60 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



in every point of view. As an admirer of prospects, I 

 have reason to lament this want in my own county ; for 

 such objects are very necessary ingredients in an elegant 

 landscape. 



What you mention with respect to reclaimed toads raises 

 my curiosity. An ancient author, though no naturalist, 

 lias 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." 



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 ring-ousels of your vast mountains do certainly 

 not forsake them against winter, our suspicions that those 

 which visit this neighbourhood 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 entertain 

 ment in your description of the heronry at Cressi Hall ; 

 which is a curiosity I never could manage to see. Four- 

 score nests of such a bird on one tree is a rarity which 

 I would ride half as many miles to have a sight of. Pray 

 be sure to tell me in your next whose seat Cressi Hall is, 

 and near what town it lies. I have often thought that 



