(*Brit. Zool. edit. 1776, octavo, p. 381.)
Letter XX
To Thomas Pennant, Esquire
Selborne, October 8, 1768.
It is, I find, in zoology as it is in botany: all nature is so full, that
that district produces the greatest variety which is the most
examined. Several birds, which are said to belong to the north only,
are, it seems, often in the south. I have discovered this summer
three species of birds with us, which writers mention as only to be
seen in the northern counties. The first that was brought me (on the
14th of May) was the sandpiper, tringa hypoleucus: it was a cock
bird, and haunted the banks of some ponds near the village; and, as
it had a companion, doubtless intended to have bred near that
water. Besides, the owner has told me since, that, on recollection,
he has seen some of the same birds round his ponds in former
summers.
The next bird that I procured (on the 21st of May) was a male red-
backed butcher bird, lanius collurio. My neighbour, who shot it,
says that it might easily have escaped his notice, had not the
outcries and chattering of the white-throats and other small birds
drawn his attention to the bush where it was: its craw was filled
with the legs and wings of beetles.
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