, | Caprimulgus europæus. |
| Fly-catcher, | Muscicapa grisola. |
My countrymen talk much of a bird that makes a clatter with its bill against a dead bough, or some old pales, calling it a jar-bird. I procured one to be shot in the very fact; it proved to be the sitta europaea (the nut-hatch). Mr. Ray says that the less spotted woodpecker does the same. This noise may be heard a furlong or more.
Now is the only time to ascertain the short-winged summer birds; for, when the leaf is out, there is no making any remarks 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.
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 a turkey? Some suspect it is made by their wings.
This morning I saw the golden-crowned wren, whose crown glitters like burnished gold. It often hangs lice a titmouse, with its back downwards.
Yours, etc., etc.
Letter XVII
To Thomas Pennant, Esquire
Selborne, June 18, 1768.