70 



NATURAL HISTORY 



LETTER XX. 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE. 



SELBORNE, Oct. 3, 1768. 



T is, I find, in zoology, as in botany : all 

 nature is so full, that that district pro- 

 duces the greatest variety which is the 

 most examined. Several birds, which are 

 said to belong to the north only, are, it 

 seems, often in the south. I have discovered this summer 

 three species of birds with us, which writers mention as only 

 to be seen in the northern counties. 



The first that was brought me (on the 14th of May) was 

 the sandpiper (Tringa hypoleucos) : it was a cock bird, and 

 haunted the banks of some ponds near the village ; and, as 

 it had a companion, doubtless intended to have bred near 

 that water. Besides, the owner has told me since, that, on 

 recollection, he has seen some of the same birds round his 

 ponds in former summers. 



The next bird that I procured (on tfac 21st of May) was 

 a male red-backed butcher-bird (Lanius collurio) . My neigh- 

 bour, who shot it, says that it might easily have escaped his 

 notice, had not the outcries and chatterings of the white- 

 throats and other small birds drawn his attention to the 

 bush where it was : its craw was filled with the legs and 

 wings of beetles. 



The next rare birds (which were procured for me last 

 week) were some ring-ousels (Turdi torquati) . 



This week twelve months a gentleman from London, 

 being with us, was amusing himself with a gun, and found, 

 he told us, on an old yew hedge where there were berries, 

 some birds like blackbirds, with rings of white round their 

 necks : a neighbouring farmer also at the same time ob- 

 served the same; but, as no specimens were procured, littlo 



