36 THE NATURAL HISTORY [LETT. 



where the snipes breed ; and multitudes of widgeons and teals 

 frequent our lakes in the forest in hard weather. 



Having some acquaintance with a tame brown owl, I find 

 that it casts up the fur of mice and the feathers of birds in 

 pellets, after the manner of hawks : when full, like a dog, it 

 hides what it cannot eat. 



The young of the barn owl are not easily raised, as they 

 want a constant supply of fresh mice : whereas the young of 



HOOPOE S EGG. 



the brown owl will eat indiscriminately all that is brought ; 

 snails, rats, kittens, puppies, magpies, and any kind of carrion 

 or offal. 



The house-martins have eggs still, and squab-young. The 

 last swift I observed was about the twenty-first of August ; it 

 was a straggler. 



Eed-starts, fly-catchers, white-throats, and gold-crested wrens, 

 reguli non cristati, still appear ; but I have seen no blackcaps 

 lately. 



I forgot to mention that I once saw, in Christ Church college 

 quadrangle in Oxford, on a very sunny warm morning, a house- 

 martin flying about, and settling on the parapet, so late as the 

 twentieth of November. 



At present I know only two species of bats, the common 

 Vespertilio murinus, and the Vespertilio auritus. 



I was much entertained last summer with a tame bat, which 

 would take flies out of a person's hand. If you gave it anything 

 to eat, it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering 

 and hiding its head in the manner of birds of prey when they 

 feed. The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings of 

 flies, which were always rejected, was worthy of observation, 

 and pleased me much. Insects seemed to be most acceptable, 



