$6 WHITE 



says, in a late letter, that more has fallen this year than in 

 any he ever attended to; though from July 1763 to January 

 1764, more fell than in any seven months of this year. 



NOTES 



1 The goat-sucker or nightjar perches lengthwise on a bough instead of 

 across it as other birds do. The eggs, which it lays on the ground, in an 

 apology for a nest, are most beautifully marbled. G. C. D. 



2 The gut used by anglers is made from the silkworm, and is the substance 

 from which the silk would be spun if the caterpillar were allowed to continue 

 its existence. The Indian grass is of very little use for fishing, as it is brittle. 

 G. C. D. 



LETTER XXIII 



SELBORNE, Feb. 2$tft, 1769. 



DEAR SIR, It is not improbable that the Guernsey lizard 

 and our green lizards may be specifically the same ; all that I 

 know is, that, when some years ago many Guernsey lizards 

 were turned loose in Pembroke College garden, in the Univer- 

 sity of Oxford, they lived a great while, and seemed to enjoy 

 themselves very well, but never bred. Whether this circum- 

 stance will prove anything either way I shall not pretend to 

 say. 



I return you thanks for your account of Cressi Hall ; but 

 recollect, not without regret, that in June 1746 I was visiting 

 for a week together at Spalding, without ever being told that 

 such a curiosity was just at hand. Pray send me word in your 

 next what sort of tree it is that contains such a quantity of 

 herons' nests ; and whether the heronry consists of a whole 

 grove of wood, or only of a few trees. 



It gave me satisfaction to find we accorded so well about 

 the caprimulgus; all I contended for was to prove that it often 

 chatters sitting as well as flying ; and therefore the noise was 

 voluntary, and from organic impulse, and not from the resist- 

 ance of the air against the hollow of its mouth and throat. 



If ever I saw anything like actual migration, it was last 

 Michaelmas Day. I was travelling, and out early in the morn- 

 ing ; at first there was a vast fog ; but, by the time that I was 



