480 



OBSERVATIONS 



ON SOME PASSAGES IN 



MR. WHITE'S NATURAL HISTORY 



OF 



SELBOENE. 



Page 8. THERE is a village in the west of England remarkable for 

 the quantity it possesses of the " Cornu Ammonis." The name of it 

 is Keynsham, between Bath and Bristol. i This has given rise to a 

 fabulous legend, which says, that St. Keyna, from whom the place 

 takes its name, resided here in a solitary wood full of venomous 

 serpents, and her prayers converted them into stones, which still 

 retain their shape.' See Espriella's Letters from England, v. 3. 

 p. 362. 



P. 21. The description of the conflagration arising from the 

 heath-fires here mentioned, reminds the scholar of the ' stubble- 

 burning ' described in Yirgil's Georgics, i. 84, and the commentary 

 on the passage, by the elegant and learned Mr. Holdsworth, p. 52. 

 Compare Yirgilii Mn. 2. 304. Ovid. Epist. xv. 9. Sil. Ital. vii. 365. 



P. 26. German Soars and Soivs were also turned out by Charles 

 the First in the New Forest, which bred and increased. Their stock 

 is supposed to exist now, remarkable for the smallness of their hind 

 quarters. See an engraving of one in Gilpin's Forest Scenery, ii. 118. 



P. 29. The " Black-cap," which Mr. White calls a delicate 

 songster, is classed very highly by Mr. D. Barrington, in his scale of 

 singing birds. See also Pennant's Brit. Zoology, v. i. p. 374. 



P. 32. The most curious account of the " Cross-bill" (Loxia 

 Curvirostra) was published by Dr. Townson, who kept them tame. 

 See his Tracts on Natural History, p. 116. 



P. 35. The ' Falco Peregrinus,' sent by Mr. White- to Mr. Pennant, 

 is a rare bird. One of them was caught some years ago in Norfolk, 



