58 



NATURAL 



HISTORY 



LETTER XII. 



TO THE SAME. 

 SIR; November 4, 1767. 



It gave me no small satisfaction to hear 

 that the falco^ turned out an uncommon 

 one. I must confess I should have been 

 better pleased to have heard that I had sent 

 you a bird that you had never seen before ; 

 but that, I find, v^ould be a difficult task. 



1 have procured some of the mice men- 

 tioned in my former letters, a young one 

 and a female with young, both of which I 

 have preserved in brandy. From the co- 

 lour, shape, size, and manner of nesting, I 

 make no doubt but that the species is non- 

 descript. They are much smaller, and more 

 slender, than the mus domesticus medius of 

 Ray; and have more of the squirrel or 

 dormouse colour : their belly is white ; a 



* This hawk proved to be the falco pcregrinus ; a 

 variety. v 



