206 WHITE 



and falling in curves, like the other species mentioned before. 

 In different parts of this kingdom people call them fen-crickets, 

 churr-worms, and eve-churrs, all very apposite names. 



Anatomists who have examined the intestines of these 

 insects astonish me with their accounts; for they say that, 

 from the structure, position, and number of their stomachs, or 

 maws there seems to be good reason to suppose that this and 

 the two former species ruminate or chew the cud like many 

 quadrupeds ! 1 



NOTE 



1 The use of this peculiar formation of the stomach of the cricket (and 

 the locust has the same peculiarity) is not yet clear to naturalists, but it 

 seems quite clear that it does not chew the cud, and that it would be impos- 

 sible for the food to be returned for that purpose. G. C. D. 



LETTER XLIX 



SELBORNE, May jth, 1779. 



IT is now more than forty years that I have paid some atten- 

 tion to the ornithology of this district, without being able to 

 exhaust the subject : new occurrences still arise as long as any 

 inquiries are kept alive. 



In the last week of last month five of those most rare birds, 

 too uncommon to have obtained an English name, but known 

 to naturalists by the terms of himantopus, or loripes, and chara- 

 drius himantopus} were shot upon the verge of Frinsham Pond, 

 a large lake belonging to the Bishop of Winchester, and lying 

 between Wolmer Forest and the town of Farnham, in the county 

 of Surrey. The pond-keeper says there were three brace in 

 the flock : but, that after he had satisfied his curiosity, he suf- 

 fered the sixth to remain unmolested. One of these specimens 

 I procured, and found the length of the legs to be so extraor- 

 dinary, that, at first sight, one might have supposed the shanks 

 had been fastened on to impose on the credulity of the beholder : 

 they were legs in caricatura ; and had we seen such proportions 

 on a Chinese or Japan screen we should have made large allow- 

 ances for the fancy of the draughtsman. These birds are of 

 the plover family, and might with propriety be called the stilt 



