The grasshopper-lark chirps all night in the height of summer.

Swans turn white the second year, and breed the third.

Weasels prey on moles, as appears by their being sometimes caught in mole-traps.

Sparrow-hawks sometimes breed in old crows' nests, and the kestril in churches and ruins.

There are supposed to be two sorts of eels in the island of Ely.* The threads sometimes discovered in eels are perhaps their young: the generation of eels is very dark and mysterious.

Hen-harriers breed on the ground, and seem never to settle on trees.

[Of this bold bird White afterwards writes in his Observations:-" A gentleman flushed a pheasant in a wheat stubble, and shot at it; when, notwithstanding the report of the gun, it was immediately pursued by the blue hawk known by the name of the hen-harrier, but escaped into some covert. He then sprung a second, and a third, in the same field, that got away in the same manner; the hawk hovering round him all the while that he was beating the field, conscious no doubt of the game that lurked in the stubble. Hence we may conclude that this bird of prey was rendered very daring and bold by hunger, and that hawks cannot always seize their game when

Three species of eels have been pretty well made out by Mr. Yarrell. The thread-like bodies referred to are supposed to have been intestinal worms by which they are much infested. Their propagation has been rendered more intelligible by Mr. Yarrell's investigations. They are now found to spawn like other fishes; the roe of the female being filled with myriads of ova, which are deposited in the bottom of rivers in winter.-ED.

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they please. We may farther observe, that they cannot pounce on their quarry on the ground, where it might be able to make a stout resistance, since so large a fowl as a pheasant could not but be visible to the piercing eye of a hawk, when hovering over the field. Hence that propensity of cowring and squatting till they are almost trod on, which no doubt was intended as a mode of security: though long rendered destructive to the whole race of gallina by the invention of nets and guns.]

When redstarts shake their tails they move them horizontally, as dogs do when they fawn: the tail of a wagtail, when in motion, bobs up and down like that of a jaded horse.

Hedge-sparrows have a remarkable flirt with their wings in breeding-time; as soon as frosty mornings come they make a very piping plaintive noise.

Many birds which become silent about Midsummer reassume their notes again in September; as the thrush, blackbird, wood-lark, willow-wren, &c.; hence August is by much the most mute month, the spring, summer, and autumn through. Are birds induced to sing again because the temperament of autumn resembles that of spring?

Linnæus ranges plants geographically; palms inhabit the tropics, grasses the temperate zones, and mosses and lichens the polar circles; no doubt animals may be classed in the same manner with propriety.

House-sparrows build under eaves in the spring; as the weather becomes hotter they get out for coolness, and nest in plum-trees and apple-trees. These birds have been known sometimes to build in rooks' nests, and sometimes in the forks of boughs under rooks' nests.

As my neighbour was housing a rick he observed that his dogs devoured all the little red mice that they could catch, but rejected the common mice; and that his cats ate the common mice, refusing the red.

Red-breasts sing all through the spring, summer, and autumn.* The reason that they are called autumn songsters is, because in the two first seasons their voices are drowned and lost in the general chorus; in the latter their song becomes distinguishable. Many songsters of the autumn seem to be the young cock red-breasts of that year: notwithstanding the prejudices in their favour, they do much mischief in gardens to the summer-fruits. They eat also the berries of the ivy, the honeysuckle, and the euonymus europæus, or spindle-tree.

The titmouse, which early in February begins to make two quaint notes, like the whetting of a saw, is the marsh titmouse; the great titmouse sings with three cheerful joyous notes, and begins about the same time.t

"At all seasons," says M'Gillivray, "when the weather is fine, it may occasionally be heard chanting its short, mellow, and enlivening song. In calm summer evenings, two of them perched on a tree or bush will often respond to each other's richly modulated song; it may even be heard to sing in dull rainy weather when no other music is heard in the grove." "During the autumn, and amidst the desolations of winter," says Mr. Weir, "when almost all the songsters of the woods are silent, we hear the pleasing song of the robin with delight." In the spring, as early as February, they are seen in pairs, and young have been found in their nests as early as the end of March, although they are quite solitary in the depth of winter.-ED.

†The ordinary cry of the Great-tit, Parus major, is a loud chirp, followed by a harsh chatter like cher-r-r-r-r-ik. In spring and summer the sounds emitted have some resemblance to that produced by sharpening the teeth of a saw with

Wrens sing all the winter through, frost excepted. House-martins came remarkably late this year both in Hampshire and Devonshire: is this circumstance for or against either hiding or migration?

Most birds drink sipping at intervals; but pigeons take a long continued draught, like quadrupeds.

Notwithstanding what I have said in a former letter, no grey crows were ever known to breed on Dartmoor; it was my mistake.

The appearance and flying of the scarabæus solstitialis, or fern-chafer, commence with the month of July, and cease about the end of it. These scarabs are the constant food of caprimulgi, or fern-owls, through that period. They abound on the chalky downs and in some sandy districts, but not in the clays.

In the garden of the Black-bear Inn in the town of Reading is a stream or canal running under the stables and out into the fields on the other side of the road in this water are many carps, which lie rolling about in sight, being fed by travellers, who amuse themselves by tossing them bread: but as soon as the weather grows at all severe these fishes are no longer seen, because they retire under the a file; "very loud notes for so small a bird, and capable of being heard nearly half a mile off," says M'Gillivray. The Blue-tit, P. cerulæus, becomes very noisy in spring; its most common cry may be reduced to something like chika, chika, chicka, chee, chee, as it creeps, jerks, and flutters upon the twigs of trees, or bounces off to some other branch. The Cole-tit, P. ater, utters a single sharp chirping note while searching for food; in the spring its note is loud and clear, resembling the syllables che-chre, che-chre, or, as Mr. Hepburn has it, if-tree, if-tree, which is heard a great distance off. The Marsh-tit, P. palustris, emits a variety of chattering notes, its song resembling the chicka, chicka, che of the bluetit.-ED.

stables, where they remain till the return of spring. Do they lie in a torpid state? if they do not, how are they supported?

The note of the white-throat, which is continually repeated, and often attended with odd gesticulations on the wing, is harsh and displeasing. These birds seem of a pugnacious disposition; for they sing with an erected crest and attitudes of rivalry and defiance; are shy and wild in breeding-time, avoiding neighbourhoods, and haunting lonely lanes and commons; nay even the very tops of the Sussex-downs, where there are bushes and covert; but in July and August they bring their broods into gardens and orchards, and make great havock among the summer fruits.*

The black-cap has in common a full, sweet, deep, loud, and wild pipe; yet that strain is of short con

The correctness of the whole of this passage is called in question by the Dean of Manchester. He denies that it is either shy, pugnacious, or destructive to fruits. He kept five cocks in the same cage who lived in perfect amity. He never knew an instance of their attacking cherries, although he admits that they sometimes attack green peas. Its shyness will probably depend on circumstances; where it is surrounded by a dense population not much given to disturb it the natural shyness will probably disappear. In more remote districts it flits incessantly among the twigs, and if pursued it generally keeps on the other side of the hedge, flying off to short distances, warbling its few pleasant modulated notes as it flies or the moment it alights, then takes flight again with curious jerks and gesticulations. They combine to repel any stray cat who enters their domain; and if you approach its nest it comes up with great courage, scolding vehemently in a churring sort of note, while it tries by short flights to attract you from the spot. Its natural food is insects and larvæ of various kinds; no seeds have been found in its stomach, which is indeed too small for their reception in any quantity; but it is pretty well established that they do feed, more or less, on the pulp of cherries, raspberries, and other fruits. At the same time the gardener may be assured that he is benefited by their pre