OF SELBORNE. 



103 



new discovery of the migration of the ring- 

 ousel, gives me satisfaction; and I find you 

 concur with me in suspecting that they are 

 foreign birds which visit us. You will be 

 sure, I hope, not to omit to make inquiry 

 whether your ring-ousels leave your rocks 

 in the Autumn. What puzzles me most, is 

 the very short stay they make with us ; for 

 in about three weeks they are all gone. I 

 shall be very curious to remark whether 

 they will call on us at their return in the 

 Spring, as they did last year. 



I want to be better informed with'regard 

 to icthyology. If fortune had settled me 

 near the sea-side, or near some great river, 

 my natural propensity would soon have 

 urged me to have made myself acquainted 

 with their productions : but as I have lived 

 mostly in inland parts, and in an upland 

 district, my knowledge of fishes extends 

 little farther than to those common sorts 

 which our brooks and lakes produce. 



I am, &c. 



