the ostrich may be well applied to the bird we are 

 talking of : — 



" She is hardened against her young ones, as though 

 they were not hers : 



" Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither 

 hath He imparted to her understanding.'' (Job xxxix. 

 1 6, 17.) 



Does each female cuckoo lay but one egg- in a 

 season, or does she drop several in different nests, 

 according as opportunity offers? 



Selborne, Feb. 19, 1770. 



LETTER XXXI. 

 To Thomas Pennant, Esq. 



Hedge-HOGS abound in my gardens and fields. 

 The manner in which they eat the roots of the plan- 

 tain in the grass-walk is very curious : with their 

 upper mandible, which is much longer than their 

 lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat the root 

 off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched. In 

 this respect they are serviceable, as they destroy a 

 very troublesome weed ; but they deface the walks 

 in some measure by digging little round holes. 

 It appears, by the dung that they drop upon the 

 turf, that beetles are no inconsiderable part of their 

 food. In June last I procured a litter of five or 

 II 123 



