158 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



Alauda N 2. 2 spec : bills short, & taper ; back claw small . . . 



& short ; tails short, & dusky ; outside feathers tinged with 



yellow : 

 Alauda? bill slender; back claw short, & rather incurved ; breast 



a little spotted ; tail long & dusky ; out feathers white : is it the 



same with N i ? 

 Motacilla N I : what ? large : back & wings ash-colour'd ; head 



dusky ; throat, breast, belly white : tail lost : an Motacilla 



dumetorum Linn : Kram : aust : 377: n: 19 ? l 

 Motacilla N 2. what ? small : head, back dusky-reddish ; wings 



dusky ; outer webs chestnut-coloured ; throat white, breast 



tinged with red ; feet and legs palish : 2 

 Motacilla N 3 : 2 spec : minute ; head, back, wings, black, feathers 



edged with chestnut, resembling the passer torquatus; throat 



white, breast, belly, sides tawny ; caudd unicolore; elegant little 



birds ? 



In all these difficulties your obliging disposition will 

 prompt you to assist me ; & you will besides, I hope, refer 

 so to numerical marks as to prevent mistakes, or mis- 

 apprehension. It is very remarkable that of all the larks 

 my Bro : has procured, he has never yet met with a British 

 species. Has Brisson any larks unknown to Ray ? You 

 will find, I think, in the box two or three distinct, & unusual 

 species. My Bro : in Thames-street has sent you the last 

 bottles of fishes. Enclosed with the birds are some rough 

 draughts of some fishes taken by my Bro : at Gibraltar ; 

 who tho' he knows nothing of the rules of drawing, yet, 

 he trusts, such rude sketches will inform an Icthyologist 

 better than mere words. 



As I have a few shells & fossils, I should take it as a 

 favour if you would (when you return the box) add a few 

 ores, & fossils to my collection, such as y r mines & neigh- 

 bourhood afford : a few will be sufficient. 



dactyla). If Gilbert White had but given the measurements of the specimens we 

 should have got nearer to their identification. These letters, which I have here 

 inserted in chronological order from the original MSS. show that not only was 

 John White an indefatigable collector, but that Gilbert White, in his Selborne 

 home, was capable of taking a deep interest in Ornithology beyond that of the 

 British Islands alone. [R. B. S.] 



1 Probably the Orphean Warbler (Sylvia orphea), 



8 Apparently the Sylvia conspicillata, Temm. 



