And here, I think, will be the proper place to mention: that
thofe birds were moil punftual again in their migration this
autumn, appearing, as before, about the 30th of September: but their
flocks were larger than common, and their flay protra&ed fome-
what beyond the ufual time.. I f they came to fpend the whole
winter with us, as fome of their congeners do, and then left us,
as they do, in fpring, I Ihould not be fo much ftruck with the
occurrence, fince it would be fimilar to that of the other winter
birds of pafiage; but. when I fee them for a fortnight at Michaelmas,
and again for about a week in the middle of April, lam feizeid
with wonder, and long to- be informed whence' "theft travellers--
come, and whither they go, fince they feem to-ufe our hill’s merely
as an Inn or baiting place.
Your account of the greater brambling, or fnow-fieek, is very
amufing, and ftrange it is that fuch a Ihort-winged bird fhould
delight in fuch perilous voyages over the northern ocean! Some
country people in the winter time have every now and then told me
that they have feen two or three white larks on our downs; but, on
confidering the matter, I begin to fufpeft that thefe are fome
ftragglers of the birds we are talking of, which fometimes perhaps
may rov-e fo far to the fouthward.
It pleafes me to find that white hares are fo- frequent on the
Scottijh mountains, and efpecially as you inform me that it is a
diftindt fpecies; for the quadrupeds of Britain are fo few, that
every new fpecies is a great acquifition.
The eagle-owl, could it be proved to-belong to us,.is fo majeftic
a bird, that it would grace our fauna much. I never was informed
before where wild-geefe are known to hreed.
You admit, I find, that I have proved your fen-Jalicaria; to be
the lelfer reed-fparrow of Ray: and I. think you may be. fecure
that
that I am right; for I took very particular pains to clear Up that
matter, and had fome fair fpecimens; but, is they were not well
preferved, they are decayed already. You will, no doubt, infert
it in it’s proper place in your next edition. Your additional
plates will much improve your work.
Be Buffon, I know, has defcribed the water (hrew-moufe i but
ftill I am pleafed to find you have difcovered it in Lincolnjhire,
for the reafon I have given in the article of the white hare.
As. a neighbour was lately plowing in a dry chalky field, far
removed from any water, he turned out a water-rat, that was
curioufly laid up in an b/btrMcttlum artificially formed of grafs and
leaves. At one end of the burrow lay above a gallon of potatoes
regularly flowed, on which it Was to have fupported itfelf for the
winter. But the difficulty with me is how this amphibius mus
came to fix it’s winter ftation at fuch a diftance from the water.
Was it determined in it’s choice of that place by the mere accident
®f finding the potatoes which were planted there; or is it the
conftant pra&ice of the aquatic-rat to forfake the neighbourhood
of the water in the .colder months ?
Though I delight very little in analogous reafoning, knowing
how fallacious it is with refpedt to natural hiftory; yet, in the
following inftance, I cannot help being inclined to think it may
conduce towards the explanation of a difficulty that 1 have mentioned
before, with refpeft to the invariable early retreat of the
hirundo apus,. or fwift, fo many weeks before it’s congeners; and
. that not only with us, but alfo in Andalvjia, where they alfo begin
to retire about the beginning of AuguJl.
The great large bat1 (which by the by is at prefent a non-
1 The little bat appears almoft every month in the year j blit I have never feen the
large ones till the end o f April, nor after July. They are molt common in Ju n i, but
never in any plenty: are a rare fpecies with us.
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