242 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



the shot : it measured forty-two inches from wing to wing, and 

 twenty-one from beak to tail, and weighed two pounds and a 

 half standing weight. This species is very robust, and wonder- 

 fully formed for rapine : its breast was plump and muscular ; its 

 thighs long, thick, and brawny ; and its legs remarkably short 

 and well set : the feet were armed with most formidable, sharp, 

 long talons : the eyelids and cere of the bill were yellow ; but 

 the irides of the eyes dusky ; the beak was thick and hooked, and 

 of a dark colour, and had a jagged process near the end of the 

 upper mandible on each side : its tail, or train, was short in pro- 

 portion 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 pro- 

 portions 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 vora- 

 cious 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. 



LETTER LVIII. To THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. 



MY near neighbour, a young gentleman in the service of the 

 East India Company, has brought home a dog and a bitch of 

 the Chinese breed from Canton ; such as are fattened in that 

 country for the purpose of being eaten : they are about the size 

 of a moderate spaniel; of a pale yellow colour, with coarse 

 bristling hairs on their backs ; sharp upright ears, and peaked 

 heads, which give them a very fox-like appearance. Their hind 

 legs are unusually straight, without any bend at the hock or 

 ham, to such a degree as to give them an awkward gait when 

 they trot. When they are in motion their tails are curved high 

 over their backs like those of some hounds, and have a bare 

 place each on the outside from the tip midway, that does not 

 seem to be matter of accident, but somewhat singular. Their 

 eyes are jet-black, small, and piercing ; the insides of their lips 



