108 THE NATURAL HISTORY [LETT. 



When I was last in town our friend Mr. Barrington most 

 obligingly carried me to see many curious sights. As you were 

 then writing to him about horns, he carried me to see many 

 strange and wonderful specimens. There is, I remember, at 

 Lord Pembroke's, at Wilton, an horn-room furnished with more 

 than thirty different pairs ; but I have not seen that house 

 lately. 



Mr. Barrington showed me many astonishing collections of 

 stuffed and living birds from all quarters of the world. After I 

 had studied over the latter for a time, I remarked that every 

 species almost that came from distant regions, such as South 

 America, the coast of Guinea, &c., were thick-billed birds of the 

 loxia and fringilla genera ; and no motacillce or muscicapce were 

 to be met with. When I came to consider, the reason was 

 obvious enough; for the hard-billed birds subsist on seeds 

 which are easily carried on board, while soft-billed birds, which 

 are supported by worms and insects, or, what is a succedaneum 

 for them, fresh raw meat, can meet with neither in long and 

 tedious voyages. It is from this defect of food that our col- 

 lections (curious as they are) are defective, and we are deprived 

 of some of the most delicate and lively genera. 



SELBORNR, Aug. 1, 1770. 



LETTER XXXVII. 



TO THOMAS PENXANT, ESQ. 



You saw, I find, the ring-ousels again among their native 

 crags; and are further assured that they continue resident in 

 those cold regions the whole year. From whence then do our 

 ring-ousels migrate so regularly every September, and make 

 their appearance again, as if in their return, every April ? They 

 are more early this year than common, for some were seen at the 

 usual hill on the fourth of this month. 



