^28 NATURAL HISTORY 



tion towards food ; but in the height of 

 Summer grows voracious : and then as the 

 Summer declines its appetite declines ; so 

 that for the last six weeks in Autumn it 

 hardly eats at all. Milky plants, such as 

 lettuces, dandelions, sowthistles, are its 

 favourite dish. In a neighbouring village 

 one was kept till by tradition it was sup- 

 posed to be an hundred years old. An in- 

 stance of vast longevity in such a poor 

 reptile! 



LETTER VIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



DEAR SIR; Selborne, Dec. 20, 1770. 



The birds that I took for aherdavines 

 were reed-sparrows (passeres torquatij. 



There are, doubtless, many home internal 

 migrations within this kingdom that want 

 to be better understood : witness those vast 



