40 NATURAL HISTORY 



As to the Falco, which I mentioned in town, I shall 

 take the liberty to send it down to you into Wales ; 

 presuming on your candour, that you will excuse me if 

 it should appear as familiar to you as it is strange to 

 me. Though mutilated, " qualem dices . . . antehac fuisse, 

 tales cum sint reliquice ll !" 



It haunted a marshy piece of ground in quest of wild 

 ducks and snipes; but, when it was shot, had just 

 knocked down a rook, which it was tearing in pieces. 

 I cannot make it answer to any of our English hawks ; 

 neither could I find any like it at the curious exhibition 

 of stuffed birds in Spring Gardens. I found it nailed 

 up at the end of a barn, which is the countryman's 

 museum 12 . 



The parish I live in is a very abrupt, uneven country, 

 full of hills and woods, and therefore full of birds. 



LETTER XI. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, September 9, 1767. 



IT 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 remembrance, 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 



11 The species proved to be the Falco peregrlnus of authors; it is 

 common also in the United States, and was called by Wilson the duck 

 hawk. In this country it breeds principally among the rocks and cliffs 

 of the sea-shore, and preys upon water-fowl. W. Y. 



12 The naturalist may occasionally meet with rarities in such places ; 

 and I recollect seeing in Wiltshire the remains of a specimen of the rare 

 sparrow owl ( Noctua passerina, SAV.) thus nailed up to a barn-door, though 

 not in a fit condition to be set up in a cabinet. RENNIE. 



