LETTER XL 



'To the same. 



SELBORNE, Feb. 8//f, 1772. 



EAR SIR, When I ride about in the winter, and 

 see such prodigious flocks of various kinds of 

 birds, I cannot help admiring at these congrega- 

 tions, and wishing that it was in my power to 

 account for those appearances almost peculiar to 

 the season. The two great motives which regu- 

 late the proceedings of the brute creation are love 

 and hunger ; the former incites animals to perpetuate their kind; 

 the latter induces them to preserve individuals ; whether either of 

 these should seem to be the ruling passion in the matter of congre- 



