OF BELBORNE, 
555 
LETTER IX. 
TO ROBERT MARSHAM, ESQUIRE. 
Selborne, Jan. 2, 1793. 
Y best thanks are due for your -^^^^ j^gg 
kind letter of December 21, in. Hnm 
to wMcli I shall pay proper • ^'^ 
attention presently. But I • l'^^ 
shall speak first of the margin Mar. . 6-70 
of this, which contains the rain of last year, Apr. . 4-8 
which was so remarkably wet, that you may May . 3-0 
be, perhaps, glad to see what proportion the June . 2-78 
fall of water bears to that of other uncom- 
July . 5-16 
fortable, unkindly years. The rain in 1782, ^^-^8*- • ^-25 
as you see in my book, was 52 inches ; in ^^P- • ^"^^ 
1789, 42 inches; and in 1791, 44 inches: ^^t. . 5-55 
yet these wet seasons had not the bad in- ^ov. . 1-65- 
fluence of last year, which much injured our D^c. . 2-11 
harvest, damaged our fallows, prevented the 
poorfrom getting in their peat and turf, which 48-56 
lies rotting in the Forest, washed and soaked 
my cleft beechen wood, so that it will not burn; it prevented 
our fruits from ripening. The truth is, we have had as wet 
years, but more intervals of warmth and sunshine. 
I am now persuaded that your bird is a great curiosity, 
the very Certhia muralis, or Wall- creeper, which neither 
Willughby nor Ray ever saw; nor have I, in fifty years^ at- 
tention to the winged creation, ever met with it either wild 
or among the vast collections that I have examined in 
London. It seems to be a South Europe bird, frequenting 
towns, and towers, and castles, but has been found but very 
seldom indeed in England.^ So that you will have the satis- 
* This statement, no doubt, is founded on WiUughby's observation 
before quoted. See antea, p. 553, note 1. — Ed. 
