XL VI.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



129 



running in general terms. But our countryman, the. excellent 

 Mr. Ray, is the only describer that conveys some precise idea 

 in every term or word, maintaining his superiority over his 

 followers and imitators in spite of the advantage of fresh dis- 

 coveries and modern information. 



At this distance of years it is not in my power to recollect at 

 what periods woodcocks used to be sluggish or alert when I was 

 a sportsman : but upon my mentioning this circumstance to a 

 friend, he thinks he has observed them to be remarkably listless 

 against snowy foul weather: if this should be the case, then 

 the inaptitude, for flying arises only from an eagerness for food ; 

 as sheep are observed to be very intent on grazing against stormy 

 wet evenings. 



SELBORNE, Aug. \, 1771. 



LETTER XLVI. 

 TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



THE summer through I have seen but two of that large species 

 of bat which I call Vespcrtilio altivclans, from its manner of 

 feeding high in the air : I procured one of them, and found it 

 to be a male ; and made no doubt, as they accompanied together 

 that the other was a female : but happening in an evening or 

 two to procure the other likewise, I was somewhat disappointed 

 when it appeared to be also of the same sex. This circumstance 

 and the great scarcity of this sort, at least in these parts, occa- 

 sions some suspicions in my mind whether it is really a species, 

 or whether it may not be the male part of the more known 

 species, one of which may supply many females; as is known to 

 be the case in sheep, and some other quadrupeds. But this 

 doubt can only be cleared by a farther examination, and some 

 attention to the sex, of more specimens : all that I know at 

 present is, that my two were amply furnished with the parts of 

 generation much resembling those of a boar. 



VOL. I. S 



