A crossbill (loxia curvirostra) was killed last year in this neighbourhood.

Our streams, which are small, and rise only at the end of the village, yield nothing but the bull's-head or miller's-thumb (gobius fluviatilis capitatus), the trout (trutta fluviatilis), the eel (anguilla), the lampern

were to be seen; but a mass of kernels of the stones of fruits. Mr. B. observed that this bird frequented the spot where plum-trees grow; and that he had seen it with somewhat hard in its mouth, which it broke with difficulty; these were the stones of damsons. The Latin name signifies berry-breaker, because with its large horny beak it cracks and breaks the shells of stone fruits for the sake of the seed or kernel. Birds of this sort are rarely seen in England, and only in winter." a

a It is now established that the grossbeak breeds in Epping Forest and elsewhere.-T. B.

(lampætra parva et fluviatilis), and the stickleback (pisciculus aculeatus).

We are twenty miles from the sea, and almost as many from a great river, and therefore see but little of sea-birds. As to wild fowls, we have a few teams of ducks bred up in the moors where the snipes dwell; and multitudes of widgeons and teals, in hard weather, frequent our lakes in the forest.

Having some acquaintance with a tame brown owl, I find that it casts up the fur of mice, and the feathers

of birds in pellets, after the manner of hawks; when full, like a dog, it hides what it cannot eat.

The young of the barn-owl are not easily raised,1 as

1 It does not appear that White was acquainted with a remarkable habit of the barn-owl, which, however, is well known to some of the inhabitants of Selborne at the present time. This bird

they want a constant supply of fresh mice; whereas the young of the brown owl will eat indiscriminately all that is brought; snails, rats, kittens, puppies, magpies, and any kind of carrion or offal.

The house-martins have eggs still, and squabyoung. The last swift I observed was about the 21st of August; it was a straggler.

Redstarts, fly-catchers, whitethroats, and reguli non cristati, still appear; but I have seen no blackcaps lately.

I forgot to mention, that I once saw in Christ Church College quadrangle, in Oxford, on a very sunny warm morning, a house-martin flying about and settling on the parapet, so late as the 20th of November.

At present, I know only two species of BATS, the common vespertilio murinus,1 and the vespertilio auribus.2

I was much entertained last summer with a tame bat, which would take flies out of a person's hand. If you gave it anything to eat, it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering and hiding its head in the manner of birds of prey when they feed. The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings of the flies, which were always rejected, was worthy of observation, and pleased me much. Insects seemed has two, or even three, consecutive broods in the season, of two young ones each. The second pair is hatched before the first are ready to fly, and the earlier pair assist the parent birds in incubating the second brood, and keeping them warm after they are hatched. This fact is recorded by Mr. Blyth, and also by Mr. Yarrell, in his history of "British Birds."-T. B.

1 Vespertilio pipistrellus.-See Brit. Quad.

2 It will be seen further on that the author afterwards discovered the great bat, V. noctula. Two additional species are also now known to inhabit Selborne, V. Nattereri and V. Daubentonii.—T. B.

to be most acceptable, though it did not refuse raw flesh when offered; so that the notion that bats go down chimneys and gnaw men's bacon, seems no improbable story. While I amused myself with this

wonderful quadruped, I saw it several times confute the vulgar opinion, that bats, when down on a flat surface, cannot get on the wing again, by rising with great ease from the floor. It ran, I observed, with more despatch than I was aware of; but in a most ridiculous and grotesque manner.

Bats drink on the wing, like swallows, by sipping the surface as they play over pools and streams. They love to frequent waters, not only for the sake of drinking, but on account of the insects, which are found over them in the greatest plenty. As I was going some years ago, pretty late, in a boat from

Richmond to Sunbury, on a warm summer's evening, I think I saw myriads of bats between the two places; the air swarmed with them all along the Thames, so that hundreds were in sight at a time.

SIR,

LETTER XII.

November 4, 1767.

It gave me no small satisfaction to hear that the falco1 turned out an uncommon one. I must confess I should have been better pleased to have heard that I had sent you a bird that you had never seen before; but that, I find, would be a difficult task.

I have procured some of the mice 2 mentioned in my former letters, which I have preserved in brandy. From the colour, shape, size, and manner of nesting, I make no doubt but that the species is nondescript, They are much smaller and more slender than the mus domesticus medius of Ray, and have more of the squirrel or dormouse colour. Their belly is white; a straight line along their sides divides the shades of their back and belly. They never enter into houses; are carried into ricks and barns with the sheaves; abound in harvest; and build their nests amidst the straws of the corn above the ground, and sometimes

1 This hawk proved to be the falco peregrinusa—a variety.

2 Mus messorius-the Harvest Mouse of Pennant. A full account of this elegant little creature will be found in the "History of British Quadrupeds.”— T. B.

a The Peregrine falcon has been repeatedly seen in the neighbourhood of Selborne; once by the writer of this note.-T. B.