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20. Pathew, the dormoufe, Br. Zool. i. N° 24. Very rare in our parish.

21. Llygoden Ffrengig, the black rat, Br. Zool. i. N° 25. Ffrengig fignifies French, as if it had been imported from France; which originally it might have been, with every animal we poffefs, before the feparation of Gaul from Britain, by the convulfion which formed the Streights of Dover*. Whether our ancestors had any tradition of its being of a later importation, (as the diftinction might imply) is unknown to me. They have long fince been extirpated by the Brown Rat. The laft I have feen in this parish, was at my old houfe at Bychton. They are ftill found in our capital: the fpecimen of one taken there is preferved in the collection of British animals near the Pantheon.

22. THE Brown Rat is a modern importation, and has no name in the British. It is a peft to all countries it has fettled in, (fee Br. Zool. i. N° 26, and Hift. Quadr. ii. N° 375-)

23. Llygoden y dwr, water rat, Br. Zool. i. N° 27. Once very common in the meadow below my house.

24. Llygoden ganoleg, Llygoden y maes, field moufe. Br. Zool. i.

N° 28.

25. Llygoden, common moufe, N° 30, has fometimes been found white in our parish.

26. Llygoden gwtta'r maes, fhort-tailed moufe, N° 31.

27. Llygoden goch, Chwiftlen, Llyg, fhrew, N° 32.

28. Wadd, Twrch daear, mole, N° 34. Sometimes white in my grounds.

29. Draenog, Draen y coed, urchin, or hedge-hog, N° 35

* See more in my Introduction to the Arctic Zoology, p. iii. iv. v.

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humbly

BIRDS.

humbly petitions mankind to defift from all farther perfecutions declaring themselves innocent of the various charges brought against them, particularly for that of fucking cows; refting their acquittal on this fimple plea-the impoffibility. They could not effect it, by reafon of the fmallnefs of their mouths; nor the cows permit, by reafon of the fharpness of their teeth.

30. Moel-rbon, feal, N° 3. By ftorms one was once taken on our fhore.

31. flum, the common bat, N° 41.

THE Buzzard and the Keftrils annually build in the tall pines near my houfe. I believe them to be the left noxious of the гараcious tribes, I therefore fpare them; they animate the air, as well as other birds do the woods. Both feed principally on mice. The evolutions of the laft, and their beautiful fufpenfion in the air, are pleafing fpectacles, and contribute to grace the fcenery.

THE Owl tribe, in my opinion, do not render night hideous. Their hootings, and their other notes, break finely into the fillnefs of the evening; and their form and fapient looks, are a singular variation among the feathered tribe. The white owl, that ufeful fpecies, is gratefully fpared, as it is moft particularly inimical to mice. Its chafe after the different kinds of field-mice is very amufing, while it fkims along the meadows. The beauty of its plumage is admirable; let that be the excufe for giving the figure of a bird that is not extremely rare.

THE turtle, Br. Zool. i. N° 103, is very rare in North Wales. They prefer the thick woods of beech or oaks, in the county of Buckingham, er of oaks in the feveral weftern counties.

Yet, in a

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THE WHITE OWL.

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late winter, three made my grounds a vifit, and continued about three weeks. They were perfectly tame, and undisturbed by the frequent visits we made to admire these ftrangers.

THE long-tailed tit-moufe, Br. Zool. i. N° 166, with its numerous brood, paffes annually through my garden. They flit from tree to tree, as if on their progrefs to fome other place, never making any halt.

THE Nut-cracker, Br. Zool. ii. App. tab. iii. Latham, i. p. 400, is an accidental vifitant of this ifland. One was killed in the garden at Mostyn in 1753. On the continent it extends from Germany to Kamtfchatka, and inhabits the vaft forefts of pines. It alfo neftles on lofty towers, and, like the jackdaw, is very noify. In fize it is about equal to that bird. Its colour is rusty brown, prettily marked with triangular spots of pure white. It feeds on nuts (which it breaks with its bill) alfo on fir-cones, acorns, berries, and infects. Its bill is as ftrong as thatof the wood-pecker, which enables it to pierce the bodies of trees, and make great havock among the timber.

VAST numbers of water-fowls frequent our fhores in the winter time, chiefly ducks and wigeons. In very fevere weather, variety of others emigrate here; but none excepting those which accidentally vifit every other maritime part of Great Britain.

I SHALL Conclude this mention of the birds with an account of a fingular accident discovered in a turkey which was killed for my table. The cook in plucking it found herself much wounded in the fingers. On examining the caufe, it was found, that from the thigh-bone of the bird iffued a fhort upright process, and to that grew a large and ftrong talon, with a fharp and crooked U 2

claw,

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