380 NATURAL HISTORY 



somewhat of providential instinct in this circumstance 

 of dislike; for vultures 1 , and kites, and ravens, and 

 crows, &c. were intended to be messmates with dogs 2 

 over their carrion; and seem to be appointed by Nature 

 as fellow-scavengers to remove all cadaverous nui- 

 sances from the face of the earth. 



I am, &c. 



LETTER LIX. 



TO THE SAME. 



THE fossil wood buried in the bogs of Wolmer Forest 

 is not yet all exhausted ; for the peat cutters now and 

 then stumble upon a log. I have just seen a piece which 

 was sent by a labourer of Oakhanger to a carpenter of 

 this village ; this was the but-end of a small oak, about 

 five feet long, and about five inches in diameter. It 

 had apparently been severed from the ground by an 

 axe, was very ponderous, and as black as ebony. Upon 

 asking the carpenter for what purpose he had procured 

 it, he told me that it was to be sent to his brother, a 

 joiner at Farnham, who was to make use of it in cabi- 

 net work, by inlaying it along with whiter woods. 



Those that are much abroad on evenings after it is 

 dark, in spring and summer, frequently hear a nocturnal 

 bird passing by on the wing, and repeating often a short 

 quick note. This bird I have remarked myself, but 

 never could make out till lately. I am assured now 

 that it is the stone-curlew (Charadrius (Edicnemus). 

 Some of them pass over or near my house almost every 



1 Hasselquist, in his Travels to the Levant, observes that the dogs and 

 vultures at Grand Cairo maintain such a friendly intercourse as to bring 

 up their young together in the same place. 



2 The Chinese word for a dog to a European ear sounds like quihloh. 



