We are twenty miles from the sea, and almost as many from a great
river, and therefore see but little of sea-birds. As to wild fowls, we
have a few teams of ducks bred in the moors where the snipes
breed; and multitudes of widgeons and teals in hard weather
frequent our lakes in the forest.
Having some acquaintance with a tame brown owl, I find that it
casts up the fur of mice, and the feathers of birds in pellets, after
the manner of hawks: when full, like a dog, it hides what it cannot
eat.
The young of the barn-owl are not easily raised, as they want a
constant supply of fresh mice: whereas the young of the brown owl
will eat indiscriminately all that is brought; snails, rats, kittens,
puppies, magpies, and any kind of carrion or offal.
The house-martins have eggs still, and squab-young. The last swift
I observed was about the twenty-first of August; it was a straggler.
Red-starts, fly-catchers, white-throats, and reguli non cristati, still
appear; but I have seen no black-caps lately.
I forgot to mention that I once saw, in Christ Church College
quadrangle in Oxford, on a very sunny warm morning, a house-
martin flying about, and settling on the parapet, so late as the
twentieth of November.
Pages:
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78