FLOODS AT L1LFORD— PHEASANTS— ALGIERS 113 



great quantity of dunlins in the meadows. I 

 have not been out of the house since August 31.' 



To the same. 



' December 21, 1876. 



'I only know what goes on in the dovecot 

 in Tenterden Street from casual friends who 

 happen to drop in there, e.g. Irby and my boy 

 Tom, who wrote that my room was full of White 

 Falcons, Snowy Owls, and Long-tailed Shavers 

 [sic]. . . . 



'All my pheasants are crossed either with 

 Phasianus torquatus 1 or Phasianus versicolor, 2 

 and the heaviest birds I ever saw were the first 

 cross between those two species, both parents 

 being considerably less than Ph. colchicus. 3 

 I have several Beeves' Pheasants out in the 

 coverts.' 



r lo the same. 



' September 20, 1877. 



' We have taken a house at Algiers for the 

 winter, and shall be starting in October. I am 

 so crippled that the prospect of seeing a country 



1 Chinese pheasant. ~ Japanese pheasant. 



3 The old English pheasant. 



