OF SELBORNE. 555 



LETTER IX. 



TO ROBERT MARSHAM, ESQUIRE. 



SELBORNE, Jan. 2, 1793. 



Y best thanks are due for your RAIN IN 1792 

 kind letter of December 21, in. Hun. 



to which I shall pay proper ^ an - 6-7 

 attention presently. But I -^ e ^- 1-68 

 shall speak first of the margin Mar - 6 "70 

 of this, which contains the rain of last year, Apr. . 4-8 

 which was so remarkably wet, that you may May 3-0 

 be, perhaps, glad to see what proportion the J un 2-78 

 fall of water bears to that of other uncom- ^ U V 5-16 

 fortable, unkindly years. The rain in 1782, Au - 4 ' 25 

 as you see in my book, was 52 inches ; in Sep. . 5-53 

 1789, 42 inches; and in 1791, 44 inches: Oct - 5 ' 55 

 yet these wet seasons had not the bad in- -Nov. . 1-65 

 fluence of last year, which much injured our -Ltec. . 2-11 

 harvest, damaged our fallows, prevented the 

 poor from getting in their peat and turf, which 48-oo 



lies rotting in the Forest, washed and soaked 

 my cleft beechen wood, so that it will not burn; it prevented 

 our fruits from ripening. The truth is, we have had as wet 

 years, but more intervals of warmth and sunshine. 



I am now persuaded that your bird is a great curiosity, 

 the very Certhia muralis, or Wall- creeper, which neither 

 Willughby nor Ray ever saw; nor have I, in fifty years' at- 

 tention to the winged creation, ever met with it either wild 

 or among the vast collections that I have examined in 

 London. It seems to be a South Europe bird, frequenting 

 towns, and towers, and castles, but has been found but very 

 seldom indeed in England. 1 So that you will have the satis- 



1 This statement, no doubt, is founded on Willughby 's observation 

 before quoted. See antea, p. 553, note 1. ED. 



