Wen 



LETTER XIII. 



'To the same. 



SELBORNE, January 22</, 1768. 



IR, As in one of your former letters you expressed 

 the more satisfaction from my correspondence on 

 account of my living in the most southerly 

 county ; so now I may return the compliment, 

 and expect to have my curiosity gratified by your 

 living much more to the north. 



For many years past I have observed that 

 towards Christmas vast flocks of chaffinches have appeared in the 

 fields ; many more, I used to think, than could be hatched in any 

 one neighbourhood. But when I came to observe them more narrowly, 

 I was amazed to find that they seemed to me to be almost all hens. 

 I communicated my suspicions to some intelligent neighbours, who, 

 after taking pains about the matter, declared that they also thought 

 them all mostly females, at least fifty to one. This extraordinary 

 occurrence brought to my mind the remark of Linnasus ; that " before 



