When Horses, Cows, Sheep, Deer, &c. feed ' in wind and rain, they always keep their heads 'down the wind and their tails to the weather ; 'but birds always perch and choose to fly with 'their heads to the weather, to prevent the wind 'from ruffling their feathers, and the cold and wet ❝ from penetrating to their skins.'

"The latest summer birds of passage generally ' retire the first. Birds are seldom joyous in dry 'springs. They are silent for the want of showers.'

'The year after a very dry summer, but few 'Shell-snails are to be seen. They are destroyed ́ and eaten by Thrushes.'

'Tortoise is very fond of kidney beans.'

Wagtails, which generally keep near the ground, will mount to a great height in order to 'mob a hawk.' (They shew great command of wing on the occasion.)

'Wasps plunder weak hives, and sometimes 'kill the bees.'

Asper crabro imparibus se emiscuit armis.'

'Worms do not seem to inhabit beyond vege'table mould.'

'The Buzzard is a dastardly bird, and beaten not only by the raven, but even by the carrion

crow.'

'Naked snails seem to be more hardy than 'those which have houses on their backs.'

"The Nuthatch though so small a bird is able 'to penetrate walnuts.'

'Turkies are very fond of hazel-nuts, and 'swallow them whole.'

'Field-fares when pressed by hunger will feed on sloes, the last food they resort to in autumn.' 'Some labourers digging for stone, found in an hole in the rock a red-breast's nest containing one young Cuckoo, half fledged. The wonder was how the old cuckoo could discover a nest in 'so secret and sequestered a place.'

'Woolmer Forest produces young teals and young large snipes; but no young jack snipes 6 are found.'

"When the death's head Moth (sphinx atropos) is handled, it makes a little stridulous noise.' 'Barn-owls will sometimes come out in the day, 'taking their prey in the sunshine about noon.'

'A Nightingale is sometimes heard to sing late ' in July, but its notes are then short and inter'rupted, and attended with a chur.'

'Two young men killed a large male Otter weighing 21 pounds, on the bank of our rivulet 'below Priory long mead, on the Hartly wood 'side. This is the first of the kind ever remem'bered to have been found in this parish.'

'When the hen Fly-catcher sits on her eggs, the cock feeds her with great assiduity, even on 'till past 9 in the evening.'

'As the great Walnut tree has no foliage this < year, we have hung the meat safe on Miss White's 'Sycamore, which she planted a nut. Here it 'will be much in the air, and be well sheltered 'from the sun by leaves.'

'June 4. Crickets sing much on the hearth this evening; they feel the influence of moist air 6 and sing against rain.'

'A gentleman writes word from St. Mary's, Scilly, that in the night between the 10th and ' 11th of this month, the wind being west, there ' fell such a flight of Woodcocks within the walls ' of the garrison, that he himself shot and con'veyed home 26 couple, besides three couple ' which he wounded, but did not give himself the 'trouble to retrieve. On the following day, the

12th, the wind continuing west, he found but ' few.

"This person further observes, that easterly and ' northerly winds only have usually been remarked 6 as propitious in bringing Woodcooks to those 'islands, viz. Scilly. So that he is totally at á ' loss to account for this western flight, unless they came from Ireland. As they took their de6 parture in the night between the 11th and 12th, 'the wind still continuing west, he supposes they 6 were gone to make a visit to the counties of 'Cornwall and Devonshire.

'From circumstances in the letter, it appears

'that the ground within the lines of the garrison ' abounds with furze. Some Woodcocks settled ' in the street of St. Mary's, and ran into the 'houses and out-houses.'

'Wornils grow very large on the backs of cows. If they could be watched, so as to be 'taken when going into the pupa state, perhaps 'it might be discovered from what insect they are ' derived.'

Starlings and Lapwings congregate early. 'The latter about the first week in October.'

'Birds in their flights are joined by others, ' and thus large flocks congregate. Their number 'is probably determined by the supply of food required.'

'Bustards when seen on the downs resemble 'Fallow Deer at a distance.'

'The Reed-sparrow forsakes the reeds and 'water side in the winter, and roves about amongst ' the fields and hedges.'

'Birds sing less in August than any other ' month.'

'Vast numbers of Spiders are sometimes seen on 'water in ponds, which dive and conceal themselves ' on the underside of plants lying on the water. • Their motions on the water are extremely rapid.'

In concluding my extracts from Mr. White's Manuscripts, I have felt very desirous of giving some account of him, but I find little more to say of him than what is already before the public. As far as I can collect from his Diary (if I may call it so) which is now in my possession, he appears to have been of retired habits, with a mind constantly employed in his favourite study, and enjoying that cheerful and happy disposition which such pursuits invariably bring with them. His time was almost entirely passed in his favourite and secluded village. He notices the visits which were from time to time paid him, and these were chiefly by his own relations. He carefully notes down all his nephews and nieces as they respectively came into the world, amounting to about 63, when his diary closed. He chronicled his beer, and takes notice of the quantity of port wine which came to his share when he had a pipe of it with his neighbours. He appears to have made annual visits at Lambeth, Ringmeer, and Oxford, and during these absences his old servant, Thomas, kept his weather journal. Mr. White passed much of his time in his garden, and he makes frequent mention of his crops, his fine and early cucumbers, and the flavour of his Cardilliac pears. He thought nothing too trifling to be recorded. The appearance of his neighbours' hops, the beginning and ending of their harvests, their bees, their pigs,