185 
ever You recommend my book, which begins to be better known, 
you lay mo under fresh obligations. I am writing my account of 
the Fern-owl, & endeavouring to vindicate it from the foul impu- 
tation of being a Caprimulgus. My letter will make a fierce 
appearance with a quotation from Aristotle , & another from 
Pliny : but whether the li. S. will read it : or whether afterwards 
they will print it, I know not. 4 
With all good wishes for your health, and prosperity I remain 
Your obliged, & humble servant, 
Gil. White. 
.Selborne: Nov r 20th, 1792. 
LETTER XVII. 
[Marsham to White-] 
Stratton : Dec. 10. 92. 
Dear Sir, 
My thanks arc justly due to you for the favour of 
your obliging letter of the 20 th - of Xov r - Sc for Scopoli’s descrip- 
tion of the Wall-creeper. Although several articles answer exactly, 
yet i must think him a careless describer. e. g. the Bill is some- 
what longer than its shanks ; but he does not say the length of 
either, leaving the reader to suppose what he likes. I tell you the 
Bill is above an inch, about one tenth. He does not name the 
hind-claw being above double the length of the fore-claws. Colour 
has a large share in the beauty of Birds ! He says the four quil- 
foathers are distinguished on the inner side with two white spots. 
These spots are on the upper side, & in the two quils next the 
body ; the upper spots are white & the lower are yellow ; which 
he ought not to have overlooked. You will judge better by the 
4 This history of the Fern-owl, so long contemplated and so frequently 
alluded to, unfortunately it would seem was never completed, the author 
dying within six months after the date of this letter.- -J. E. H. 
