OF SELBORNE. 161 
There is room to expect great things from the hands 
of that man, who is a good naturalist; and one 
would think that a history of the birds of so distant 
and southern a region as Carniola would be new 
and interesting. I could wish to see that work, 
and hope to get it sent down. Dr. Scopoli is phy- 
sician to the wretches that work in the quicksilver 
mines of that district. 
When you talked of keeping a reed-sparrow and 
giving it seeds, I could not help wondering, because 
the reed-sparrow which I mentioned to you ( passer 
arundinaceus minor, Raii) is a soft-billed bird, and 
most probably migrates hence before winter, where- 
as the bird you kept (passer torquatus, Raii) abides 
all the year, and is a thick-billed bird. I question 
whether the latter be much of a songster, but in this 
matter I want to be better informed. The former 
has a variety of hurrying notes, ana sings all night. 
Some part of the song of the former, I suspect, is 
attributed to the latter. We have plenty of the 
soft-billed sort, which Mr. Pennant had entirely 
left out of his British Zoology till I reminded him 
of his omission. See British Zoology last publish- 
ed, p. 16.* 
I have somewhat to advance on the different 
manners in which different birds fly and walk ; but, 
as this is a subject that I have not enough consider- 
ed, and is of such a nature as not to be contained 
in a small space, I shall say nothing farther about 
it at present.t 
* See Letter XXV., Part I. 
+ See Letter hier Part II. 
2 
