THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. . 33 
‘the summer long never flit but from hedge to hedge) should be 
able to traverse vast seas and continents in order to enjoy 
milder seasons amidst the regions of Africa! 
ERTTER: XII. 
SELBORNE, Jan. 22nd, 1768. 
As in one of your former letters you expressed the more 
satisfaction from my correspondence on account of my living 
in the most southerly county; so now I may return the com- 
pliment, and expect to have my curiosity gratified by your 
living much more to the north. 
For many years past I have observed that towards Christmas 
vast flocks of chaffinches have appeared in the fields; many 
more, I used to think, than could be hatched in any one 
neighborhood. But, when I came to observe them more 
narrowly, I was amazed to find that they seemed to me to be 
almost all hens. I communicated my suspicions to some intel- 
ligent neighbors, who, after taking pains about the matter, 
declared that they also thought them mostly females — at least 
fifty to one. ‘This extraordinary occurrence brought to my 
mind the remark of Linnzus, that “before winter all their 
hen chaffinches migrate through Holland into Italy.” Now I 
want to know, from some curious person in the north, whether 
there are any large flocks of these finches with them in the 
winter, and of which sex they mostly consist? For from such 
intelligence, one might be able to judge whether our female 
flocks migrate from the other end of the island, or whether 
they come over to us from the continent. 
We have, in the winter, vast flocks of the common linnets ; 
more, I think, than can be bred in any one district. ‘These, I 
observe, when the spring advances, assemble on some tree in 
