pern {Lampctra parva et fliiviatilis), and the stickle- 

 back {^Pisciculus aculeatiis). 



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 fre- 

 quent our lakes in the forest in hard weather. 



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 can- 

 not eat. 



The young of the barn owl are not easily raised, 

 as they want a constant supply of fresh mice : w^here- 

 as the young of the brown owl will eat indiscrim- 

 inately all that is brought ; snails, rats, kittens, pup- 

 pies, 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 

 twenty-first of August ; it was a straggler. 



Redstarts, fly-catchers, w^hite-throats, and gold- 

 crested wrens, reguli non cristati, still appear ; but I 

 have seen no blackcaps 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, 

 and settling on the parapet, so late as the twentieth 

 of November. 



44 



