CHARLES WATERT0N, ESQ. CXXxix 



tage of it, has afforded me excellent oppor- 

 tunities of making ornithological notes with 

 tolerable exactness, and the observations of 

 former years have occasionally been corrected 

 by others in after-times. Still I recommend 

 that what I have given to the public on the 

 nature of our birds should be received with a 

 certain degree of reservation, as their habits 

 are apt to vary in proportion as location varies. 

 Thus, the windhover, or kestril, at this place, 

 abstains from killing birds during its abode 

 amongst us ; but, after it has left us on the 

 approach of autumn, it is known to feed upon 

 them during the winter months, as Mr. Bury 

 has satisfactorily proved in the 17th number of 

 that clever and instructive periodical the Zoolo- 

 gist. The sea-gulls, which not unfrequently re- 

 sort to this inland sheet of water, pass the whole 

 of their time in procuring fish ; but I have 

 seen the same species, on our eastern coast, fol- 

 lowing the farmer's plough, like rooks, in quest 

 of worms. Mr. Wighton's squirrels will con- 

 sume carnal food when in confinement, whilst 

 mine, in liberty, are never known to touch it ; 

 and, in Scotland, Sir William Jardine's barn- 



