76 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



just before it is dark, and to settle and nestle among the 

 heath on our forest. And besides, the larkers, in dragging 

 their nets by night, frequently catch them in the wheat 

 stubbles ; while the bat-fowlers, who take many red-wings 

 in the hedges, never entangle any of this species. Why 

 these birds, in the matter of roosting, should differ from all 

 their congeners, and from themselves also with respect to 

 their proceedings by day, is a fact for which I am by no 

 means able to account. 



I have somewhat to inform you of concerning the moose- 

 deer ; but in general foreign animals fall seldom in my way ; 

 my little intelligence is confined to the narrow sphere of 

 my own observations at home. 



LETTER XXVIII. 



SELBORNE, March 1770. 



ON Michaelmas-day 1768 I managed to get a sight of the 

 female moose belonging to the Duke of Richmond, at Good- 

 wood ; but was greatly disappointed, when I arrived at the 

 spot, to find that it died, after having appeared in a lan- 

 guishing way for some time, on the morning before. How- 

 ever, understanding that it was not stripped, I proceeded to 

 examine this rare quadruped ; I found it in an old green- 

 house, slung under the belly and chin by ropes, and in a 

 standing posture ; but, though it had been dead for so short 

 a time, it was in so putrid a state that the stench was 

 hardly supportable. The grand distinction between this 

 deer, and any other species that I have ever met with, 



