great plenty of them." This well accounts for the vast quantities that are caught about that time There on the south downs near Lewes, where Wheatear. I am well acquainted with those parts) above two or three at a time for they are never gregarious. They may perhaps migrate in general; and, for that purpose, draw towards the coast of Sussex in autumn: but that they do not all withdraw I am sure; because I see a few stragglers in many counties, at all times of the year, especially about warrens and stone quarries:* I have no acquaintance, at present, among the gentlemen of the navy but have written to a friend, who was a sea-chaplain in the late war, desiring him to look into his minutes, with respect to birds that settled on their rigging during their voyage up or down the channel. What Hasselquist says on that subject is remarkable: there were little short-winged birds frequently coming on board his ship all the way from our channel quite up to the Levant, especially before squally weather.† What you suggest, with regard to Spain, is highly probable. By far the great majority of fallow-chats or "wheatears" (saricola ananthe), migrate. Mr. White is perfectly correct in saying that they never flock, though this has been by some disputed; many may often be seen in autumn collected about one spot, but they never fly together.-ED. In the seasons of migration, nothing is more common, in the Channel and German Ocean, than for our various short-winged birds of passage to settle on the rigging of vessels, a fact which no doubt must influence in some slight degree their distribution, species being thus occaionally brought to our shores which otherwise would not have landed here, and others, perhaps being carried away far to sea. I once knew as many as sixteen different kinds (in all about a hundred and fifty individuals) to alight on a single trading smack, during its voyage to Aberdeen and back to London, in the month of September. There were nine or ten of the tiny goldencrowned kinglets (regulus auricapillus), the smallest of British birds, which appeared to have arrived from the north-east, having probably winged their way from Norway. These were greatly exhausted, and suffered themselves to be taken without difficulty. An astonishingly extensive migration of the same diminutive bird is related by Mr. Selby. See his "British Ornithology," in loco. For its size even, this species is comparatively feeble upon the wing, and can only migrate when borne along by a favourable gale of wind. The thousands which that gentleman observed to arrive on the Northumbrian coast, he states to have been "after a very severe gale, with thick fog, from the north-east (but veering towards its conclusion to the east and south of east) ;" and he adds that "many of them were so fatigued by the length of their flight, or perhaps by the unfavourable shift of wind, as to be unable to rise again from the ground, and great numbers were an consequence caught or destroyed. This flight," he continues, "must have been immense in quantity, as its extent was traced through the whole length of the coasts of Northumberland and Durham."-ED. The winters of Andalusia are so mild, that, in all likelihood, the soft-billed birds that leave us at that season may find insects sufficient to support them there.* Some young man, possessed of fortune, health, and leisure, should make an autumnal voyage into that kingdom; and should spend a year there, investigating the natural history of that vast country. Mr. Willughby+ passed through that kingdom on such an errand; but he seems to have skirted along in a superficial manner and an ill humour, being much disgusted at the rude dissolute manners of the people. I have no friend left now at Sunbury to apply to about the swallows roosting on the aits of the Thames; nor can I hear any more about those birds which I suspected were merula torquatæ. As to the small mice, I have further to remark, that though they hang their nests for breeding up amidst the straws of the standing corn, above the ground;‡ yet I find that, in the winter, they burrow deep in the earth, and make warm beds of grass: but their grand rendezvous seems to be in corn-ricks, into which they are carried at harvest. A neighbour housed an oat-rick lately, under the thatch of which were assembled near an hundred, most of which were taken; and some I saw. I measured them; and found that, from nose to tail, they were just two inches and a quarter, and their tails just two inches long. Two of them, in a scale, weighed down just one copper halfpenny, which is about the third of an ounce avoirdupois: so that I suppose they are the smallest quadrupeds in this island.