OF SELBOKNE 69 



in the water as it was on that errand in the river St. Lawrence : 

 it was a monstrous beast, he told me ; but he did not take the 

 dimensions. 



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 shewed 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 and 

 fringilla genera ; and no motacilUe, or muscicapve, 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. 1 



I am, &c. 



LETTER XXXI. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, Sept. 14, 1770. 

 DEAR SIR, 



You saw, I find, the ring-ousels again among their native crags ; 

 and are farther assured that they continue resident in those cold 

 regions the whole year. 2 From whence then do our ring-ousels 

 migrate so regularly every September, and make their appearance 

 again, as if in their return, every April ? They are more early 



1 [This difficulty has of course been since overcome, as may be abundantly 

 illustrated in the Zoological Gardens.] 



2 [See Letter XXII. to Pennant, note. Mr. Harting suggests that Pennant's 

 informant confused the ring-ouzel and the water-ouzel or dipper.] 



