236 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS. 



LETTER IV. 



FROM LIEUT.-COL. MONTAGU* TO GILBERT WHITE. 



Eastern Grey, near Tedbury, 



Gloucestershire, May 21, 1789. 



Sir, 

 Although I have not the pleasure of being personally ac- 

 quainted with you, yet I flatter myself you will pardon this 

 intrusion of an enthusiastic naturalist. 



I have been greatly entertained by your ' Natural History 

 of Selborne,' in the ornithological part of which I find 

 mention made of three distinct species of willow-wren. Can 

 you inform me if they are (besides the common) the larger 

 and lesser pettychaps of Latham, neither of which is de- 

 scribed by Pennant in his ' Brit. Zool.' ? He describes a 

 species with the inside of the mouth red, which I cannot 

 make out in this country ; those two of Latham's I believe I 

 have got, as far as I can judge from the description that 

 gentleman favoured me with; but his sedge-wren I am at a loss 

 for, as he describes the sedge-bird besides of the ' Brit. Zool.' 

 I should esteem it a particular favour, if you have it in your 

 power, if you will favour me with the weight and description 

 of the two uncommon willow-wrens. 



I was induced to take this liberty as you say you are a 

 field-naturalist, and perhaps may have it in your power to 

 assist me in my present pursuit. I am collecting and pre- 

 serving the birds and their eggs of these parts, a provincial 



* [George Montagu was born in 1755, and died June 20, 1815. At the 

 time of his writing this letter he must have been collecting the infor- 

 mation which lie afterwards published in his ' Ornithological Dictionary.' 

 The Lad}- Jane Courtney (or Oourtenay) subsequently mentioned in the 

 letter was his mother-in-law, whose daughter he married when he had 

 completed his eighteenth year. Lady Jane was sister to Lord Bute, First 

 Lord of the Treasury on the accession of King George III. See the 

 memoir of Montagu, by Mr. Cunnington, in the ' Wiltshire Magazine ' 

 for 1857 (vol. iii. pp. 87-94).— A. N.] 



