OF SELBORNE. 145 
the only defcrlber that conveys fome precife idea in every term or 
word, maintaining his fuperiority over his followers and imitators in 
fpite of the advantage of frelh difcoveries and modern inform- 
ation. 
At this diftance of years it is not In my power to recolleft at 
what periods woodcocks ufed to be lliiggilh or alert when I was 
a fportfman : but, upon my mentioning this circumftance to a friend, 
he thinks he has obferved them to be remarkably liftlefs againft 
fnowy foul weather :' if this iliould be the cale, then the inaptitude 
for flying arifes only from an eagernefs for food ; as fheep are ob- 
ferved to be very intent on grazing againft ftormy wet evenings, 
I am, &:c. Sec. 
LETTER XL 
TO THE SAME* 
DEAR SIR, Selborne, Feb, g, 1772. 
W HEN I ride about in the winter, and fee fuch prodigious flocks 
of various kinds of birds, I cannot help admiring at thefe congre- 
gations, and wilhing that it was in my power to account for thofe 
appearances almoft peculiar to the feafon. 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 
U latter 
