Lawrence ; it was a monstrous beast, he told me ; 

 but he did not take the dimensions. 



When I was last in town our friend Mr. Barring:- 

 ton most obligingly carried me to see many curious 

 sights. As you were then writing to him about 

 horns, he carried me to see many strange and won- 

 derful specimens. There is, I remember, at Lord 

 Pembroke's, at Wilton, an horn-room furnished with 

 more than thirty different pairs ; but I have not seen 

 that house lately. 



Mr. Barrington showed me many astonishing col- 

 lections of stuffed and living birds from all quarters 

 of the world. After I had studied over the latter for 

 a time, I remarked that every species almost that 

 came from distant regions, such as South America, 

 the coast of Guinea, &c., were thick-billed birds of 

 the loxia and fringilla genera ; and no motacillce or 

 muscicapce were to be met with. When I came to 

 consider, the reason was obvious enough ; for the 

 hard-billed birds subsist on seeds which are easily 

 carried on board, while soft-billed birds, which are 

 supported by worms and insects, or, what is a succe- 

 daneum for them, fresh raw meat, can meet with 

 neither in long and tedious voyages. It is from this 

 defect of food that our collections (curious as they 

 are) are defective, and we are deprived of some of 

 the most delicate and lively genera. 



Selborne, Au^. I, 1770. 



139 



