THE MOOR-FOWL.

THIS bird, driven to the north by cultivation, is only to be found in the extensive and untilled wastes covered with heath, particularly the situations which are most mountainous. The most southern parts in which moorfowl now appear, are the mountains of Wales; in Yorkshire, and from thence northward on the moorlands they are not uncommon; but they especially abound in the Highlands of Scotland. They are also found on the western islands, and in the mountains and bogs of Ireland, but they seem to be confined to the United Kingdom.

The moor-fowl confine themselves to the open moors, form their nests of a few withered stems, placed carelessly together in a tuft of heath, and feed on the mountain and bog berries. A female was taken alive near Wedhampton, in Wiltshire, many years ago; but it is difficult to say by what accident it was driven so far from its native moors, as the nearest place to this which moor-fowl are known to inhabit, is the south of Wales,

which is not less than sixty miles distance in a straight line.

The young keep with the parent birds till the approach of winter. In November sometimes thirty or forty flock together; they are then plentiful, but extremely shy, and difficult to be shot. In severe seasons they come lower down the mountains in Scotland, and assemble in great numbers. In 1782 and 1783, it is said three or four thousand assembled. On another occasion, a gentleman who encamped at the source of the Dalmon, at the foot of an immense hill, called Croke Franc, says: "The game on these moors is innumerable. In a mile long, and not half a one broad, I saw at least one thousand brace of moor game." Since then they have been greatly diminished.

THE PETREL.

THIS species, called by sailors," Mother Cary's chicken," resembles a swallow in its general appearance, size, and flight. It is rarely seen on our shores, except in some of the northern islands, where it breeds in the holes of rocks. It makes no nest, but lays one lone egg.

Birds of this kind are sometimes found dead near to the coast, and at others at a distance. One specimen was killed near Bath, and another so far inland as Derbyshire; and hence it has been thought that they sometimes fly across the land, or perhaps are driven inland by the strength of the gales frequently occurring at the season when they have been found. But the cause of the mortality that prevails in different parts, it is difficult to determine.

Petrels live remote from the land except in the breeding season. They are seen in great numbers all over the Atlantic, and thus led one of our poets to say: