uld make no good observation on the colour of the
pupils and the irides.

The most unusual birds I ever observed in these parts were a pair of
hoopoes (_upupa_), which came several years ago in the summer, and
frequented an ornamented piece of ground, which joins to my garden, for
some weeks. They used to march about in a stately manner, feeding in the
walks, many times in the day; and seemed disposed to breed in my outlet;
but were frighted and persecuted by idle boys, who would never let them
be at rest.

Three grossbeaks (_loxia coccothraustes_) appeared some years ago in my
fields, in the winter; one of which I shot. Since that, now and then,
one is occasionally seen in the same dead season.

A crossbill (_loxia curvirostra_) was killed last year in this
neighbourhood.

Our streams, which are small, and rise only at the end of the village,
yield nothing but the bull's head or miller's thumb (_gobius fluviatilis
capitatus_), the trout (_trutta fluviatilis_), the eel (_anguilla_), the
lampern (_lampoetra parva et fluviatilis_), and the stickleback
(_pisciculus aculeatus_).

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 teems 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 the 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 21st 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 20th November.

At present I know only two species of bats, the common _vespertilio
murinus_ and the _vespertilio auribus_.

I was much entertained last summer wi