78 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



winged bird should delight in such perilous voyages over 

 the northern ocean ! Some country people in the winter 

 time have every now and then told me that they have 

 seen two or three v/hite larks on our downs ; but on con- 

 sidering the matter, I begin to suspect that these are some 

 stragglers of the birds we are talking of, which sometimes 

 perhaps may rove so far to the southward. 



It pleases me to find that white hares are so frequent 

 on the Scottish mountains, and especially as you inform 

 me that it is a distinct species ; for the quadrupeds of 

 Britain are so few, that every new species is a great 

 acquisition. 



The eagle-owl, could it be proved to belong to us, is 

 so majestic a bird that it would grace our fauna much. 

 I never was informed before where wild-geese are known 

 to breed. 



You admit, I find, that I have proved your fen salicaria 

 to be the lesser reed-sparrow of Ray ; and I think that 

 you may be secure that I am right ; for I took very par- 

 ticular pains to clear up that matter, and had some fair 

 specimens ; but, as they were not well preserved, they 

 are decayed already. You will, no doubt, insert it in 

 its proper place in your next edition. Your additional 

 plates will much improve your work. 



De Buffon, I know, has described the water shrew- 

 mouse : but still I am pleased to find you have discovered 

 it in Lincolnshire, for the reason I have given in the 

 article on the white hare. 



As a neighbour was lately ploughing in a dry chalky 

 field, far removed from any water, he turned out a water- 

 rat, that was curiously laid up in an hybernaculum arti- 

 ficially formed of grass and leaves. At one end of the 

 burrow lay above a gallon of potatoes regularly stowed, 

 on which it was to have supported itself for the winter. 

 But the difficulty with me is how this amphibius mus 



