' *
(* James, chap. iii. 7.)
It is a satisfaction to me to find that a green lizard has actually been
procured for you in Devonshire; because it corroborates my
discovery, which I made many years ago, of the same sort, on a
sunny sandbank near Farnham in Surrey. I am well acquainted with
the south hams of Devonshire; and can suppose that district, from
its southerly situation, to be a proper habitation for such animals in
their best colours.
Since the ring-ousels of your vast mountains do certainly not
forsake them against winter, our suspicions that those which visit
this neighbourhood about Michaelmas are not English birds, but
driven from the more northern parts of Europe by the frosts, are
still more reasonable: and it will be worth your pains to endeavour
to trace from whence they come, and to inquire why they make so
very short a stay.
In your account of your error with regard to the two species of
herons, you incidentally gave me great entertainment in your
description of the heronry at Cressi-hall; which is a curiosity I
could never manage to see.
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