puzzles me moft, is the very fhort ftay they make with us; for
in about three weeks they are all gone. I Ihall be very curious to
remark whether they will call on. us at their return in tire fpring,
as they did laft year.
I want to be betfer- informed, with regard ta idthyology. I f
fortune had fettled me near the fea-fide, or near fome great river,
my natural propenlity would foon have urged me to, have made
.myfelf acquainted with their produdtions: but as I have lived
moftly in inland parts, and in an upland diftridt, my knowledge
of filhes. extends little farther than to thofe common forts which
our brooks and lakes produce.
I am,. &c._ -
L E T T E R XXIL
TO .THE S A M E -
DEAR SIR, Seleorne, Jan. s; 1769.
A s to the peculiarity of jackdaws- building with us under the
ground in rabbit-burrows, you have, in part, hit upon the rea-
fon ; for, in reality, there are hardly any towers or fteeples in all
this country. And perhaps, Norfolk excepted, Hampjhire and
Sujfex are as meanly furnifhed with churches as almoft any counties
in the kingdom. We have many livings of two or three hundred
pounds a "year, whofe houfes of worfhip make little better appearance
than dovecots. When I firft faw Northamptonjhire, Cambridgejhire
and
and Huntlngdonjhire, and the fens of Lincolnfhire, I was amazed at
the number of fpires which prefented themfelves in every point of
view. As an admirer of profpedls, I have reafon to lament this
want in my own country; for fuch objedts are very necefiary
ingredients^ in an elegant landfcape.
What you mention with refpedt to reclaimed toads raifes my
euriofity. An ancient author, though no naturalift, has well remarked
that “ Every kind of beajls, and of birds, and o f ferpents, and
“ things in the fea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, of mankindz.”
It is a fatisfadtion to me to find that a green lizard has adtually
been procured for you in Devonfhire-, becaufe it corroborates my
difcovery, which I made many years agOj of the fame fort, on a
funny fandbank near Farnham', in Surrey.. I am well acquainted
with the fouth hams of Devonjhire; and can fuppofe that diftridt,
from it’s foutherly fituation, ta be a proper habitation for fuch
animals in their belt colours-
Since the ring-oufels of your vaft mountains' do certainly not
forfake them againft winter, our fufpicions that thofe which vifit
this neighbourhood about Michaelmas are not Englifh birds, but
driven from the more northern parts of Europe by. the frofts, are
ftill more reafonable; and- it will be worth your pains to endeavour
to trace from whence they come, and to inquire why they make fo
very fhort a ftay.
In your account of your error with regard to the two fpeeies of
herons, you incidentally gave me great entertainment in your de-
fcriptionof the heronry :at Creff-halli which is a euriofity I never
could manage to fee. Fourfcore nefts of fuch a bird on one
tree is a- rarity which I would ride half as many miles to have a
55 James t chap. iii. 7.
fight