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41

TVS

NATURAL HISTORY

OF

S E L B O R N E,

ifc. Sfc.

•»

THE

NATURAL HISTORY

OF

SELBORNE,

BY THE LATE

Rev. GILBERT WHITE, A. M.

FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFOKD,
TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

THE NATURALIST'S CALENDAR,

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS,
AND POEMS.

A NEW EDITION, WITH ENGRAVINGS,
IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. IL

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR C. AND J. RIVINGTON ; J. AND A. ARCH; LONG-
MAN, nURST, REES, ORME, BROWN AND GREEN; HARDING,
TRIPHOOK AND LEPARD ; BALDWIN, CRADOCK AND JOY;
J. HATCHARD AND SON; S. BAGSTER; G. B. WIIITTAKER;
JAMES DUNCAN ; W. MASON ; SAUNDERS AND HODGSON ; AND
HURST, ROBINSON AND Co.

1825.

DEC - 4 1967

T. C. HANSARD,

TIJL 17 S, ( rf,j/a (A

r/ls-.

NATURAL HISTORY

OP

SELBORNE.

Letter xxx. ,

TO THE

HONOURABLE DAINES BARRII^GTON^

DEAR SIR; Selborne, April 3, 1776.

Monsieur Herissant, a French anato-
mist, seems persuaded that he has disco-
vered the reason why cuckoos do not hatcK
their own eggs ; the impediment, he sup-
poses, arises from the internal structure of
their parts, which incapacitates them for
incubation. According to this gentlemart,
the crop, or craw, of a cuckoo does not lie
before the sternum at the bottom of the
I jyoL. II. B

^ NATURAL HISTORY

neck, as in the gallince, columbcB, &c. but
immediately behind it, on and over the
bowels, so as to make a large protuberance
in the belly.*

Induced by this assertion, we procured a
cuckoo -: and cutting open the breast-bone,
and exposing the intestines to sight, found
the crop lying as mentioned above. This
stomach w^as large and round, and stuffed
hard, like a pincushion, with food, which,
upon nice examination, we found to consist
of various insects; such as small scarabs,
spiders, and dragon-flies ; the last of which
we have seen cuckoos catching on the wing
as they were just emerging out of the
aurelia state. Among this farrago also were
to be seen maggots, and many seeds, which
belonged either to gooseberries, currants,
cranberries, or some such fruit; so that
these birds apparently subsist on insects and
fruits : nor was there the least appearance
of bones, feathers, or fur, to support the
idle notion of their being birds of prey.

* Hutoire de V Academic Roi/nk, 1752.

OF SELBORNE. 3,

The sternum in this bird seemed to us to
be remarkably short, between which and
the anus lay the crop, or craw, and, imme-
diately behind that, the bowels against the
back-bone.

It must be allowed, as this anatomist
observes, that the crop placed just upon the
bowels must, especially when full, be in a
very uneasy situation during the business of
incubation ; yet the test will be, to examine
whether birds that are actually known to
sit for certain are not formed in a similar
manner. This inquiry I proposed to my-
self to make with di fern-owl, or goat-sucker,
as soon as opportunity offered : because if
their formation proves the same, the reason
for incapacity in the cuckoo will be allowed
to have been taken up somewhat hastily.

Not long after a fern-owl was procured,
which, from its habit and shape, we sus-
pected might resemble the cuckoo in its
internal construction. Nor were our sus-
picions ill-grounded ; for, upon the dissec-
tion, the crop, or craw, also lay behind the
sternum, immediately on the viscera, be-
. b2

4 NATURAL HISTORY

tween them and the skin ©f the belly.
It was bulky, and stuffed hard with large
phalcBTKB, moths of several sorts, and their
eggs, which, no doubt, had been forced out
of those insects by the action of swal-
lowing.

Now, as it appears that this bird, which
is so well known to practise incubation, is
formed in a similar manner with cuckoos^
Monsieur Herissant's conjecture, that cuc-
koos are incapable of incubation from the
disposition of their intestines, seems to fall
to the ground : and we are still at a loss
for the cause of that strange and singular
peculiarity in the instance of the cuculus
canorus.

We found the case to be the same with
the ring-tail hawk, in respect to formation ;
and, as far as I can recollect, with the
swift; and probably it is so with many
more sorts of birds that are not grani-
vorous.

I am, &c.

OF SELBORNE. ,5

Letter xxxl

TO THE SAME,
• DEAR SIR; Selborne, April 29, 1776.

