124 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. « 



wish you could discover some good grounds for this 

 suspicion. 



I was glad you were pleased with my specimen of the 

 caprimulgus, or fern-owl ; 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, etc., 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.g. — Swallows appear amidst snows and frost. 



4 



