NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 41 



woodpecker does the same. This noise may be heard a furlong or 

 more. 



K"ow is the only time to ascertain the 

 short- winged summer birds ; for, when 

 the leaf is out, there is no making any 

 remarks on such a restless tribe ; and, 

 when once the young begin to appear, 

 it is all confusion : there is no distinc- 

 tion of genus, species, or sex. 



In breeding-time snipes play over the 

 moors, piping and humming : they al- 

 ways hum as they are descending. Is 

 not their hum ventriloquous like that of 

 the turkey? ,Some suspect it is made 

 by their wings. 



This morning I saw the golden- 

 crowned wren, whose crown glitters 



like burnished gold. It often hangs like a titmouse, with its back 

 downwards. Yours, &c. &c. 



LETTEE XVII. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, June 18th, 1768. 



DEAR SIR, On Wednesday last arrived your agreeable letter of 

 June the 10th. It gives^e great satisfaction to find that you pursue 

 these studies still with such vigour, and are in such forwardness with 

 regard to reptiles and fishes. 



The reptiles, few as they are, I am not acquainted with, so well as I 

 could wish, with regard to their natural history. There is a degree of 

 dubiousness and obscurity attending the propagation of this class of 

 animals, something analogous to that of the eryptogamia in the sexual 

 system of plants : and the case is the same with regard to some of the 

 fishes ; as the eel, &c. 



The method in which toads procreate and bring forth seems to be 

 very much in the dark. Some authors say that they are viviparous : 

 and yet Ray classes them among his oviparous animals ; and is silent 

 with regard to the manner of their bringing forth. Perhaps they may 

 may be e<ro> jjikv wor^/cot, ew Se faor6Koi, as is known to be the case with 

 the viper. 



The copulation of frogs (or at least the appearance of it ; for 

 Swammerdam proves that the male has no penis intrans) is notorious 

 to everybody : because we see them sticking upon each others backs 

 for a month together in the spring : and yet I never saw, or read of 

 toads being observed in the same situation. It is strange that the 

 matter with regard to the venom of toads has not been yet settled. 



