OF SELBORNE. 107 
Lord Pembroke’s, at Wilton, a horn-room furnished 
with more than thirty different pairs; but I have 
not seen that house lately. 
Mr. Barrington showed me many astonishing 
collections of stuffed and living birds from all 
quarters of the world. After I had studied over 
the latter for a time, I remarked that every species 
almost that came from distant regions, such as 
South America, the coast of Guinea, &c., were 
thick-billed birds of the lovia and fringilla genera ; 
and no motacille or muscicape were to be met with. 
When I came to consider, the reason was obvious 
enough ; for the hard-billed birds subsist on seeds 
which are easily carried on board, while the soft- 
billed birds, which are supported by worms and 
insects, or, what is a succedaneum for them, fresh 
raw meat, can meet with neither in long and tedious 
voyages. It is from this defect of food that our 
collections (curious as they are) are defective, and 
we are deprived of some of the most delicate and 
lively genera. 
LETTER XXXI. 
Selborne, Sept. 14, 1770. ° 
Dear Sir,—Yov saw, | find, the ringousels again 
among their native crags, and are farther assured 
that they continue resident in those cold regions the 
whole year. From whence, then, do our ringou- 
sels migrate so regularly every September, and 
make their appearance again, as if in their return, 
every April? They are more early this year than 
