very rigorous weather ; they cannot be retarded but 

 by some violence offered : — while the autumnal 

 (the Saffron) defies the influence of the spring and 

 summer, and will not blow till most plants begin to 

 fade and run to seed. This circumstance is one of 

 the wonders of the creation, little noticed because a 

 common occurrence : yet it ought not to be over- 

 looked because it is familiar, since it would be as 

 difficult to be explained as the most stupendous phe- 

 nomenon in nature. 



" Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow 

 Congealed, the crocus* flamy bud to glow ? 

 Say, what retards, amidst the summer's blaze, 

 Th* autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days ? 

 The God of Seasons ; whose pervading power 

 Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower : 

 He bids each flower His quick'ning word obey ; 

 Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay." 



Selborne, July 3, 1778. 



LETTER LXXXIV. 

 To THE Honourable Daines Barrington. 



" Omnibus animalibus reliquis certus et uniusmodi, et in suo cuique 

 genere incessus est : aves solae vario meatu feruntur, et in terra, et in 

 aere." — Plin. Hist. Nat. lib, x. cap. 38. 



" All animals have a certain definite and peculiar gait ; birds alone 

 move in a varied manner both on the ground and in the air." 



A GOOD ornithologist should be able to distin- 

 guish birds by their air as well as by their colours 



105 



