nest of a small
bird on the ground; and that it was fed by the little bird. I went to
see this extraordinary phenomenon, and found that it was a young cuckoo
hatched in the nest of a titlark; it was become vastly too big for its
nest, appearing

". . . . . in tenui re
Majores pennas nido extendisse . . "

and was very fierce and pugnacious, pursuing my finger as I teased it,
for many feet from the nest, and sparring and buffeting with its wings
like a game-cock. The dupe of a dam appeared at a distance, hovering
about with meat in its mouth, and expressing the greatest solicitude.

In July I saw several cuckoos skimming over a large pond; and found,
after some observation, that they were feeding on the _Libellulae_ or
dragon-flies; some of which they caught as they settled on the weeds, and
some as they were on the wing. Notwithstanding what Linnaeus says, I
cannot be induced to believe that they are birds of prey.

This district affords some birds that are hardly ever heard of at
Selborne. In the first place considerable flocks of cross-beaks (_Loxiae
curvirostrae_) have appeared this summer in the pine-groves belonging to
this house; the water-ouzel is said to haunt the mouth of the Lewes
river, near Newhaven; and the Cornish chough builds, I know, all along
the chalky cliffs of the Sussex shore.

I was greatly pleased to see little parties of ring-ouzels (my newly
discovered migrators) scattered, at intervals, all along the Sussex
downs, from Chichester to Lewes. Let them come from whence they will, it
looks very suspicious that they are cantoned along the coast in order to
pass the channel when severe weather advances. They visit us again in
April, as it should seem, in their return; and are not to be found in the
dead of winter. It is remarkable that they are very tame, and seem to
have no manner of apprehensions of danger from a person with a gun.
There are bustards on the wide downs near Brighthelmstone. No doubt you
are acquainted with the Sussex downs; the prospects and rides round Lewes
are most lovely!

As I rode along near the coast I kept a very sharp look-out in the lanes
and woods, hoping I might, at this time of the year, have discovered some
of the summer short-winged birds of passage crowding towards the coast in
order for their departure: but it was very extraordinary that I never saw
a red-start, white-throat, black-cap, uncrested wren, fly-catcher, etc.
And I remember to have