36 OWLS. 



the lampern (lampatra parva et fluviatilis) , &n.d the 

 stickleback (pisciculus aculeatus). 



We are twenty miles from the sea, and almost 

 as many from a great river, and therefore see but 

 little of sea-birds. As to wild fowls, we have a few 

 teams of ducks bred in the moors where the snipes 

 breed ; and multitudes of widgeons and teals, in 

 hard weather, frequent our lakes in the forest. 



Having some acquaintance with a tame brown 

 owl, I find that it casts up the fur of mice, and 

 the feathers of birds in pellets, after the manner 

 of hawks : when full, like a dog, it hides what it 

 cannot eat. 



The young of the barn-owl are not easily raised, 

 as they want a constant supply of fresh mice ; 

 whereas the young of the brown owl will eat 

 indiscriminately all that is brought ; snails, rats, 

 kittens, puppies, magpies, and any kind of carrion 

 or offal. 



The house-martins have eggs still, and squab- 

 young. The last swift I observed was about the 

 21st of August ; it was a straggler. 



Red-starts, fly-catchers, white-throats, and re- 

 gull non cristati, still appear ; but I have seen no 

 black- caps lately. 



I forgot to mention, that I once saw in Christ 

 Church College quadrangle, in Oxford, on a very 

 sunny warm morning, a house-martin flying about 



at the possibility of two species of eels being natives of this 

 country. In this I certainly think Mr. Yarrel correct, their 

 similarity rendering them easily confused. The species 

 with which the London markets are supplied from Holland, 

 may also be discovered, as our researches in the ichthyo- 

 logy of Great Britain, so long comparatively neglected, 

 become more frequent. The grig of Pennant, which seems 

 to be Mr. Yarrel's second species, appears in the Thames, 

 at Oxford, at a different season from the common eel. 

 W. J. 



