1789 SECOND LETTER FROM MONTAGU 201 



A little later he wrote again to Selborne : — 



From Col. G. Montagu. 



Easton Grey, June 27th, 1789. 



Dear Sir, — I am exceedingly obliged to you for your 

 polite favor, and hope you will excuse the mistake in my 

 address.* 



I am not able to boast of being an ornithologist so long as 

 you, though I have delighted in it from infancy, and was 

 I not bound by conjugal attachment, should like to ride 

 my hobby to distant parts, yet I agree with you, that 

 naturalists in general attempt to explore too wide a field, 

 their researches are too extensive; whereas if persons well 

 qualified were to confine themselves to particular districts 

 the natural history compiled from provincial authors would 

 no doubt throw much light on the subject. 



The difficulty of comparmg birds by recollection, and the 

 great similitude of some distinct species, made me attempt 

 to preserve them ; by which means I can at any time bring 

 them together for a minute inspection. 



I confess myself greatly obliged to your work for the 

 discovery of the third species of Willow Wren, and for the 

 first determined separation of the other two species, with 

 whom I was perfectly well acquainted as to their notes, 

 but suspected that the same bird might produce both notes 

 promiscuously. Your work produced in me fresh ardor, and 

 with that degree of enthusiasm necessary to such investiga- 

 tion, I pervaded the interior recesses of the thickest woods, 

 and spread my researches to every place within my reach 

 that seemed likely. I was soon convinced of two distinct 

 species, not only in their song, but in size, colour, eggs, 

 and materials with which they build their nests. The third 

 species, which you seem to think is peculiar to your beech 

 woods, I flatter myself I have at last discover'd to be an 



* His first letter was addressed "Gil. White Esq--^" 



