268 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



NOTES TO LETTER LVII. 



1 The pettichaps is more usually known by the name of the garden warbler, 

 but White's description is more like the lesser white-throat, which is peculiarly 

 restless and active, and has a very silvery breast and belly. 



2 Of the hawk tribe, the female is always the larger, stronger, and handsomer 

 bird; the reverse bein the rule among those birds which are not birds of prey. 



LETTER LVIII. 



MY near neighbour, a young gentleman in the service of the 

 East India Company, has brought home a dog and a bitch of the 

 Chinese breed from Canton, such as are fattened in that country 

 for the purpose of being eaten : they are about the size of a 

 moderate spaniel ; of a pale yellow colour, with coarse bristling hairs 

 on their backs ; sharp upright ears, and peaked heads, which give 

 them a very fox-like appearance. Their hind legs are unusually 

 straight, without any bend at the hock or ham, to such a degree as 

 to give them an awkward gait when they trot. When they are in 

 motion their tails are curved high over their backs like those cf 

 some hounds, and have a bare place each on the outside from 

 the tip midway, that does not seem to be matter of accident, but 

 somewhat singular. Their eyes are jet-black, small, and piercing; 

 the insides of their lips and mouths of the same colour, and their 

 tongues blue. The bitch has a dew-claw on each hind leg ; the 

 dog has none. When taken out into a field the bitch showed 

 some disposition for hunting, and dwelt on the scent of a covey of 

 partridges till she sprung them, giving her tongue all the time. 

 The dogs in South America are dumb ; but these bark much in a 

 short thick manner like foxes, and have a surly, savage demeanour 

 like their ancestors, which are not domesticated, but bred up in 

 sties, where they are fed for the table with rice-meal and other 

 farinaceous food. These dogs, having been taken on board as 

 soon as weaned, could not learn much from their dam ; yet they 

 did not relish flesh when they came to England. In the islands 



