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of spires which presented themselves in every point of view. 

 As an admirer of prospects, I have reason to lament this 

 want in my own country ; for such objects are very necessary 

 ingredients in an elegant landscape. 



What you mention with respect to reclaimed toads raises my 

 curiosity. An ancient author, though no naturalist, has well 

 remarked that " every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of ser- 

 pents, and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, 

 of mankind." 



It is a satisfaction to me to find that a green lizard has actu- 

 ally been procured for you in Devonshire ; because it corrobo- 

 rates my discovery, which I made many years ago, of the same 

 sort, on a sunny sandbank near Farnham, in Surrey. I am 

 well acquainted with the South Hams of Devonshire ; and can 

 suppose that district, from its southerly situation, to be a proper 

 habitation for such animals in their best colors. 



Since the ring-ousels of your vast mountains do certainly not 

 forsake them against winter, our suspicions that those which 

 visit this neighborhood about Michaelmas are not English birds, 

 but driven from the more northern parts of Europe by the frosts, 

 are still more reasonable ; and it will be worth your pains to 

 endeavor to trace from whence they come, and to inquire why 

 they make so very short a stay. 



In your account of your error with regard to the two 

 species of herons, you incidentally gave me great entertain- 

 ment in your description of the heronry at Cressi Hall ; which 

 is a curiosity I never could manage to see. Fourscore nests 

 of such a bird on one tree is a rarity which I would ride half 

 as many miles to have a sight of. Pray be sure to tell me in 

 your next whose seat Cressi Hall is, and near what town it 

 lies. I have often thought that those vast extents of fens 

 have never been sufficiently explored. If half a dozen gentle- 

 men, furnished with a good strength of water-spaniels, were 

 to beat them over for a week, they would certainly find more 

 species. 



There is no bird, I believe, whose manners I have studied 

 more than that of the caprimulgus (the goat-sucker), as it is a 

 wonderful and curious creature ; but I have always found that 

 though sometimes it may chatter as it flies, as I know it does, 



