XLVIII.] OF SELBORNE. 131 
the night. At the dawn of the day, which was foggy, they arose 
all together in infinite numbers, occasioning such a rushing 
from the strokes of their wdngs against the hazy air, as might 
be lieard to a considerable distance : since that no flock has 
appeared, only a few stragglers. 
Some swifts staid late, till the 22nd of August — a rare 
instance ! for they usually withdraw within the first week.^ 
On the 24th of September three or four ring-ousels 
appeared in my fields for the first time this season ! how 
punctual are these visitors in their autumnal and sprin g 
migratious ! 
Selborne, 1771. , 
LETTEK XLVIII. 
TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BAllRINGTON. 
When I ride about in the winter, and see such prodigious 
flocks of various kinds of birds, I cannot lielp admiring these 
congregations, and wishing that it was in my pow^r to account 
for those appearances almost peculiar to the season. The two 
great motives which regulate the proceedings of the brute 
creation are love and hunger; the former incites animals to 
perpetuate their kind, the latter induces them to preserve 
individuals : whether either of these should seem to be the 
ruling passion in the matter of congregating is to be considered. 
As to love, that is out of the question at a time of the year 
when that soft passion is not indulged ; besides, during the 
amorous season, such a jealousy prevails between the male birds 
that they can hardly bear to be together in the same hedge or 
field. Most of the singing and elation of spirits of that time 
seem to me to be the effect of rivalry and emulation : and it is 
to this spirit of jealousy that I chiefly attribute the equal dis- 
persion of birds in the spring over the face of the country. 
^ See Letter XCVI. to Mr. Barriiigton, 
K 2 
