112 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



of suet, and haunts butchers' shops. When a boy, I have known 

 twenty in a morning caught with snap mouse-traps, baited with 

 tallow or suet. It will also pick holes in apples left on the 

 ground, and be well entertained with the seeds on the head of 

 a sun-flower. The blue, marsh, and great titmice will, in very 

 severe weather, carry away barley and oat straws from the sides 

 of ricks. 



How the wheat-ear and whin-chat support themselves in win- 

 ter cannot be so easily ascertained, since they spend their time 

 on wild heaths and warrens ; the former especially, where there 

 are stone quarries : most probably it is that their maintenance 

 arises from the aurelice of the lepidoptera ordo, which furnish 

 them with a plentiful table in the wilderness. 



I am, &c. 



LETTER XLII. To T. PENNANT, ESQ. 



DEAR SIR, Selborne, March 9, 1775. 



SOME future faunist, a man of fortune, will, I hope, extend his 

 visits to the kingdom of Ireland ; a new field, and a country little 

 known to the naturalist. He will not, it is to be wished, under- 

 take that tour unaccompanied by a botanist, because the moun- 

 tains have scarcely been sufficiently examined ; and the southerly 

 counties of so mild an island may possibly afford some plants 

 little to be expected within the British dominions.* A person of 

 a thinking turn of mind will draw many just remarks from the 

 modern improvements of that country, both in arts and agricul- 

 ture, where premiums obtained long before they were heard of 

 with us. The manners of the wild natives, their superstitions, 

 their prejudices, their sordid way of life, will extort from him 

 many useful reflections. He should also take with him an able 

 draughtsman ; for he must by no means pass over the noble 

 castles and seats, the extensive and picturesque lakes and water- 

 falls, and the lofty stupendous mountains, so little known, and 

 so engaging to the imagination when described and exhibited in 

 a lively manner : such a work would be well received. 



As I have seen no modern map of Scotland, I cannot pretend 



* Even now the natural productions of Ireland are comparatively but little understood, though 

 at present there are several observers diligently occupied in the investigation of them. I believe 

 we are soon to expect a fauna of that couiMry. ED. 



