OF SELBORNB. 99 



well, which is 63 feet deep, a large black 

 warty lizard with a fin-tail and yellow belly. 

 How they first came down at that depth, 

 and how they were ever to have got out 

 thence without help, is more than I am 

 able to say. 



My thanks are due to you for your trou- 

 ble and care in the examination of a buck's 

 head. As far as your discoveries reach at 

 present, they seem much to corroborate 



my suspicions ; and I hope Mr. may 



find reason to give his decision in my 

 favour ; and then, I think, we may ad- 

 vance this extraordinary provision of nature 

 as a new instance of the wisdom of God in 

 the creation. 



As yet I am not quite done with my 

 history of the oedicnemus, ox stone-curlew ; 

 far. I shall desire a gentleman in Sussex 

 (near whose house these birds congregate 

 in vast flocks in the Autumn) to observne 

 nicely when they leave him, (if they do 

 leave him) aad when they return again in 

 the Spring: I was with this gentleman 

 lately, and saw several single birds. 



H 2 



