ild 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.

Redbreasts 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 redbreasts of that year: nothwithstanding the
prejudices in their favour, they do much mischief in gardens to the
summer fruits.

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.

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 _Scaraboeus 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 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 whitethroat, 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 riv