MAY. 127 



siderable tree,' and has a spreading body, and a handsome 

 outline, but its foliage is too thin to have that massy richness 

 which gives so much beauty to many trees. Its wood is 

 hard, of a fine grain, and susceptible of a polish, and from 

 these qualities, and its colour, a dark red, it is in demand for 

 furniture, which sometimes has no small resemblance to ma- 

 hogany. The red cherry, whose fruit is very dissimilar in 

 colour and flavour, is, I believe, a distinct species (P. Bo- 

 realis). Except by the fruit, they can scarcely be distin- 

 guished from each other : the red, however, rarely grows to 

 any size. 



C. In coming home this evening, I saw a bat in flight : 

 I should scarcely think there are yet moths enough abroad 

 to support him. 



F. Though moths are his favourite food, I do not think 

 he altogether confines himself to that diet, but occasionally 

 makes a meal of other insects : and an entomologist of his 

 skill and industry, no doubt, can manage to capture many 

 specimens, even at this season. 



C. Under large stones and the like, I find many pass- 

 ages, turning in every direction, made in the surface of the 

 ground, about half an inch deep : in some of them there is a 

 great quantity of soft dried grass : as much as a man could 

 hold in both hands, I have taken out. 



F. They are the burrows and nests of the Short-tailed 

 Field-mouse (Arvicola Pennsylvanicus) , a destructive little 

 animal, which every farmer kills at every opportunity. In 

 ploughing grass land, we frequently disturb them ; and as 

 they cannot run very fast, though they are nimble in creep- 

 ing into crevices and under the clods, they very often suffer 

 death. The fanner's animosity against them arises from 

 their fecundity, and their appetite for grain and Indian 



