food, but fo macerated that the quality could not be diftinguifh-
ed; their livers, kidnies, and hearts, were large, and their bowels
covered with fat. They weighed each, when entire, full one
ounce and one drachm. Within the ear there was fomewhat of
a peculiar ftructure that I did not underftand perfedtly; but refer
it to the obfervation of 'the curious anatomift. Thefe creatures
lent forth a very rancid and offenfive fmell.
L E T T E R XXXVII.
TO THE S AM E .
D E A R S IR , •oelbornej x771»
O n the twelfth of July I had a fair opportunity of contemplating
the motions of the caprimulgus, or fern-owl, as it was playing
round a large oak that fwarmed with fcarabai fqljlitiaks, or
fern-chafers. The powers of it’s wing were wonderful, exceeding,
if pofiible, the.various evolutions and quick turns o f the: fwallow
genus. But the circumftance that pleafed me moft was, that I faw
it diftindtly, more than once, put out it’s fhort leg while on the
wing, and, by a bend of the head, deliver fomewhat into it?s
mouth. I f it takes any part of it’s prey with it’s foot, as '1 have
now the greateft reafon to fuppofe it does thefe chafers, I no
longer wonder at the ufe of it’s middle toe, which is curioufly
furnilhed with a ferrated claw.
Swallows
Swallows and martins, the bulk of them I mean, have for-
faken us fooner this year than ufual; for, on September the twenty-
fecond, they rendezvoufed in a neighbour’s walnut-tree, where it
feemed probable they had taken up their lodging for the night.
At the dawn of the day, which was foggy, "they arofe all together
in infinite numbers, ocCaflOtiing fuch a ruftiingfrom the ftrokes of
their wings againft the hazy air, as might be heard to a con-
liderable diftanGe : fince that no flock has appeared, only a few
ftragglers.
Some fwifts ftaid late, till the twenty-fecond of Augitjl— a rare
inftance ! for they ufually withdraw within the firft week V
On September the twenty-fourth three or four riflg-oufels appeared
in my fields for the firft time this feafon : how punctual are thefe
vilitors in their autumnal and fpring migrations !
L E T T E R XXXVIII.
TO THE S AME .
D E A R S IR , Selborne, March 15, 1773,
B y my journal for Iaft autumn it appears that the houfe-martins
bred very late, and ftaid very late in thefe parts; far, oil the
firft of October, I faw young martins in their neft nearly fledged;
and again, on the twenty-firft of OBober, We had at the next
houfe a neft full of young martins juft ready to fly ; and the old
ones .were hawking for infedts with great alertnefs. The next
• See letter liii. to Mr. Barrington.
morning