92 'The Natural History of Selborne 



I was amazed at the number of spires which presented themselves in 

 every point of view. As an admirer of prospects, I have reason to 

 lament this want in my own country ; for such objects are very 

 necessary ingredients in an elegant landscape. 



What you mention with respect to reclaimed toads raises my 

 curiosity. An ancient author, though no naturalist, has well re- 

 marked that " every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, 

 and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, of man- 

 kind." * 



It is a satisfaction to me to find that a green lizard has actually 

 been procured for you in Devonshire ; because it corroborates my 

 discovery, which I made many years ago, of the same sort, on a 

 sunny sandbank near Farnham, in Surrey. I am well acquainted 

 with the South Hams of Devonshire ; and can suppose that district, 

 from its southerly situation, to be a proper habitation for such 

 animals in their best colours. 



Since the ring-ousels of your vast mountains do certainly not for- 

 sake them against winter, our suspicions that those which visit this 

 neighbourhood about Michaelmas are not English birds, but driven 

 from the more northern parts of Europe by the frosts, are still more 

 reasonable ; and it will be worth your pains to endeavour to trace 

 from whence they come, and to inquire why they make so very short 

 a stay. 



In your account of your error with regard to the two species of 

 herons, you incidentally gave me great entertainment in your 

 description of the heronry at Cressi Hall ; which is a curiosity I 

 never could manage to see. Fourscore nests of such a bird on one 

 tree is a rarity which I would ride half as many miles to have a sight 

 of. Pray be sure to tell me in your next whose seat Cressi Hall is, 

 and near what town it lies.t I have often thought that those vast 

 extents of fens have never been sufficiently explored. If half a 

 dozen gentlemen, furnished with a good strength of water-spaniels, 

 were to beat them over a week, they would certainly find more 

 species. 



There is no bird, I believe, whose manners I have studied more 



* James, chap. iii. 7. t Cressi Hall is near Spalding, in Lincolnshire. 



