1771 MOKE GIBKALTAK BIKDS 191 



My brother makes a very rapid progress in natural know- 

 ledge, and, considering he has no person to confer with or to 

 advise him in his new study, does wonders. He sent me in 

 October a fresh cargo of birds and insects which ought to 

 have been here long ago ; but as they came in a Levant ship, 

 they are performing quarantine at Stangate Creek and will, 

 I fear, be tumbled about and damaged. 



When I opened your letter all the Farnassia-seed fell out, 

 and I took it to be dust and dirt from the pocket of the 

 person who brought it ; but luckily it fell in my lap, so that 

 I saved it all. I shall sow it soon in the sandy bogs, and 

 see if I can succeed better. 



The last winter migration that we have in these parts is 

 the appearance of the (Unas sive Vinago Raii, the wild wood 

 pigeon or stock dove, which comes in great flocks about the 

 end of November, and does not breed in these parts, perhaps 

 not in the kingdom.* The pigeon that breeds in our woods 

 and hedge-rows, and cooes all the summer is the Falumhus or 

 ring-dove, the palumbes mentioned by Virgil in his eclogues : 

 " Nee tamen interea raucae tua cura palumbes." 



Your Uncle Harry was with me towards the end of 

 November. As we were walking in the evening we saw 

 just after sunset a star of a moderate magnitude, just above 

 the sun, which we concluded must be Mercury. My Brother 

 was much pleased to see what he thought to be that planet, 

 as it was new to him ; and I had never seen it before but 

 once, and that was at Lyndon in 1760. You may let me 

 know if Mercury was visible at that time. 



With the compliments and good wishes of the season 



' Yr. affectionate Uncle, 



Gil. White. 



* This seems to be a mistake, as for many years the stock-dove has been 

 known to breed abundantly in many parts of the country, and one can 

 hardly suppose it did not breed at and about Selborne in 1771. — A. N. 



