7 TOADS GREEN LIZARD. 



I was amazed at the number of spires, which 

 presented themselves in every point of view. As 

 an admirer of prospects, I have reason to lament 

 this want in my own country, for such objects j i 

 are very necessary ingredients in an elegant J \ 

 landscape. 



What you mention with respect to reclaimed 

 toads raises my curiosity. An ancient author, 

 though no naturalist, has well remarked, that 

 " Every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of 

 serpents, and things in the sea, is tamed, and 

 hath been tamed, of mankind 1 ." 



It is a satisfaction to me to find that a green 

 lizard has actually been procured for you in 

 Devonshire, because it corroborates my discovery, 

 which I made many years ago, of the same sort, 

 on a sunny sandbank near Farnham, in Surrey. 

 I am well acquainted with the south hams of 

 Devonshire, and can suppose that district, from its 

 southerly situation, to be a proper habitation for 

 such animals in their best colours. 



Since the ringousels of your vast mountains do 

 certainly not forsake them against winter, our 

 suspicions that those which visit this neighbour- 

 hood about Michaelmas are not English birds, but 

 driven from the more northern parts of Europe by 

 the frosts, are still more reasonable ; and it will 

 be worth your pains to endeavour to trace from 

 whence they come, and to inquire why they make 

 so very short a stay. 



In your account of your error with regard to 

 the two species of herons, you incidentally gave 

 me great entertainment in your description of the 

 heronry at Cressi-hall, which is a curiosity I never 

 could manage to see. Fourscore nests of such a 



1 James, chap. iii. 7- 



