LETTER LIX. 



HE fossil wood buried in the bogs of Wolmer 

 Forest is not yet all exhausted ; for the peat- 

 cutters now and then stumble upon a log. 

 I have just seen a piece which was sent by 

 a labourer of Oakhanger to a carpenter of 

 this village ; this was the butt-end of a small 

 oak, about five feet long, and about five 

 inches in diameter. It had apparently been severed from the 

 ground by an axe, was very ponderous, and as black as ebony. 

 Upon asking the carpenter for what purpose he had procured 

 it, he told me that it was to be sent to his brother, a joiner 

 at Farnham, who was to make use of it in cabinet-work, by 

 inlaying it along with whiter woods. 



Those that are much abroad on evenings after it is dark, 



-in spring and summer, frequently hear a nocturnal bird 



passing by on the wing, and repeating often a short, quick 



note. This bird I have remarked myself, but never could 



make out till lately. I am assured now that it is the stone- 



