286 CORRESPONDENCE OF GILBERT WHITE 



sixth Report of the Commissi" &c, it will entertain You, & 

 furnish You with much matter, & many anecdotes respecting 

 Selborne, of which I could have availed myself greatly had 

 they been printed before I published my work. My book is 

 gone to Madras, & several to France, & one to Switzerland, & 

 one copy is going to China with Lord Macartney : but 

 whether some Mandareen will read it, I know not. We have 

 a young Gent, here now on a visit, the son of our late Vicar 

 Etty, who assures me, that at Canton he has seen the Chinese 

 reading English books ; & has heard them converse sensibly 

 on the manners & police of this kingdom. The Chif-Chaf of 

 this village is the smallest willow wren of my History. 

 Once I had a spaniel that was pupped in a rabbit burrough 

 on the verge of Wolmer forest. Tho' I have long ceased to 

 be a sportsman, yet I still love a dog; & am attended daily by 

 a beautiful spaniel with long ears & a spotted nose & legs, 

 who amuses me in my walks by sometimes springing a 

 pheasant, or partridge, & seldom by flushing a woodcock, of 

 late become with us a very rare bird. Remember the story of 

 Py lades & Orestes; & do not say that exalted friendship never 

 existed among men. Chif-Chaf, the first bird of passage, 

 was heard here March 20 : — swallow was seen March 26 : — 

 nightingale and cuckoo Apr. 9 : — House-martins April 12 : — 

 Redstart April 19: — Swift April 14: — Fernowl heard May 19: 

 — Fig-catcher, the latest summer bird, May 20. We have 

 experienced a very black wet summer & solstice; but none of 

 those floods & devastations mentioned in the newspapers ! 

 Indeed we know no floods here, but frequent rains. Yet in 

 warm summers we have as fine melons, & grapes, & wall-fruit 

 as I have ever seen. July at an average produces the most 

 rain of any English month. This last measured 5 in. & 15 h. 

 — Pray, good Sir, procure better ink : your's is so pale, that 

 it often renders y r neat hand scarcely legible ! I am now 

 offering my intelligent young neighbours sixpence for every 

 authentic anecdote that they can bring me respecting Fern- 

 owls; & will give you the same sum for the same information. 

 As I was coming over our down after sun-set lately, a cock 

 bird amused us much by flying round & settling often on the 



