T*he Natural History of Selborne 373 



in proportion to the bulk of its body; yet the wings, when 

 closed, did not extend to the end of the train. From its 

 large and fair proportions it might be supposed to have 

 been a female; but I was not permitted to cut open the 

 specimen. For one of the birds of prey, which are usually 

 lean, this was in high case : in its craw were many barley- 

 corns, which probably came from the crop of the wood- 

 pigeon, on which it was feeding when shot ; for voracious 

 birds do not eat grain, but when devouring their quarry, 

 with undistinguishing vehemence swallow bones and feathers, 

 and all matters, indiscriminately. This falcon was probably 

 driven from the mountains of North Wales or Scotland, 

 where they are known to breed, by rigorous weather and 

 deep snows that had lately fallen. I am, &c. 



