4# HOOPOES. 



dices... antehac fuisse, tales cum sint reliquicB !" " what 

 would you say it was before when such are the re- 

 mains ?" 



It haunted a marshy piece of ground in quest of 

 wild ducks and snipes ; but, when it was shot, had 

 just knocked down a rook, which it was tearing in 

 pieces. I cannot make it answer to any of our 

 English hawks ; neither could I find any like it at 

 the curious exhibition of stuffed birds in Spring Gar- 

 dens. I found it nailed up at the end of a barn, 

 which is the countryman's museum. 



The parish I live in is a very abrupt uneven 

 country, full of hills and woods, and therefore full 

 of birds. 



LETTER XL 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, September 9, 1767- 



IT will not be without impatience that I shall wait 

 for your thoughts with regard to the falco ; as to its 

 weight, breadth, &c. I wish I had set them down 

 at the time ; but to the best of my remembrance, it 

 weighed two pounds and eight ounces, and mea- 

 sured, from wing to wing, thirty-eight inches. Its 

 cere and feet were yellow, and the circle of its eye- 

 lids 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. 



4 The most unusual birds I ever observed in these 

 parts were a pair of hoopoes, (upupa,) which came 

 several years ago in the summer, and frequented 

 an ornamental piece of ground, which joins to my 

 garden, ^for some weeks. They used to march about 



