LETTER III. 



To the same. 



1770. 



EAR SIR, It was no small matter of satisfac- 

 tion to me to find that you were not dis- 

 pleased with my little methodus of birds. If 

 there was any merit in the sketch, it must be 

 owing to its punctuality. For many months 

 I carried a list in my pocket of the birds 

 that were to be remarked, and, as I rode or 

 walked about my business, I noted each day the continuance 

 or omission of each bird's song ; so that I am as sure of the 

 certainty of my facts as a man can be of any transaction 

 whatsoever. 



I shall now proceed to answer the several queries which 

 you put in your two obliging letters, in the best manner that 

 I am able. Perhaps Eastwick, and its environs, where you 

 heard so very few birds, is not a woodland country, and 



