XXIII.] OF SELBORNE. 73 



birds, make no nest. Birds that build on the ground do not 

 make much of their nests.] OBSERVATIONS ON NATURE. 



It would not be at all strange if the bat, which you have pro- 

 cured, should prove a new one, since five species have been found 

 in a neighbouring kingdom. The great sort that I mentioned 

 is certainly a nondescript : I saw but one this summer, and that 

 I had no opportunity of taking. 



Your account of the Indian grass was entertaining. I am no 

 angler myself; but inquiring of those that are what they sup- 

 posed that part of their tackle to be made of, they replied 

 " of the intestines of a silkworm." 



Though I must not pretend to great skill in entomology, yet 

 I cannot say that I am ignorant of that kind of knowledge : I 

 may now arid then perhaps be able to furnish you with a little 

 information. 



The vast rains ceased with us much about the same time as 

 with you, and since then we have had delicate weather. Mr. 

 Barker, who has measured the rain for more than thirty years, 

 says, in a late letter, that more has fallen this year than in any 

 he ever attended to; though from July 1763 to January 1764 

 more fell than in any seven months of this year. 



SELBORNE, Jan. 2, 1769. 



LETTER XXIII. 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



IT is not improbable that the Guernsey lizard and our green 

 lizards may be specifically the same ; all that I know is, that, 

 when some years ago many Guernsey lizards were turned loose 

 in Pembroke College garden, in the university of Oxford, they 

 lived a great while, and seemed to enjoy themselves very well, 

 but never bred. Whether this circumstance will prove any- 

 thing either way I shall not pretend to say. 



I return you thanks for your account of Cressi Hall; but 

 recollect, not without regret, that in June, 1746, I was visiting 

 VOL. I. L 



