LETTER cm. 



To THE Honourable Daines Barrington. 



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 butt-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 cabinet-work, by inlay- 

 ing 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 



cedicnemus). Some of them pass over or near my 



house almost every evening after it is dark: from 



the uplands of the hill and North field, away down 



towards Dorton, where, among the streams and 



meadows, they find a greater plenty of food. Birds 



that fly by night are obliged to be noisy ; their notes 



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