330 IXTRACXS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 



light ? There is a singularity in the markings of this bird ; one of the cen- 

 tre tail-feathers is perfectly white, while all the others are of the usual colour. 



As some men were ploughing up an old stubble-field, near here, a few days 

 ago, they turned up three or four Mice {Mus messorius) snugly ensconced in 

 a capacious hole, with plenty of old grass and other soft materials to keep 

 them warm, and, as the men declare, nearly half a peck of wheat, which they 

 must have carried there, grain by grain, for their winter store. I wonder if 

 these mice lie torpid in the cold season as the Dormouse does, only reviving 

 occasionally in fine warm weather. I recollect, while shooting in a wood 

 one sunny day in December, seeing 



"The sly little Dormouse creep out of her hole," 



and a most desperate grab I made at it, but the little fellow was much too 

 nimble, and was soon out of sight again in the long grass. 



I think the two notices this month, as to the Mole's eyes, in The Natur- 

 alist, will at once set at rest this question, and restore the poor little miner 

 to his sight again. The discussion takes us back to the Eton Latin grammar: 



" Oculis Capti fodere cubilia talpse," 



■which leads me to remark, that a great many of the vulgar errors current 

 respecting the habits and manners of animated life, derive their origin from 

 poets too freely using their license. Many people have an idea that the 

 Nightingale feeds entirely on Glow-Worms ; of this absurdity Cowper is of 

 course the author; and there are many errors of a similar kind in the 

 writings of other poets. The circumstance of the Short-eared Owl, 8. Bra- 

 chyotos, preying by day, is not singular; as the Snowy Owl, S. Nyctea, and 

 the Barn Owl, S. flammea, are known sometimes to do the same. I have 

 seen the latter hunting in the fields in the breeding time, probably having 

 young to provide for, as soon as ever the sun has gone down, and when it 

 has therefore been quite light. The Owl is a great favourite with me, but I 

 regret to say, the species formerly very plentiful in this neighbourhood are 

 becoming rare. If people only knew the incalculable amount of good con- 

 ferred on them by these persevering mousers, these useful birds would have 

 encouragement rather than ill-will. All the farmei-s round here say they rob 

 the pigeon-cotes ; but Waterton has, I think, satisfactorily disposed of the 

 accusation. 



I am very sony to see the account in The Naturalist, of the undoubted 

 predatoiy habits of the Rook, C.frugilegus; I never met with any instance 

 myself of this bird eating flesh, and hope it is of very uncommon occur- 

 rence ; I should have liked much to have known the state of the weather 

 and ground at the times the Rooks ate the Partridges' eggs, for, of course, 

 if the instances occurred at very dry seasons, when the ground was probably 

 very hard, and a great scarcity of their insect food in consequence, it is 



