places : the air swarmed with them all along the 

 Thames, so that hundreds were in sight at a time. 



Selborne, Sept. 9, 1767. 



LETTER XII. 

 To Thomas Pennant, Esq. 



It gave me no small satisfaction to hear that the 

 falco turned out an uncommon one. I must confess 

 I should have been better pleased to have heard that 

 I had sent you a bird that you had never seen be- 

 fore ; but that I find would be a difficult task. 



I have procured some of the mice mentioned in 

 my former letters, a young one and a female with 

 young, both of which I have preserved in brandy. 

 From the colour, shape, size, and manner of nesting, 

 I make no doubt but that the species is nondescript. 

 They are much smaller, and more slender, than the 

 Mus domesticiis rnedius of Ray ; and have more of the 

 squirrel or dormouse colour : their belly is white ; a 

 straight line along their sides divides the shades of 

 their back and belly. They never enter into houses; 

 are carried into ricks and barns with the sheaves ; 

 abound in harvest ; and build their nests amidst the 

 straws of the corn above the ground, and sometimes 

 in thistles. They breed as many as eight at a litter, 

 in a little round nest, composed of the blades of grass 

 or wheat. 



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