258 NATURAL HISTORY 



why the parental feelings of brutes, that 

 usually flow in one most uniform tenor, 

 should sometimes be so extravagantly 

 diverted, I leave to abler philosophers 

 than myself to determine. 



I am, &c. 



LETTER XV. 



TO THE SAME. 



DEAR SIR; Selborne, July 8, 1773. 



Some young men went down lately to a 

 pond on the verge ofWolmer-forest to hunt 

 flappers, or young wild-ducks, many of 

 which they caught, and, among the rest, 

 st)me very minute, yet well-fledged wild- 

 fowls alive, which upon examination I 

 found to be teals. . I did not know till then 

 that teals ever bred in the south of Eng- 

 land, and was much pleased with the dis- 

 covery : this I look upon as a great stroke 

 in natural history. 



