oe 



LETTER XL 



To the same. 



SELBORNE, September tyh, 1767. 



T will not be without impatience that I shall wait 

 for your thoughts with regard to the falco ; as 

 to its weight, breadth, &c., I wish I had set them 

 down at the time ; but, to the best of my remem- 

 brance, it weighed two pounds and eight ounces, 

 and measured, from wing to wing, thirty-eight 

 inches. Its cere and feet were yellow, and the 

 circle of its eyelids a bright yellow. As it had been killed some 

 days, and the eyes were sunk, I could make no good observation on 

 the colour of the pupils and the irides. 1 



The most unusual birds I ever observed in these parts were a pair 

 of hoopoes (upupa), which came several years ago in the summer, 

 and frequented an ornamented piece of ground, which joins to my 

 garden, for some weeks. They used to march about in a stately 



1 It was a peregrine falcon, Falco peregrinus. ED. 



