Such a
run of wet seasons a century or two ago would, I am persuaded,
have occasioned a famine. Therefore pamphlets and newspaper
letters, that talk of combinations, tend to inflame and mislead;
since we must not expect plenty till Providence sends us more
favourable seasons.
The wheat of last year, all round this district, and in the county of
Rutland, and elsewhere, yields remarkably bad: and our wheat on
the ground, by the continual late sudden vicissitudes from fierce
frost to pouring rains, looks poorly; and the turnips rot very fast.
Letter XX
To The Honourable Daines Barrington
Selborne, Feb. 26, 1774.
Dear Sir,
The sand-martin, or bank-martin, is by much the least of any of the
British hirundines; and, as far as we have ever seen, the smallest
known hirundo; though Brisson asserts that there is one much
smaller, and that is the hirundo esculenta.
But it is much to be regretted that it is scarce possible for any
observer to be so full and exact as he could wish in reciting the
circumstances attending the life and conversation of this little bird,
since it is fera natura, at least in this part of the kingdom,
disclaiming all domestic attachments, and haunting wild heaths
and commons where there are large lakes; while the other species,
especially the swallow and house-martin, are remarkably gentle
and domesticated, and never seem to think themselves safe but
under the protection of man.
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