On August the 4th, 1775, we surprised
a large viper, which seemed very heavy
and bloated, as it lay in the grass basking
in the sun. When we came to cut it up,
we found that the abdomen was crowded
with young, fifteen in number ; the shortest
of which measured full seven inches, and
were about the size of full-grown earth-
worms. This little fry issued into the
world with the true viper spirit about them,
showing great alertness as soon as disen-
gaged from the belly of the dam : they
twisted and riggled about, and set them-
selves up, and gaped very wide when
touched with a stick, showing manifest
tokens of menace and defiance, though as

b NATURAL HISTORY

yet they had no manner of fangs that we
could find, even with the help of our
glasses.

To a thinking mind nothing is more
wonderful than that early instinct which
impresses young animals with the notion
of the situation of their natural weapons,
and of using them properly in their own
defence, even before those weapons subsist
or are formed. Thus a young cock will
spar at his adversary before his spurs are
grown : and a calf or lamb will push with
their heads before their horns are sprouted*
In the same manner did these young adders
attempt to bite before their fangs were in
being. The dam, however, was furnished
with very formidable ones, which we lifted
up (for they fold down when not used)
and cut them off with the point of our
scissars.

There was little room to suppose that
this brood had ever been in the open air
before; and that they were taken in for
fefuge, at the mouth of the dam, when she
l^erceived that danger was approaching;

OF SELBOKNE. 7

because then probably we should have
found them somewhere in the neck, and
not in the abdomen.

LETTER XXXII

TO THE SAME.

Castration has a strange effect : it emas-
culates both man, beast, and bird, and
brings them to a near resemblance of the
other sex. Thus eunuchs have smooth un-
muscular arms, thighs, and legs ; and broad
hips, and beardless chins, and squeaking
voices. Gelt-stags and bucks have horn-
less heads, like hinds and does. Thus we-
thers have small horns, like ewes ; and oxen
large bent horns, and hoarse voices when
they low, like cows : for bulls have short
straight horns ; and though they mutter and
grumble in a deep tremendous tone, yet
they low in a shrill high key. Capons have
small combs and gills, and look pallid

8 NATURAL HISTORY

about the head like pullets ; they also walk
without any parade, and hover chickens
like hens. Barrow-hogs have also small
tusks like sows.

Thus far it is plain that the deprivation
of masculine vigonr^wX,^ a stop to the growth
of those parts or appendages that are
looked upon as its insignia. But the in-
genious Mr. Lisle, in his book on husbandry,
carries it much farther ; for he says that
the loss of those insignia alone has some-
times a strange effect on the ability itself:
he had a boar so fierce and venereous, that
to prevent mischief, orders were given for
his tusks to be broken off. No sooner had
the beast suffered this injury than his
powers forsook him, and he neglected
those females to whom before he was pas^
sionately attached, and from whom no
fences could restrain him.

OF SELBORNIi,

LETTER XXXm.

TO THE SAME.

The natural term of an hog's life is little

known, and the reason is plain — because it

is neither profitable nor convenient to keep

that turbulent animal to the full extent of

its time : however, my neighbour, a man

of substance, who had no occasion to study

every little advantage to a nicety, kept an

half-bred Bantam sow, who was as thick

as she was long, and whose belly swept on

the ground, till she was advanced to her

seventeenth year ; at which period she

showed some tokens of age by the decay of

her teeth and the decline of her fertility.

For about ten years this prolific mother
produced two litters in the year, of about
ten at a time, and once above twenty at a
litter ; but, as there were near double the
number of pigs to that of teats, many died*
From long experience in the world this

10 NATURAL HISTORY

female was grown very sagacious and art-
ful ; when she found occasion to converse
with a boar she used to open ajl the inter-
vening gates, and march, by herself, up to
a distant farm where one was kept ; and
when her purpose was served would return
by the same means. At the age of about
fifteen her litters began to be reduced to
four or five ; and such a litter she exhibited
when in her fatting-pen. She proved when
fat, good bacon, juicy, and tender; the
rind, or sward was remarkably thin. At
a moderate computation she was allowed to
have been the fruitful parent of three hun-
dred pigs : a prodigious instance of fecun-
dity in so large a quadruped ! She was
killed in Spring 1775.

I am, &c.

OF SELBORNEi ll

LETTER XXXIV.

TO THE SAME.

DEAR SIR ; Selborne, May 9, 1776.

<( , admorunt ubera tigres."

We have remarked in a former letter how
much incongruous animals, in a lonely-
state, may be attached to each other from
a spirit of sociality ; in this it may not be
amiss to recount a different motive which
has been known to create as strange a
fondness.

