In different
parts of this kingdom people call them fen-crickets, churr-worms,
and eve-churrs, all very apposite names.
Anatomists, who have examined the intestines of these insects,
astonish me with their accounts; for they say that, from the
structure, position, and number of their stomachs, or maws, there
seems to be good reason to suppose that this and the two former
species ruminate or chew the cud like many quadrupeds!
Letter XLIX
To The Honourable Daines Barrington
Selborne, May 7, 1779.
It is now more than forty years that I have paid some attention to
the ornithology of this district, without being able to exhaust the
subject: new occurrences still arise as long as any inquiries are kept
alive.
In the last week of last month five of those most rare birds, too
uncommon to have obtained an English name, but known to
naturalists by the terms of himantopus, or loripes, and charadrius
himantopus, were shot upon the verge of Frinsham-pond, a large
lake belonging to the bishop of Winchester, and lying between
Wolmer-forest, and the town of Farnham, in the county of Surrey.
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