116 NATURAL HISTORY 



are. so little acquainted with the human form that they settle 

 on men's shoulders, and have no more dread of a sailor than 

 they would have of a goat that was grazing. A young man 

 at Lewes, in Sussex, assured me that about seven years ago 

 ring-ousels abounded so about that town in the autumn, 

 that he killed sixteen himself in one afternoon : he added 

 further, that some had appeared since in every autumn ; but 

 he could not find that any had been observed before the 

 season in which he shot so many. I myself have found 

 these birds in little parties in the autumn cantoned all along 

 the Sussex downs, wherever there were shrubs and bushes, 

 from Chichester to Lewes; particularly in the autumn of 

 1770, 



LETTER XXXIX. 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE. 



SELBORNE, Nov. 9, 1773. 



S you desire me to send you such observations 

 as may occur, I take the liberty of making 

 the following remarks, that you may, accord- 

 ing as you think me right or wrong, admit or 

 reject what I here advance, in your intended 

 new edition of the " British Zoology/' 1 



The osprey was shot about a year ago at Frinsham-pond, 

 a great lake, at about six miles from hence, while it was 

 sitting on the handle of a plough and devouring a fish. It 

 used to precipitate itself into the water, and so take its 

 prey by surprise. 



A great ash-coloured butcher-bird was shot last winter in 

 Tisted Park, and a red-backed butcher-bird at Selborne : 

 they are rarce aves in this county. 2 



1 This was the third edition, which subsequently appeared in 1776, 

 and contained many of the notes forwarded by Gilbert White in this 

 and the succeeding letter. ED. 



2 Another butcher bird, or shrike, of which mention has been made 



