1 1 8 The Natural History of Selborne 



When I was last in town our friend Mr. Barrington most 

 obligingly carried me to see many curious sights. As you were then 

 writing to him about horns, he carried me to see many strange and 

 wonderful specimens. There is, I remember, at Lord Pembroke's, 

 at Wilton, an horn room furnished with more than thirty different 

 pairs ; but I have not seen that house lately. 



Mr. Barrington showed me many astonishing collections of stuffed 

 and living birds from all quarters of the world. After I had studied 

 over the latter for a time, I remarked that every species almost that 

 came from distant regions, such as South America, the coast of 

 Guinea, &c., were thick-billed birds of the loxia andfringilla genera ; 

 and no motacill<e^ or muscicap<e, were to be met with. When I came 

 to consider, the reason was obvious enough ; for the hard-billed birds 

 subsist on seeds which are easily carried on board ; while the soft- 

 billed birds, which are supported by worms and insects, or, what is a 

 succedaneum for them, fresh raw meat, can meet with neither in long 

 and tedious voyages. It is from this defect of food that our 

 collections (curious as they are) are defective, and we are deprived of 

 some of the most delicate and lively genera. I am, &c. 



