I 



or SELBORNE. 207 



owing to its punctuality. For many months 

 I carried a list in my pocket of the birds 

 that were to be remarked, and, as I rode 

 or walked about my business, I noted each 

 day the continuance or omission of each 

 bird's song ; so that I am as sure of the 

 certainty of my facts as a man can be of any 

 transaction whatsoever. 



I shall now proceed to answer the several 

 queries which you put in your two oblig- 

 ing letters, in the best manner that I am 

 able. Perhaps Eastwick, and its environs, 

 where you heard so very few birds, is not 

 a woodland country, and therefore not 

 stocked with such songsters. If you will 

 cast your eye on my last letter, you w'i\\ 

 iind that many species continued to warble 

 after the beginning of Jidy. 



The titlark and yellow hammer breed late, 

 the latter very late ; and therefore it is no 

 wonder that they protract their song : for 

 I lay it down as a maxim in ornithology, 

 that as long as there is any incubation going 

 on there is music. As to the redbreast and 

 wren, it is well known to the most in- 



