82 NATURAL HISTORY 
One of my neighbours last Saturday, November 
the 26th, saw a martin in a sheltered bottom; the 
sun shone warm, and the bird was hawking briskly 
after flies. Iam now perfectly satisfied that they 
do not all leave this island in the winter. 
You judge very right, I think, in speaking with 
reserve and caution concerning the cures done by 
toads ; for, let people advance what they will on 
such subjects, yet there is such a propensity in 
mankind towards deceiving and being deceived, 
that one cannot safely relate anything from com- 
mon report, especially in print, without expressing 
some degree of doubt and suspicion. 
Your approbation with regard to my new dis- 
covery of the migration of the ringousel gives me 
satisfaction; and I find you concur with me in 
suspecting that they are foreign birds which visit 
us. You will be sure, I hope, not to omit to make 
inquiry whether your ringousels leave your rocks 
in the autumn. What puzzles me most is the 
very short stay they make with us, for in about 
three weeks they are all gone. I shall be very 
curious to remark whether they will call on us at 
their return in the spring, as they did last year. 
I want to be better informed with regard to 
ichthyology. If fortune had settled me near the 
seaside or near some great river, my natural pro- 
pensity would soon have urged me to have made 
myself acquainted with their productions ; but as [ 
have lived mostly in inland parts, and in an upland 
district, my knowledge of fishes extends little farther 
than to those common sorts which our brooks and 
lakes produce. 
