eep snows, I have seen this
bird, while it hung with its back downwards (to my no small delight and
admiration), draw straws lengthwise from out the eaves of thatched
houses, in order to pull out the flies that were concealed between them,
and that in such numbers that they quite defaced the thatch, and gave it
a ragged appearance.

The blue titmouse, or nun, is a great frequenter of houses, and a general
devourer. Besides insects, it is very fond of flesh, for it frequently
picks bones on dunghills: it is a vast admirer of suet, and haunts
butchers' shops. When a boy, I have known twenty in a morning caught
with snap mouse-traps, baited with tallow or suet. It will also pick
holes in apples left on the ground, and be well entertained with the
seeds on the head of a sunflower. The blue, marsh, and great titmice
will, in very severe weather, carry away barley and oat-straws from the
sides of ricks.

How the wheatear and whinchat support themselves in winter cannot be so
easily ascertained, since they spend their time on wild heaths and
warrens; the former especially, where there are stone quarries: most
probably it is that their maintenance arises from the aureliae of the
_Lepidoptera ordo_, which furnish them with a plentiful table in the
wilderness.

I am, etc.

LETTER XLII.

SELBORNE, _March 9th_, 1775.

Dear Sir,--Some future faunist, a man of fortune, will, I hope, extend
his visits to the kingdom of Ireland; a new field and a country little
known to the naturalist. He will not, it is to be wished, undertake that
tour unaccompanied by a botanist, because the mountains have scarcely
been sufficiently examined; and the southerly counties of so mild an
island may possibly afford some plants little to be expected within the
British dominions. A person of a thinking turn of mind will draw many
just remarks from the modern improvements of that country, both in arts
and agriculture, where premiums obtained long before they were heard of
with us. The manners of the wild natives, their superstitions, their
prejudices, their sordid way of life, will extort from him many useful
reflections. He should also take with him an able draughtsman, for he
must by no means pass over the noble castles and seats, the extensive and
picturesque lakes and waterfalls, and the lofty stupendous mountains, so
little