no front antlers, but only a broad palm with some snags on the edge. The
noble owner of the dead moose proposed to make a skeleton of her bones.

Please to let me hear if my female moose corresponds with that you saw,
and whether you think still that the American moose and European elk are
the same creature.

I am, with the greatest esteem, etc.

LETTER XXIX.

SELBORNE, _May 12th_, 1770.

Dear Sir,--Last month we had such a series of cold, turbulent weather,
such a constant succession of frost, and snow, and hail, and tempest,
that the regular migration or appearance of the summer birds was much
interrupted. Some did not show themselves (at least were not heard) till
weeks after their usual time, as the blackcap and whitethroat; and some
have not been heard yet, as the grasshopper-lark and largest willow-wren.
As to the fly-catcher, I have not seen it; it is indeed one of the
latest, but should appear about this time: and yet, amidst all this
meteorous strife and war of the elements, two swallows discovered
themselves, as long ago as April 11th, in frost and snow; but they
withdrew quickly, and were not visible again for many days.
House-martins, which are always more backward than swallows, were not
observed till May came in.

Among the monogamous birds several are to be found, after pairing-time,
single, and of each sex; but whether this state of celibacy is matter of
choice or necessity, is not so easy discoverable. When the
house-sparrows deprive my martins of their nests, as soon as I cause one
to be shot, the other, be it cock or hen, presently procures a mate, and
so for several times following.

I have known a dove-house infested by a pair of white owls which made
great havoc among the young pigeons: one of the owls was shot as soon as
possible, but the survivor readily found a mate, and the mischief went
on. After some time the new pair were both destroyed, and the annoyance
ceased.

Another instance I remember of a sportsman, whose zeal for the increase
of his game being greater than his humanity, after pairing-time he always
shot the cock-bird of every couple of partridges upon his grounds;
supposing that the rivalry of many males interrupted the breed: he used
to say, that, though he had widowed the same hen several times, yet he
found she was still provided with a fresh paramour, that did not take her
a