My friend had a little helpless leveret
brought to him, which the servants fed
with milk in a spoon, and about the same
time his cat kittened, and the young were
dispatched and buried. The hare was soon
lost, and supposed to be gone the way of
most foundlings, to be killed by some dog
or cat. However, in about a fortnight, as

12 NATURAL HISTORY

the master was sitting in his garden* in the
dusk of the evening, he observed his cat,
with tail erect trotting towards him, and
calling with little short inward notes of
complacency, such as they use towards their
kittens, and something gambolling after,
which proved to be the leveret that the
cat had supported with her milk, and con*
tinued to support with great affection.

Thus was a graminivorous animal nur-
tured by a carnivorous and predaceous
one !

Why so cruel and sanguinary a beast as
a cat, of the ferocious genus of Feles, the
murium leo, as LinncBus calls it, should be
affected with any tenderness towards an
animal which is its natural prey, is not so
easy to determine.

This strange affection probably was oc-
casioned by that desiderium, those tender
maternal feelings, which the loss of her
kittens had awakened in her breast ; and
by the complacency and ease she derived
to herself from the procuring her teats to
be drawn, which were too niuch distended

OF SELBORNE. IS

with milk, till, from habit, she became as
much delighted with this foundling as if it
had been her real offspring.

This incident is no bad solution of that
strange circumstance which grave histo-
rians as well as the poets assert, of exposed
children being sometimes nurtured by fe-
male wild beasts that probably had lost
their young. For it is not one whit mor0
marvellous that Romulus and Remus, in
their infant state, should be nursed by a
ghe-wolf, than that a poor little sucking
leveret should be fostered and cherished
by a bloody grimalkin.

-" viridi foetam Mavortis in antro

" Procubuisse lupam : geminos huic ubera circum
*' Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem
*' Impavidos : illam tereti cervice reflexam
*' Mulcere altemos, et corpora fingere lingua."

14 NATURAL HISTOIIY

LETTER XXXV

TO THE SAME.

DEAR SIR ; Selborne, May 20, 1777.

Lands that are subject tp frequent inun-
dations are always poor; and probably,
the reason may be because the worms are
drowned. The most insignificant insects
and reptiles are of much more consequence,
and have much more influence in the oeco-
nomy of Nature, than the incurious are
aware of; and are mighty in their effect,
from their minuteness, which renders them
less an object of attention ; and from their
numbers and fecundity. Earth-worms,
though in appearance a small and despica-
ble link in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost,
would make a lamentable chasm. For to
say nothing of half the birds, and some
quadrupeds which are almost entirely sup-
ported by them, worms seem to be great

OF SELBORNE. 15

promoters of vegetation, which would pro-
ceed but lamely without them, by boring,
perforating, and loosening the soil, and ren-
dering it pervious to rains and the fibres of
plants, by drawing straws and stalks of
leaves and twigs into it ; and, most of all,
by throwing up such infinite numbers of
lumps of earth called worm-casts, which
being their excrement, is a fine manure for
grain and grass. Worms probably provide
new soil for hills and slopes where the rain
washes the earth away; and they affect
slopes, probably to avoid being flooded.
Gardeners and farmers express their detes-
tation of worms ; the former because they
render their walks unsightly, and make
them much work : and the latter because,
as they think, worms eat their green com*
But these men would find that the earth
without worms would soon become cold,
hard-bound, and void of fermentation ; and
consequently steril : and besides, in favour
of worms, it should be hinted that green
corn, plants, and flowers, are not so much
injured by them as by many species of

16 NATURAL HISTORY^

coleoptera (scarabs), and tipiilm (long-legs)^
in their larva> or grub-state ; and by un-
noticed myriads of small shell-less snails,
called slugs, which silently and imper-
ceptibly make amazing havock in the field
and garden.*

These hints we think proper to throw
out in order to set the inquisitive and
discerning to work.

A good monography of worms would af-
ford much entertainment and information
at the same time, and would open a large
and new field in natural history. Worms
work most in the Spring ; but by no means
lie torpid in the dead months \ are out every
mild night in the Winter, as any person may
be convinced that will take the pains to
examine his grass-plots with a candle ; are
hermaphrodites, and much addicted to
venery, and consequently very prolific.

I am, &c,

* Farmer Youngs of Norton-farm, says that thi^
Spring (1777) about four acres of his wheat in one field
was entirely destroyed by slugs, which swarmed on the
blades of corn, and devoured it as fast as it sprang.

