36 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



animal matter. Of the rat proper there are two species, the original black 

 English rat, which is exceedingly rare, and the Norway rat, which is the one now 

 so common. It has completely ousted the black rat. 



7 This hawk was apparently a variety of the Peregrine Falcon. 



LETTER XI. 



SELBORNE, September tyh, 1767. 

 IT will not be without impatience that I shall wait for your 



THE HOOPOE. 



thoughts with regard to \hzfalco; as to its weight, breadth, etc., 1 

 wish I had set them down at the time ; but, to the best of my 

 remembrance, it weighed two pounds and eight ounces, and 

 measured, from wing to wing, thirty-eight inches. Its cere and 

 feet were yellow, and the circle of its eyelids a bright yellow. As it 

 had been killed some days, and the eyes were sunk, I could make 

 no good observation on the colour of the pupils and the irides. 



The most unusual birds I ever observed in these parts were a 

 pair of hoopoes (upupa}^ which came several years ago in the 



