242 
NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
the shot : it measured forty-two inches from wing to wing, and 
twenty-one from beak to tail, and weighed two pounds and a 
half standing weight. This species is very robust, and wonder- 
fully formed for rapine : its breast was plump and muscular ; its 
thighs long, thick, and brawny ; and its legs remarkably short 
and well set : the feet were armed with most formidable, sharp, 
long talons : the eyelids and cere of the bill were yellow ; but 
the irides of the eyes dusky ; the beak was thick and hooked, and 
of a dark colour, and had a jagged process near the end of the 
upper mandible on each side : its tail, or train, was short in pro- 
portion to the bulk of its body : yet the wings, when closed, did 
not extend to the end of the train. From its large and fair pro- 
portions it might be supposed to have been a female ; but I was 
not permitted to cut open the specimen. For one of the birds of 
prey, which are usually lean, this was in high case : in its craw 
were many barley-corns, which probably came from the crop of 
the wood-pigeon, on which it was feeding when shot : for vora- 
cious 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 LVIIL To the Hon. DAINES HARRINGTON. 
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 from 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 awkward 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 
