276 NATURAL HISTORY 



LETTER L. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 



SELBORNE, April 21, 1780. 



HE old Sussex tortoise, that I have mentioned 

 to you so often, is become my property. I 

 dug it out of its winter dormitory in March 

 last, when it was enough awakened to ex- 

 press its resentment by hissing ; and, pack- 

 ing it in a box with earth, carried it eighty miles in post 

 chaises. The rattle and hurry of the journey so perfectly 

 roused it, that, when I turned it out on a border, it walked 

 twice down to the bottom of my garden : however, in the 

 evening, the weather being cold, it buried itself in the loose 

 mould, and continues still concealed. 



As it will be under my eye, I shall now have an oppor- 

 tunity of enlarging my observations on its mode of life and 

 propensities ; and perceive already that, towards the time of 

 coming forth, it opens a breathing place in the ground near 

 its head, requiring, I conclude, a freer respiration as it 

 becomes more alive. This creature not only goes under 

 the earth from the middle of November to the middle of 

 April, but sleeps great part of the summer ; for it goes to 

 bed in the longest days at four in the afternoon, and often 

 does not stir in the morning till late. Besides, it retires 

 to rest for every shower ; and does not move at all in wet 

 days. 



When one reflects on the state of this strange being, it 

 is a matter of wonder to find that Providence should bestow 

 such a profusion of days, such a seeming waste of longevity, 

 on a reptile that appears to relish it so little as to squander 

 more than two- thirds of its existence in a joyless stupor, 

 and be lost to all sensation for months together in the pro- 

 foundest of slumbers. 



While I was writing this letter, a moist and warm after- 



