The Natural History of Selborne 231 



oddity of the sight, furnished the bringer with a large shell, or 

 conch, desiring him to fix it just where the owl hung : the person 

 did as he was ordered, and the following year a pair, probably the 

 same pair, built their nest in the conch, and laid their eggs. 



The owl and the conch make a strange grotesque appearance, and 

 are not the least curious specimens in that wonderful collection of 

 art and nature.* 



Thus is instinct in animals, taken the least out of its way, an 

 undistinguishing, limited faculty, and blind to every circumstance 

 that does not immediately respect self-preservation, or lead at once 

 to the propagation or support of their species. 



I am, 



With all respect, &c. &c. 



* Sir Ashton Lever's " Musseum." 



