If there was any
merit in the sketch, it must be owing to its punctually. For many
months I carried a list in my pocket of the birds that were to be
remarked, and, as I rode or walked about my business, I noted each
day the continuance or omission of each bird's song; so that I am as
sure of the certainty of my facts as a man can be of any transaction
whatsoever.
I shall now proceed to answer the several queries which you put in
your two obliging letters, in the best manner that I am able.
Perhaps Eastwick, and its environs, where you heard so very few
birds, is not a woodland country, and therefore not stocked with
such songsters. If you will cast your eye on my last letter, you will
find that many species continued to warble after the beginning of
July.
The titlark and yellowhammer breed late, the latter very late; and
therefore it is no wonder that they protract their song; for I lay it
down as a maxim in ornithology, that as long as there is any
incubation going on there is music. As to the red-breast and wren,
it is well known to the most incurious observer that they whistle
the year round, hard frost excepted; especially the latter.
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