FOSSIL AVOOD 285 



LETTER Cin. 



TO THE SAME. 



The fossil wood * bui'ied in the bogs of Wolmer Eorest, is 

 not yet all exhausted; for the peat-cutters now and then 

 stumble upon a log. I have just seen a piece which was sent 

 by a labourer of Oakhanger to a carpenter of this village. 

 This was the butt-end of a small oak, about five feet long, 

 and about five inches in diameter. It had apparently been 

 severed from the ground bj an axe, was very ponderous, and 

 as black as ebony. Upon asking the carpenter for what pur- 

 pose he had procured it, he told me that it was to be sent to 

 his brother, a joiner at Earnham, who was to make use of it 

 in cabinet work, by inlaying it along with whiter woods. 



Those that are much abroad on evenings after it is dark, 

 in spring and summer, frequently hear a nocturnal bird 

 passing by on the wing, and repeating often a short quick 

 note. This bird I have remarked myself, but never could 

 make it out till lately. I am assured now that it is the 

 stone-cmlew (cTiaraclrius oedicnemus.) Some of them pass 

 over or near my house almost every evening after it is dark, 

 from the uplands of the hill and JS'orthfield, away down 

 towards Dorton ; where, among the streams and meadows, 

 they find a greater plenty of food. Birds that fly by night 

 are obliged to be noisy ; their notes, often repeated, become 

 signals or watch-words to keep them together, that they may 

 not stray or lose each other in the dark. 



The evening proceedings and manoeuvres of the rooks are 

 curious and amusing in the autumn.f Just before dusk, they 



* I have £ snufF-box in my possession which once belonged to Sir Walter 

 Scott, with the following inscription on it: — "Made from oak found near 

 Gordon Castle, twenty feet below the surface of the ground." It is approach- 

 ing the appearance of agate. — Ed. 



f It is always pleasing to read Mr. White's notices of the habits of animals, 

 which are at the same time equally accurate and instructive, and those of the 



