108 SINGING BIRDS. 



LETTER XXIX. 



TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. 



SELBORNE, Jan. 15, 1770. 

 DEAR SIR, 



IT was no small matter of satisfaction to me to 

 find that you were not displeased with my little me- 

 thodus, or systematic table of birds. If there was 

 any merit in the sketch, it must be owing to its punc- 

 tuality. For many months I carried a list in my 

 pocket of the birds that were to be remarked, and, as 

 I rode or walked about my business, I noted each day 

 the continuance or omission of each bird's song ; so 

 that I am as sure of the certainty of my facts as a 

 man can be of any transaction whatsoever. 



I shall now proceed to answer the several queries 

 which you put in your two obliging letters, in the 

 best manner that I am able. Perhaps Eastwick, and 

 its environs, where you heard so very few birds, is 

 not a woodland country, and, therefore, not stocked 

 with such songsters. If you will cast your eye on 

 my last letter, you will find that many species conti- 

 nued to warble after the beginning of July. 



The titlark and yellow-hammer breed late, the lat- 

 ter very late ; and, therefore, it is no wonder that 

 they protract their song : for I lay it down as a maxim 

 in ornithology, that as long as there is any incuba- 

 tion going on, there is music. As to the red-breast 

 and wren, it is well known to the most incurious ob- 

 server that they whistle the year round, hard frost 

 excepted ; especially the latter. 



It was not in my power to procure you a black- 

 cap, or a less reed- sparrow, or sedge-bird, alive. As 



