34 WHITE 



NOTES 



1 The harvest mouse is the smallest of British animals. Unlike its rela- 

 tives, it builds its nest on the stalks of grass or corn at a little distance from 

 the ground. The nest is globular in shape, made of woven grass, and has 

 a small entrance like that of a wren's. It is tolerably common in some of 

 the southern counties, but it is not easily found. G. C. D. 



2 There was a pool in Shropshire where I used to fish for roach, and I 

 was always struck with the number of swallows which roosted on the willow 

 bushes fringing the banks. One could almost take them in one's hand. At 

 Acle, in Norfolk, one August, the swallows roosted on the telegraph wires 

 in such extraordinary numbers that they formed continuous black festoons 

 as far as the eye could reach. G. C. D. 



8 See Adanson's "Voyage to Senegal." G. W. 



LETTER XIII 



SELBORNE, Jan. 22nd, 1768. 



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

 more satisfaction from my correspondence on account of my liv- 

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

 compliment, and expect to have my curiosity gratified by your 

 living much more to the North. 



For many years past I have observed that towards Christ- 

 mas vast flocks of chaffinches have appeared in the fields ; 

 many more, I used to think, than could be hatched in any one 

 neighborhood. But, when I came to observe them more nar- 

 rowly, I was amazed to find that they seemed to me to be almost 

 all hens. I communicated my suspicions to some intelligent 

 neighbors, who, after taking pains about the matter, declared 

 that they also thought them mostly females, at least fifty to 

 one. This extraordinary occurrence brought to my mind the 

 remark of Linnaeus, that " before winter all their hen chaf- 

 finches migrate through Holland into Italy." Now I want to 

 know, from some curious person in the north, whether there 

 are any large flocks of these finches with them in the winter, 

 and of which sex they mostly consist ? For from such intelli- 

 gence, one might be able to judge whether our female flocks 

 migrate from the other end of the island, or whether they come 

 over to us from the continent. 



