OF SELBORNE. 219 



frost and snow ; but they withdrew again 

 for a time. 



I am not pleased to find that some people 

 seem so little satisfied with Scopolts new 

 publication;* there is room to expect 

 great things from the hands of that man, 

 who is a good naturalist : and one would 

 think that an history of the birds of so 

 distant and southern a region as Carniola 

 would be new and interesting. I could 

 wish to see that work, and hope to get it 

 sent down. Dr. Scopoli is physician to 

 the wretches that work in the quicksilver 

 mines of that district. 



When you talked of keeping a reed- 

 sparrow, and giving it seeds, I could not 

 help wondering; because the reed-sparrow 

 which I mentioned to you ( passer arundi- 

 naceus minor Rati) is a soft-billed bird, and 

 most probably migrates hence before Win- 

 ter ; whereas the bird you kept (passer tor- 

 quatus Rati) abides all the year, and is a 

 thick-billed bird. I question whether the 



* This work he calls his Annus Primus Hisiorico 

 Naturalis. 



