OF SELBOTxNE. 213 



LETTER V. 



TO THE SAME. 



DEAR SIR; Selborne, April 12, 1770. 



I HEARD many birds of several species sing 

 last year after Midsummer ; enough to prove 

 that the Summer solstice is not the period 

 that puts a stop to the music of the woods. 

 The yellow-hammer, no doubt, persists with 

 more steadiness than any other ; but the 

 woodlark, the wren, the redbreast, the swal- 

 low, the white-throat, the goldfinch, the 

 common linnet, are all undoubted instances 

 of the truth of what I advanced. 



If this severe season does not interrupt 

 the regularity of the Summer migrations, 

 the blackcap will be here in two or three 

 days. I wish it was in my power to pro- 

 cure you one of those songsters ; but I am 

 no bird-catcher ; and so little used to birds 

 in a cage, that I fear if I had one it would 

 soon die for want of skill in feeding. 



