146 The Scottish Naturalist. 



strange a manner, that it were incredible, except it were con- 

 firmed by letters of credit, and by eye-witnesses with that assur- 

 ance which is without all exception. Upon the first encounter, 

 they withdrew themselves backward east and west, and with 

 like eagerness and fury encountered several times, upon all 

 which these Stares fell down in like strange and admirable 

 manner as upon the first encounter. They continued this 

 most admirable and violent battle till a little before night, at 

 which time they seemed to vanish, so that all Sunday, the 13th 

 of October, none appeared about the city. 



" Upon Monday, the 14th of October, they made their return 

 again, and at the same time, the day being as fair a sunshine 

 day as it was the Saturday before, they mounted into the air, 

 and encountered each other with like violent assaults as for- 

 merly they had done, and fell into the city upon the houses, 

 and into the. river, wounded and slaughtered in like manner as 

 is before reported ; but at this last battle there was a Kite, a 

 Raven, and a Crow, all three found dead in the streets, rent, torn, 

 and mangled." 



Another extract from the same " Memorabilia" illustrates 

 control over, or at least inactivity of, the natural antipathies, 

 passions, and habits of predatory animals of different species 

 and gender — in the face of a serious common danger. Referring 

 to a sudden flood in Monmouthshire, in which a milk-maid 

 saved herself by retiring to a high* bank above water-mark, on 

 which bank a number of animals — domestic and wild — had 

 found a similar asylum, it is stated that — "The hill or bank 

 where the maid abode all that space was all so covered over 

 with wild beasts and vermin, that came thither to seek for suc- 

 cour, that she had much ado to save herself from taking of hurt 

 by them, and much ado she had to keep them from creeping 

 upon and about her. She was not so much in danger of the 

 water on the one side, as she was troubled with those vermin 

 on the other side. The beasts and vermin that were there were 

 these — namely, Dogs, cats, moles, foxes, hares, rabbits, yea, and 

 not so much as rats and mice but were there in abundance ; 

 and that which is the more strange, the one of them never once 

 offered to annoy the other, although they were deadly enemies 

 by nature the one to another. Yet in this danger of life they 

 not once offered to express their natural enmity, but in a 

 gentle sort they freely enjoyed the liberty of life, which in mine 

 opinion, was a most wonderful work in nature." 



