NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
41 
woodpecker does the same. This noise may be heard a furlong or 
more. 
Now is the only time to ascertain the 
short- winged summer birds ; for, when 
the leaf is out, there is no making any 
remarks on such a restless tribe ; and, 
when once the young begin to appear, 
it is all confusion : there is no distinc- 
tion of genus, species, or sex. 
In breeding-time snipes play over the 
moors, piping and humming : they al- 
ways hum as they are descending. Is 
not their hum ventriloquous like that of 
the turkey ? Some suspect it is made 
by their wings. 
This morning I saw the golden- 
crowned wren, whose crown glitters 
like burnished gold. It often hangs like a titmouse, with its back 
downwards. Yours, &c. &c. 
THE NUTHATCH. 
LETTEE XVII. 
TO THE SAME. 
Selbobne, June 18th, 1768. 
Deae Sir, — On Wednesday last arrived your agreeable letter of 
June the 10th. It gives me great satisfaction to find that you pursue 
these studies still with such vigour, and are in such forwardness with 
regard to reptiles and fishes. 
The reptiles, few as they are, I am not acquainted with, so well as I 
could wish, with regard to their natural history. There is a degree of 
dubiousness and obscurity attending the propagation of this class of 
animals, something analogous to that of the cryptogamia in the sexual 
system of plants : and the case is the same with regard to some of the 
fishes ; as the eel, &c. 
The method in which toads procreate and bring forth seems to be 
very much in the dark. Some authors say that they are viviparous : 
and yet Eay classes them among his oviparous animals ; and is silent 
with regard to the manner of their bringing forth. Perhaps they may 
may be eVco /jceu wotokoi, e|w 8e (oootokoi, as is known to be the case with 
the viper. 
The copulation of frogs (or at least the appearance of it ; for 
Swammerdam proves that the male has no penis intrans) is notorious 
to everybody : because we see them sticking upon each others backs 
for a month together in the spring : and yet I never saw, or read of 
toads being observed in the same situation. It is strange that the 
matter with regard to the venom of toads has not been yet settled. 
