XLVIII.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



131 



the night. At the dawn of the day, which was foggy, they arose 

 all together in infinite numbers, occasioning such a rushing 

 from the strokes of their wings against the hazy air, as might 

 be heard to a considerable distance : since that no flock has 

 appeared, only a. few stragglers. 



Some swifts staid late, till the 22nd of August a rare 

 instance ! for they usually withdraw within the first week. 1 



On the 24th of September three or four ring-ousels 

 appeared in my fields for the first time this season ! how 

 punctual are these visitors in their autumnal and spring 

 migrations ! 



SELBORNE, 1771. 



LETTEll XLVIII. 

 TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BAHRINGTON. 



WHEN I ride about in the winter, and see such prodigious 

 flocks of various kinds of birds, I cannot help admiring these 

 congregations, and wishing that it was in my power to account 

 for those appearances almost peculiar to the season. The two 

 great motives which regulate the proceedings of the brute 

 creation are love and hunger; the former incites animals to 

 perpetuate their kind, the latter induces them to preserve 

 individuals : whether either of these should seem to be the 

 ruling passion in the matter of congregating is to be considered. 

 As to love, that is out of the question at a time of the year 

 when that soft passion is not indulged ; besides, during the 

 amorous season, such a jealousy prevails between the male birds 

 that they can hardly bear to be together in the same hedge or 

 field. Most of the singing and elation of spirits of that time 

 seem to me to be the effect of rivalry and emulation : and it is 

 to this spirit of jealousy that I chiefly attribute the equal dis- 

 persion of birds in the spring over the face of the country. 



1 See Letter XCVI. to Mr. Barrington. 



