This curious quotation strikes me much, by so well representing my own case, and by describing what I have so often felt, but never could so well express. When I hear fine music, I am haunted with passages therefrom night and day, and especially at first waking; which, by their importunity, give me more uneasiness than pleasure: elegant lessons still tease my imagination, and recur irresistibly to my recollection at seasons, and even when I am desirous of thinking of more serious matters.

LETTER LIII.

A RARE, and I think a new little bird frequents my garden, which I have great reason to think is the pettichaps it is common in some parts of the kingdom; and I have received formerly several dead specimens from Gibraltar. This bird much resembles the white-throat, but has a more white or rather silvery breast and belly; is restless and active like the willow-wrens, and hops from bough to bough, examining every part for food; it also runs up the stems of the crown-imperials, and putting its head into the bells of those flowers, sips the liquor which stands in the nectarium of each petal. Sometimes it feeds on the ground like the hedge-sparrow, by hopping about on the grass-plots and mown walks.

One of my neighbours, an intelligent and observbeing equally imitable by us, cannot affect our internal faculties in the same degree.

1 Mr. Jenyns believes this bird to have been the lesser whitethroat, as it answers better the description of that bird than of the pettichaps.-T. B.

ing man, informs me that, in the beginning of May, and about ten minutes before eight o'clock in the evening, he discovered a great cluster of houseswallows, thirty at least, he supposes, perching on a willow that hung over the verge of James Knight's upper pond. His attention was drawn by the twittering of these birds, which sat motionless in a row on the bough, with their heads all one way, and, by their weight, pressing down the twig so that it nearly touched the water. In this situation he watched them till he could see no longer. Repeated accounts of this sort, spring and fall, induce us greatly to suspect that house-swallows have some strong attachment to water, independent of the matter of food; and, though they may not retire into that element, yet they may conceal themselves in the banks of pools and rivers during the uncomfortable months of winter.1

1 Swallows, congregating and disappearance of, from Miscellaneous Observations :

66 During the severe winds that often prevail late in spring, it is not easy to say how the hirundines subsist, for the withdrawing themselves is hardly ever seen; nor do any insects appear for their support. That they can retire, to rest and sleep away those uncomfortable periods, as bats do, is a matter rather to be suspected than proved; or do they not rather spend their time in deep and sheltered vales, near waters, where insects are more likely to be found? Certain it is, that hardly any individuals of this genus have, at such times, been seen for several days together.

"September 13, 1791. The congregating flocks of hirundines on the church and tower are very beautiful and amusing. When they fly off together on any alarm, they quite swarm in the air; but they soon settle into heaps, and preening their feathers, and lifting up their wings to admit the sun, seem highly to enjoy the warm situation. Thus they spend the heat of the day, preparing for their emigration, and, as it were, consulting when and where they are to go. The flight about the church seems to consist chiefly of house

One of the keepers of Wolmer Forest sent me a PEREGRINE FALCON, which he shot on the verge of

that district, as it was devouring a wood-pigeon. The falco peregrinus, or haggard falcon, is a noble

martins, above four hundred in number; but there are other places of rendezvous about the village frequented at the same time.

"It is remarkable, that though most of them sit on the battlements and roof, yet many hang there for some time by their claws against the surface of the walls, in a manner not practised by them at any other time of their remaining with us.

"The swallows seem to delight more in holding their assemblies on trees. It is very remarkable, that after the hirundines have disappeared for some weeks, a few are occasionally seen again, sometimes in the first week of November, and that only for one day. Do

species of hawk, seldom seen in the southern counties. In winter 1767, one was killed in the neighbouring parish of Faringdon, and sent by me to Mr. Pennant into North Wales. Since that time I have met with none till now. The specimen mentioned above was in fine preservation, and not injured by the shot: it measured forty-two inches from wing to wing, and twenty-one from beak to tail, and weighed two pounds and a half standing weight. This species is very robust, and wonderfully formed for rapine: its breast was plump and muscular; its thighs long, thick, and brawny; and its legs remarkably short and well-set: the feet were armed with most formidable, sharp, long talons: the eyelids and cere of the bill were yellow; but the irides of the eyes dusky; the beak was thick and hooked, and of a dark colour, and had a jagged process near the end of the upper mandible on each side; its tail, or train, was short in proportion to the bulk of its body; yet the wings, when closed, did not extend to the end of the train. From its large and fair proportions, it might be supposed to have been a female; but I was not permitted to cut open the specimen. For one of the birds of prey, which are usually lean, this was in high case: in its craw were many barley-corns, which probably came from the crop of the wood-pigeon, on which it they not withdraw and slumber in some hiding-place during the interval? for we cannot suppose that they had migrated to warmer climates, and so returned again for one day. Is it not more probable that they are awakened from sleep, and, like the bats, are come forth to collect a little food? Bats appear at all seasons through the autumn and spring months, when the thermometer is at 50, because their phalanæ and moths are thinning.

"These swallows looked like young ones."

1 See Letters X. and XI. Part I.

was feeding when shot: for voracious birds do not eat grain; but, when devouring their quarry, with undistinguishing vehemence, swallow bones and feathers, and all matters, indiscriminately. This falcon was probably driven from the mountains of North Wales or Scotland, where they are known to build, by rigorous weather and deep snows that had lately fallen.

LETTER LIV.

My near neighbour, a young gentleman in the service of the East India Company, has brought home a dog and a bitch of the Chinese breed from Canton; such as are fattened in that country for the purpose of being eaten they are about the size of a moderate spaniel; of a pale yellow colour, with coarse bristling hair on their backs; sharp upright ears, and peaked heads, which give them a very fox-like appearance. Their hind legs are unusually straight, without any bend at the hock, or ham, to such a degree as to give them an awkward gait when they trot. When they are in motion, their tails are curved high over their backs like those of some hounds, and have a bare place each on the outside from the tip midway, that does not seem to be matter of accident, but somewhat singular. Their eyes are jet black, small, and piercing; the insides of their lips and mouths of the same colour, and their tongues blue. The bitch has a dewclaw on each hind leg; the dog has none. When taken out into a field, the bitch showed some disposition for hunting, and dwelt on the scent of a covey