70 
NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE* 
which visit us. You will be sure, I hope, not to omit to make 
enquiry whether your ring-ousels leave your rocks in the autumn. 
What puzzles me most, is the very short stay they make with 
us ; for in about three weeks they are all gone. I shall be very 
curious to remark whether they will ca*ll on us at their return in 
the spring, as they did last year. 
I want to be better informed with regard to icthyology. If 
fortune had settled me near the sea-side, or near some great 
river, my natural propensity would soon have urged me to have 
made myself acquainted with their productions : but as I have 
lived mostly in inland parts, and in an upland district, my know- 
ledge of fishes extends little further than to those common sorts 
which our brooks and lakes produce. I am, &c. 
LETTER XXII. To T. PENNANT, Esa. 
DEAR SIR, Selhorne, Jan. 2, 1769- 
As to the peculiarity of jackdaws building with us under the 
ground in rabbit-burrows, you have, in part, hit upon the rea- 
son ; for, in reality, there are hardly any towers or steeples in 
all this country. And perhaps, Norfolk excepted, Hampshire 
and Sussex are as meanly furnished with churches as almost any 
counties in the kingdom. We have many livings of two or three 
hundred pounds a year, whose houses of worship make little 
better appearance than dovecots. When I first saw Northamp- 
tonshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, and the fens of 
Lincolnshire, I was amazed at the number of spires which pre- 
sented themselves in every point of view. As an admirer of 
prospects, I have reason to lament this want in my own country ; 
for such objects are very necessary ingredients in an elegant 
landscape. 
What you mention with respect to reclaimed toads raises my 
curiosity. An ancient author, though no naturalist, has well 
remarked that every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of ser- 
pents, and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, of 
mankind.^'* 
It is a satisfaction to me to find that a green lizard has actually 
* There have been many instances related of tamed toads, some of which have been known to 
attain a considerable age. One is mentioned by Mr. Arscott which lived upwards of thirty-five 
years. The most curious fact, however, connected with the history of this animal, is its capa- 
