214 NATURAL HISTORY^ 



Was your reed-sparrow, which you kept 

 in a cage, the thick-billed reed-sparrow of 

 the Zoology, p. 320 ; or was it the less 

 reed-sparrow of Ray, the sedge-bird of 

 Mr. Pennant'^ last publication, p. 16 ? 



As to the matter of long-billed birds 

 growing fatter in moderate frosts, I have 

 no doubt within myself what should be 

 the reason. The thriving at those times 

 appears to me to arise altogether from 

 the gentle check which the cold throws 

 upon insensible perspiration. The case 

 is just the same with blackbirds, &c. ; 

 and farmers and warren ers observe, the 

 first, that their hogs fat more kindly at 

 such times, and the latter that their rab- 

 bits are never in such good case as in 

 a gentle frost. But when frosts are se- 

 vere, and of long continuance, the case is 

 soon altered ; for then a want of food soon 

 overbalances the repletion occasioned by 

 a checked perspiration. I have observed, 

 moreover, that some human constitutions 

 are more inclined to plumpness in Winter 

 than in Summer. 



