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LETTER XXXIII. 



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To the same. 



SELBORNE, Nov. 261/1, 1770. 

 EAR SIR, I was much pleased to see, 

 among the collection of birds from Gibraltar, 

 some of those short-winged English summer 

 birds of passage, concerning whose depart- 

 ure we have made so much inquiry. Now 

 if these birds are found in Andalusia to 

 migrate to and from Barbary, it may easily 

 be supposed that those that come to us may migrate back to 

 the continent, and spend their winters in some of the warmer 

 parts of Europe. This is certain, that many soft-billed birds 

 that come to Gibraltar appear there only in spring and autumn, 

 seeming to advance in pairs towards the northward, for the 

 sake of breeding during the summer months ; and retiring in 

 parties and broods towards the south at the decline of the 

 year : so that the rock of Gibraltar is the great rendezvous, 

 and place of observation, from whence they take their de- 

 parture each way towards Europe or Africa. It is therefore no 



