NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 87 



If this be the case, here is discovered a new bird of winter 

 passage, concerning whose migrations the writers are silent : 

 but if these birds should prove the ousels of the north of 

 England, then here is a migration disclosed within our own 

 kingdom never before remarked. It does not yet appear 

 whether they retire beyond the bounds of our island to the 

 south ; but it is most probable that they usually do, or else 

 one cannot suppose that they would have continued so 

 long unnoticed in the southern countries. The ousel is 

 larger than a blackbird, and feeds on haws ; but last autumn 

 (when there were no haws) it fed on yew-berries : in the 

 spring it feeds on ivy-berries, which ripen only at that 

 season, in March and April. 1 



[I am persuaded from the accounts of two or three 

 people that the Sturnus cinclus is sometimes seen in these 

 parts, 2 but more frequently round Lewes in Sussex.] 



I must not omit to tell you (as you have been so lately 

 on the study of reptiles) that my people, every now and 

 then of late, draw up with a bucket of water from my well, 

 which is sixty-three feet deep, a large black warty lizard 

 with a fin-tail and yellow belly. 3 How they first came down 

 at that depth, and how they were ever to have got out 

 thence without help, is more than I am able to say. 



My thanks are due to you for your trouble and care in 

 the examination of a buck's head. As far as your dis- 

 coveries reach at present, they seem much to corroborate 



1 Jardine gives the following note in his edition : " White's observations upon 

 the ring-ousel, at the time he wrote, were very important, and made with great 

 accuracy. As in other matters, it will be very interesting for Professor Bell to 

 give his attention to their present habits in the vicinity of Selborne, to ascertain 

 if their numbers continue as many, and their appearance as regular. In Scotland 

 the ring-ousel is a regular summer visitant, extending from the English border to 

 Sutherlandshire ; in the rocky districts of the latter county it is tolerably frequent. 

 In autumn and before their departure they visit the lower country, and remain a 

 day or a week according to circumstances, feeding at this time upon various 

 berries, and occasionally visiting gardens. The broods are now joined and mixed 

 together, and the young appear in their imperfect mottled dress " (p. 60). Pro- 

 fessor Bell does not seem to have published any notes on the Ring-ousels near 

 Selbome in modern days. [R. B. S.J 



2 The Dipper (Cinclus aquaticus). [R. B. S.] 

 * Triton palustris. [G. A. B.] 



