OF SELBORNE 217 



wood-pigeon, on which it was feeding when shot : for voracious 

 birds do not eat grain ; but, when devouring their quarry, with 

 undistinguishing vehemence swallow bones and feathers, and all 

 matters, indiscriminately. This falcon was probably driven from 

 the mountains of North Wales or Scotland, where they are known 

 to breed, by rigorous weather and deep snows that had lately 

 fallen. 



I am, &c. 



LETTER LVIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



My near neighbour, a young gentleman in the service of the 

 East-India Company, has brought home a dog and a bitch of the 

 Chinese breed irom Canton ; such as are fattened in that country 

 for the purpose of being eaten : they are about the size of a 

 moderate spaniel ; of a pale yellow colour, with coarse bristling 

 hairs on their backs ; sharp upright ears, and peaked heads, 

 which give them a very fox-like appearance. Their hind legs 

 are unusually straight, without any bend at the hock or ham, to 

 such a degree as to give them an aukward gait when they trot. 

 When they are in motion their tails are curved high over their 

 backs like those of some hounds, and have a bare place each on 

 the outside from the tip midway, that does not seem to be matter 

 of accident, but somewhat singular. Their eyes are jet-black, 

 small, and piercing ; the insides of their lips and mouths of the 

 same colour, and their tongues blue. The bitch has a dew-claw 

 on each hind leg ; the dog has none. When taken out into a 

 field the bitch showed some disposition for hunting, and dwelt 

 on the scent of a covey of partridges till she sprung them, giving 

 her tongue all the time. The dogs in South America are dumb ; 

 but these bark much in a short thick manner, like foxes ; and 

 have a surly, savage demeanour like their ancestors, which are 

 not domesticated, but bred up in sties, where they are fed for 

 the table with rice-meal and other farinaceous food. These dogs, 

 having been taken on board as soon as weaned, could not learn 

 much from their dam ; yet they did not relish flesh when they 

 came to England. In the islands of the pacific ocean the dogs 

 are bred up on vegetables, and would not eat flesh when offered 

 them by our circumnavigators. 



