OF SELBORNE 105 



cuckoo lays one or two eggs, or more, in a season, by opening 

 a female during the laying-time. If more than one was come 

 down out of the ovary, and advanced to a good size, doubtless then 

 she would that spring lay more than one. 1 



I will endeavour to get a hen, and to examine. 



Your supposition that there may be some natural obstruction 

 in singing birds while they are mute, and that when this is 

 removed the song recommences, is new and bold : I wish you 

 could discover some good grounds for this suspicion. 



I was glad you were pleased with my specimen of the capri- 

 mulgus, or fern-owl ; 2 you were, I find, acquainted with the bird 

 before. 



When we meet, I shall be glad to have some conversation with 

 you concerning the proposal you make of my drawing up an 

 account of the animals in this neighbourhood. Your partiality 

 towards my small abilities persuades you, I fear, that I am able 

 to do more than is in my power : for it is no small undertaking 

 for a man unsupported and alone to begin a natural history from 

 his own autopsia ! Though there is endless room for observation 

 in the field of nature, which is boundless, yet investigation 

 (where a man endeavours to be sure of his facts) can make but 

 slow progress ; and all that one could collect in many years 

 would go into a very narrow compass. 



Some extracts from your ingenious " Investigations of the 

 difference between the present temperature of the air in Italy," 

 &c., have fallen in my way ; and gave me great satisfaction : 

 they have removed the objections that always arose in my mind 

 whenever I came to the passages which you quote. Surely the 

 judicious Virgil, when writing a didactic poem for the region of 

 Italy, could never think of describing freezing rivers, unless such 

 severity of weather pretty frequently occurred ! 



P.S. Swallows appear amidst snows and frost. 



1 [In the cuckoo, as in other birds, only one egg is found in the oviduct at one 

 time. Anatomical examination does not settle the question.] 



2 [The nightjar or goatsucker, also called churn-owl, puckeridge, and wheel- 

 bird.] 



