NATURAL HISTORY 
LETTER LIX. 
TO THE SAME. 
i. HE foffil wood buried in the bogs of Wolmer-foreft is not yet all 
txhaufted ; for the peat-cutters now and then ftumble upon a log. 
I have juft feen a piece which was fcnt by a labourer oi Oakhanger 
lo a carpenter of this village; this was the but-end of a fmall 
oak, about five feet long, and about five inches in diameter. It 
had apparently been fevered from the ground by an axe, was very 
ponderous, and as black as ebony. Upon afeing the carpenter 
for what purpofe he had procured it ; he told me that it was to be 
i'cnt to his brother, a joiner at Farnham, who was to make ufe of 
it in cabinet work, by inlaying it along with whiter woods. 
Thofe that are much abroad on evenings after it is dark, in 
fpring and fummer, frequently hear a nodlurnal bird pafling by 
on the wing, and repeating often a fliort quick note. This bird 
I have remarked myfelf, but never could make out till lately. 
1 am affured now that it is the Sione-curlezv , (charadrius oedicnemus). 
Some of them pafs over or near my houfe almoft every evening 
after it is dark, from the uplands of the hill and North field, away 
dovv'n towards Dorton; where, among the ftreams and meadows, 
they find a greater plenty of food. Birds that fly by night are 
obliged to be noify ; their notes often repeated become fignals or 
watch-v, Olds to keep them together, that they may not flray or 
lofe each the orl:er in the dark. 
The 