§ A fullgrown mus medius domesticus weighs, I find, one ounce lumping * Syria, Egypt, and the interior of the Barbary States, appear to be the general rendezvous, iz winter, of most of our European summer-birds of passage, but very few, if any, remaiu in Spain. -ED. + See Ray's Travels, p. 466. The breeding nests of the harvest mouse (mus messorius) vary a good deal in form, some of them being round, others oval, and many of a pear shape. They are usually attached to some growing vegetable, a bean stalk, or stem of wheat, with which they rock and waver in the wind. Occasionally, however, they are fixed in a bush.--ED. § They are the smallest of our known British quadrupeds, but not the most diminutive of the genus, a yet more minute species having been discovered in France, and named by M. F. Cuvier M-pumilus. There is indeed great reason to suspect that additional species will yet be detected in our own island, particularly in North Britain, whence I have information of at least two that I cannot reconcile with any description. Our smaller mammifers have been too much neglected by naturalists. The above-mentioned mouse (M. messorius), which Mr. White has the merit of discovering, is an extremely beautiful little species, common in many districts of the south of England, and is more allied to the house-mouse (M. domesticus) than to the common fieldmouse or "jumper-mouse," as the latter is termed in Surrey (M. sylvaticus), but is a livelier and more active species than either, and more scansorial in its make, having longer and more flexile toes, and a considerable muscular power in the tail, by means of which it is enabled to obtain a firmer hold of whatever it is climbing on, by slightly coiling this organ around it, but which does not exactly amount to what is ordinarily designated a prehensile power (as has been weight, which is more than six times as much as the mouse above; and measures from nose to rump four inches and a quarter, and the same in its tail. We have had a very severe frost and deep snow this month. My thermometer was one day fourteen degrees and an half below the freezing point, within doors. The tender evergreens were injured pretty much. It was very providential that the air was still, and the ground well covered with snow, else vegetation in general must have suffered prodigiously. There is reason to believe that some days were more severe than any since the year 1739-40. I am, &c. &c. LETTER XIV. To T. PENNANT, Esq. DEAR SIR, Selborne, March 12, 1768. If some curious gentleman would procure the head of a fallowdeer, and have it dissected, he would find it furnished with two spiracula, or breathing-places, besides the nostrils; probably analogous to the puncta lachrymalia in the human head. When deer are thirsty they plunge their noses, like some horses, very deep under water, while in the act of drinking, and continue them in that situation for a considerable time: but, to obviate any inconvenience, they can open two vents, one at the inner corner of each eye, having a communication with the nose. Here seems to be an extraordinary provision of nature worthy our attention; and which has not, that I know of, been noticed by any naturalist. For it looks as if these creatures would not be suffocated, though both their mouths and nostrils were stopped stated), for the little animal could by no means thus support its weight. It is rather more insectivorous than the other species of the genus, flies and other insects being its favourite food, which it captures with great adroitness, springing after them to a considerable distance; and, in captivity, it displays very strikingly the hoarding instinct, so common among the rodent order of animals, always biting out the germ or growing part of each grain before storing it away, as is also done by ants, and I believe all other animals that have similar propensities. In the wild state, its ordinary drink is most probably the dew; for, even in confinement, like many small birds, it certainly prefers to quench its thirst by sipping pendent drops of water. After drinking it always cleans its face, raising itself upon the hind feet, at which time its attitudes are often particularly graceful and elegant, being enabled to extend its body at a very considerable angle. It is astonishingly active, and the length of time it will continue turning the rotatory appendage in its cage, will surprise any person unaccustomed to behold it. It has but little of the disagreeable odour of the common mouse, and will live for several years in captivity, but, unless taken when quite young, it mostly continues shy and timorous, especially before strangers, even to its death With the exception of colour, and having rather smaller ears, its general aspect is very much that of the common mouse.-ED. This curious formation of the head may be of singular service to beasts of chase, by affording them free respiration. and no doubt these additional nostrils are thrown open when they are hard run.