50 CHAFFINCHES. 



Now, is it likely that these poor little birds, which perhaps 

 had not been hatched but a few weeks, should, at that late 

 season of the year, and from so midland a county, attempt 

 a voyage to Groree or Senegal, almost as far as the equator t* 



I acquiesce entirely in your opinion that, though most of 

 the swallow kind may migrate, yet some do stay behind and 

 hide with us during the winter. 



As to the short-winged, soft-billed birds which come 

 trooping in such numbers in the spring, I am at a loss even 

 what to suspect about them. I watched them narrowly this 

 year, and saw them abound till about Michaelmas, when they 

 appeared no longer. Subsist they cannot openly among us 

 and yet elude the eyes of the inquisitive ; and as to their 

 hiding, no man pretends to have found any of them in a 

 torpid state in the winter. But with regard to their migra- 

 tion, what difficulties attend that supposition ! that such 

 feeble bad fliers, who the summer long never flit but from 

 hedge to hedge, should be able to traverse vast seas and 

 continents, in order to enjoy milder seasons amidst the 

 regions of Africa.f 



LETTEE XIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, Jan. 22, 1768. 



SIR, As in one of your former letters you expressed the 

 more satisfaction from my correspondence on account of my 

 living in the most southerly county ; so now I may return 



those which remain with us, dusting themselves. He thinks that this is a 

 wise dispensation of the Great Creator ; for if the little wren in winter 

 were to wash in cold water instead of dusting, it would perish from the chill. 



The result of these observations is that there are certain impulses given to 

 birds, independent of their early imitative propensities, which seem to pro- 

 ceed directly from the Almighty Power that governs the universe. The 

 more this subject is investigated, the more clearly will the direct agency of 

 God be discovered. 



* See Adanson's Voyage to Senegal. 



f They not only traverse vast seas and continents, but they take their 

 departure at night ; for they have been found dead in lighthouses, having 

 flown against the strong light. ED. 



