A
young man at Lewes, in Sussex, assured me that about seven years
ago ring-ousels abounded so about that town in the autumn that he
killed sixteen himself in one afternoon: he added farther, that some
had appeared since in every autumn; but he could not find that any
had been observed before the season in which he shot so many. I
myself have found these birds in little parties in the autumn
cantoned all along the Sussex-downs, wherever there were shrubs
and bushes, from Chichester to Lewes; particularly in the autumn
of 1770.
I am, etc.
Letter XXXIX
To Thomas Pennant, Esquire
Selborne, Nov. 9, 1773.
Dear Sir,
As you desire me to send you such observations as may occur, I
take the liberty of making the following remarks, that you may,
according as you think me right or wrong, admit or reject what I
here advance, in your intended new edition of the British Zoology.
The osprey was shot about a year ago at Frinshampond, a great
lake, at about six miles from hence, while it was sitting on the
handle of a plough and devouring a fish: it used to precipitate itself
into the water, and so take its prey by surprise.
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