* Mr. Ray observed that, at Malta, the owners slit In answer to this account, Mr. Pennant sent me the following curious and pertinent reply. "I was much surprised to find in the antelope something analogous to what you mention as so remarkable in deer. This animal also has a long slit beneath each eye, which can be opened and shut at pleasure. On holding an orange to one, the creature made as much use of those orifices as of his nostrils, applying them to the fruit, and seeming to smell it through them."-Note. Both White, however, and his friend Pennant were here misled by appearances, for it turns out, upon antaomical investigation, that there is no communication between these cavities and the nostrils, they being rather the site of a peculiar secretion. See a paper "On the infra-orbital cavities in Deer and Antelopes," by Dr. Jacob, read before the British Association in Dublin, in 1835, and published in the "Edinburgh Philosophical Journal" for October, in that year, from which I quote the following:-"A statement respecting these infra-orbital cavities has been made by the Rev. Gilbert White, in his Natural History of Selborne,' which might appear to originate in some error, were it not supported by the more recent testimony of Major Hamilton Smith. These gentlemen state that, when the deer drinks, the air is forced out through these cavities, and, according to Major Hamilton Smith, may be felt by the hand, and affects the flame of a candle when held to it. Notwithstanding such a positive statement by two observers of established character for faithful description, the passage of air through these cavities cannot take place, they are perfectly impervious towards the nostril; but I have no doubt that the fact stated is correct, the air which escapes passing, not through the infra-orbital sacs, but through the lachrymal passages, which are very large, consisting of two openings capable of admitting the end of a crow's quill, the entrance to a tortuous canal, which conducts the tears to the extremity of the nose. Introducing a pipe into the outlet of the nasal duct, at the extremity of the nose, I can without difficulty force a current of air or water through the nasal duct [Quere, lachrymal sinus?-Ed.]; and it therefore appears reasonable to admit that the effect, observed by the two gentlemen alluded to, arose from the animal forcing the air into the nostrils while the nose and outh were immersed in water."-ED. up the nostrils of such asses as were hard worked for they, being naturally straight or small, did not admit air sufficient to serve them when they travelled, or laboured, in that hot climate. And we know that grooms, and gentlemen of the turf, think large nostrils necessary, and a perfection, in hunters and running horses. Oppian, the Greek poet, by the following line, seems to have had some notion that stags have four spiracula : Τετράδυμοι μένες, πισύρες πνοιησί διαυλοί.” "Quadrifidemnares, quadruplices ad respirationem canales." (Opp. Cyu. Lib. ii. 1. 181. Writers, copying from one another, make Aristotle say that goats breathe at their ears; whereas he asserts just the contrary :-" Αλκμαιων γαρ ουκ αληθη λεγει, φαμευος αναπνειν τας "Alemæon does not advance what is true, αιγας κατα τα ώτα.” when he avers that goats breathe through their ears."-History of Animals. Book I. chap. xi. دو LETTER XV. To T. PENNANT, Esq. DEAR SIR, Selborne, March 30, 1768. SOME intelligent country people have a notion that we have, in these parts, a species of the genus mustelinum, besides the weasel, stoat, ferret, and polecat; a little reddish beast, not much bigger than a field mouse, but much longer, which they call a cane. This piece of intelligence can be little depended on; but further enquiry may be made.* That a fourth species of the subgenus putorius (subordinate to mustela), the group to which Mr. White here refers, exists in England, I have found to be a very common opinion in the southern counties. I have repeatedly heard of it in Surrey, where it is denominated a kine, and it has often been described to me as being very similar to the common weasel, but much smaller, the usual argument adduced for its distinctness being, that it has frequently been observed with young ones. The fact is, there is considerable disparity of size between the sexes of the common weasel, the female being much smaller than the male, so much so as to have given rise to the above supposition. We have but three species, nor does western Europe produce more: the fitchweasel, "polecat," or "foumart" (mustela-putorius furo), which in its domesticated state is termed the ferret," the stoat-weasel or "ermine" (mustela-putorius erminus), and the "common, ,"or (as it might be better termed), the dwarf-weasel (mustela-putorius vulgaris), all of which are plentiful throughout the country. Of the typical mustele we have the white-breasted marten |