OF SELBORNE. 53 



when it was shot, had just knocked down 

 a rook, which it was tearing in pieces. 

 I cannot make it answer to any of our 

 English hawks ; neither could I find any 

 like it at the curious exhibition of stuffed 

 birds in Spring Gardens. I found it 

 nailed up at the end of a barn, which is 

 the countryman's museum. 



The parish I live in is a very abrupt, 

 uneven country, full of hills and woods, 

 and therefore full of birds. 



LETTER XL 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, September 9, 1767. 



It will not be without impatience that I 

 shall wait for your thoughts with regard 

 to i\\efalco; as to its weight, breadth, &c. 

 I wish I had set them down at the time : 

 but to the best of my remembrance, it 

 weighed two pounds and eight ounces, 

 and measured, from wing to wing, thirty- 



