208 NATURAL HISTORY 
newspaper letters that talk of combinations tend 
to inflame and mislead, since we must not expect 
plenty till Providence ‘sends. ‘us more favourable 
seasons. 
The wheat of last year, all round this district, 
and in the county of Rutland and elsewhere, yields 
remarkably bad ; and our wheat on the ground, by 
the continual late sudden vicissitudes from fierce 
frost to pouring rains, looks poorly, and the turnips 
rot very fast. 
LETTER XX. 
Selborne, Feb. 26, 1774. 
Dear Sir,—Tue sand-martin or bank-martia is 
by much the least of any of the British hirundines, 
and, as far as we have ever seen, the smallest 
known hirundo, though Brisson asserts that there 
is one much smaller, and that is the hirundo escu- 
lenta. 
But it is much to be regretted that it is scarce 
possible for any observer to be so full and exact as 
he could wish in reciting the circumstances attend. 
ing the life and conversation of this little bird, 
since it is fera natura, at least in this part of the 
kingdom, disclaiming all domestic attachments, and 
haunting wild heaths and commons where there 
are large lakes; while the other species, especially 
the swallow and house-martin, are remarkably gen- 
tle and domesticated, and never seem to think them- 
selves safe but under the protection of man. 
Here are in this parish, in the sandpits and 
