LETTERS to DAINES BARRINGTON
Letter I
To The Honourable Daines Barrington
Selborne, June 30, 1769.
Dear Sir,
When I was in town last month I partly engaged that I would sometime do myself the honour to write to you on the subject of natural history: and I am the more ready to fulfil my promise, because I see you are a gentleman of great candour, and one that will make allowances; especially where the writer professes to be an out-door naturalist, one that takes his observations from the subject itself, and not from the writings of others.
The following is a List of the Summer Birds of Passage which I have discovered in this neighbourhood, ranged somewhat in the order in which they appear.
1. Wry-neck, Raii nomina: Jynx, sive torquilla: Usually appears about: The middle of March: harsh note.
2. Smallest willow-wren, Regulus non cristatus: March 23: chirps till September.
3. Swallow, Hirundo domestica: April 13.
4. Martin, Hirundo rustica: Ditto.
5. Sand-martin, Hirundo riparia: Ditto.
6. Black-cap, Atricapilla: Ditto: a sweet wild note.
7. Nightingale, Luscinia: Beginning of April.
8. Cuckoo, Cuculus: Middle of April.
9. Middle willow-wren, Regulus non cristatus: Ditto, a sweet plaintive note.
10. White-throat, Ficedulae affinis: Middle of April: mean note; sings on till S
