OF SELBOBNE. 
545 
pollard oaks and sycamore last summer, has got a great 
range of cliestnut-paling ; I shall tell him what Mr. Kent 
says respecting timber of that sort. The rain with us in 
1791 was 44 in. 93 hund., upwards of 8 inches of which fell 
in I^ovember ! the rain of the present year has been con- 
siderable. Our indications of spring this year are thus: 
Jan. 19, Winter Aconite blows; Jan. 21, Hepaticas blow ; 
Jan. 29, Snowdrop blows; 31, Hazels; Feb. 4, Crocus blows; 
13, Brimstone Butterjfly ; 21, Yellow Wagtail appears ; 26, 
Humble Bee; March 16, Daffodil blows, and Apricot; 19, 
Peaches and J^ectarines. I have read BoswelFs Johnson 
with pleasure. As to Bishop Horne I knew him well for 
near forty years, he has often been at my house. Stilling- 
fleet, I see, wrote his Calendar of Flora,^^ at your house ; 
he speaks in high terms of the hospitable treatment that he 
experienced at Stratton.^ 
Wonderful is the regularity observed by nature ! I have 
often remarked that the smallest willow wren (see my Book),, 
called here the Chif-chaf, from its two loud sharp notes, i& 
always the first spring bird of passage, and that it is heard 
usually on March 20,^ when behold, as I was writing this very 
page, my servant looked in at the parlour door, and said 
that a neighbour had heard the Chif-chaf this morning ! ! 
These are incidents that must make the most indifferent look 
on the works of the Creation with wonder ! 
My old tortoise lies under my laurel hedge, and seems as 
yet to be sunk in profound slumbers.^ You surprise me, 
when you mention your age : your neat hand and accurate 
language would make one suppose you were not fifty. I re- 
main, with true esteem. 
Your most obliged servant, 
Gil. White. 
^ See the first letter of the present series, and note 2, p. 533. — Ed. 
2 The substance of this remark will be found already published in the 
"Observations on Birds" (p. 334), under the head of "Chiff-chaff." 
— Ed. 
3 See p. 542, note 1.— Ed. 