OF SELBORNE 1?

LETTER XXXVI.

TO THE SAME.
DEAR SIR; Selborne, Nov. 22, 1777.

You cannot but remember, that the twenty-
sixth and twenty-seventh of last March
were very hot days ; so sultry that every
body complained and were restless under
those sensations to which they had not
been reconciled by gradual approaches.

This sudden Summer-like heat was at-
tended by many Summer coincidences ; for
on those two days the thermometer rose to
sixty-six in the shade ; many species of
insects revived and came forth ; some bees
swarmed in this neighbourhood; the old
tortoise, near Lewes in Sussex, awakened
and came forth out of its dormitory : and,
what is most to my present purpose, many
house- swallows appeared and were very alert
in many places, and particularly at Cohham,
in Surrey,

VOL. II. c

18 NATtJiRAL HISTORY

But as that short warm period was suc-
ceeded as well as preceded by harsh severe
weather, with frequent frosts and ice, and
cutting winds, the insects withdrew, the
tortoise retired again into the ground, and*
the swallows were seen no more until the
tenth of Aprily when, the rigour of the
Spring abating, a softer season began to
prevail.

Again; it appears by my joum^ils for
many years past, that hGUse-marlins retire,
to a bird, about the beginning of October ;
so that a person not very observant of such
matters would conclude that they Jiad
taken their last farewell ; but then it may
be seen in my diaries, also, that considerable
flocks have discovered themselves again
in the first week of November, and often
on the fourth day of that month only for
one day ; and that not as if they were in
actual migration, but playing about at their
leisure and feeding calmly, as if no enter-
prize of moment at all agitated their spirits.
And this was the case in the beginning of
this very month \ for on the fourth of No-

OF SELBORNE. l§

vember, more than twenty house-martins,
which, in appearance, had all departed
about the seventh of October, were seen
again, for that one morning only, sporting
between my fields and the Hanger, an4
feasting on insects which swarmed in thai:
sheltered district. The preceding day wa§
wet and blustering, but the fourth was dark
and mild, and soft, the wind at south-west,
and the thermometer at 58^ ; a pitch not
common at that season of the year. More-
over, it may not be amiss to add in this
place that whenever the thermometer is
above 50, the bat comes flitting out in
every Autumnal and Winter month.

From all these circumstances laid toge-
ther, it is obvious that torpid insects, rep-
tiles, and quadrupeds, are awakened from
their profoundest slumbers by a little un-
timely warmth ; and therefore that nothing
so much promotes this death-like stupor as
a defect of heat. And farther, it is reason-
able to suppose that two whole species, or
at least many individuals of those two
species, (^British htrundines, do never leave
c 2

20 NATURAL HISTORY

this island at all, but partake of the same
benumbed state : for we cannot suppose
that, after a month^s absence, house-mar-
tins can return from southern regions to
appear for one morning in Navemher, or that
house-swallows should leave the districts of
Africa io enjoy, in March, iYie, transient
Summer of a cowp/e of days.

1 am, &c.

LETTER XXXVII.

TO THE SAME.
DEAR SIR; Selborne, Jan. 8, 1778.

There was in this village several years
ago a miserable pauper, who, from his
birth, was afflicted with a leprosy, as far
as we are aware, of a singular kind, since
it affected only the palms of his hands and
the soles of his feet. This scaly eruption
usually broke out twice in the year, at the
Spring and fall ; and, by peeling away, left
the skin so thin and tender, that neither his

OF SELBORNE. 2L

hands nor feet were able to perform their
functions ; so that the poor object was half
his time on crutches, incapable of employ,
and languishing in a tiresome state of indo-
lence and inactivity. His habit was lean,
lank, and cadaverous. In this sad plight
he dragged on a miserable existence, a bur-
then to himself and his parish, which was
obliged to support him till he was relieved
by death at more than thirty years of age. ^
The good women, who love to account for
every defect in children by the doctrine of
longing, said that his mother felt a violent
propensity for oysters, which she was un-
able to gratify ; and that the black rough
scurf on his hands and feet were the shells
of that fish. We knew his parents, neither
of which were lepers; his father in parti-
cular lived to be far advanced in years.

: In all ages the leprosy has made dreadful
havock among mankind. The Israelites
seem to have been greatly afflicted with it
from the most remote times ; as appears
from the peculiar and repeated injunctions

33 NATURAL HISTORY

given thetn in the Leviiical J^w.* Nor
was the rancour of this foul disorder much
abated in the last period of their common-
wealth, as may be seen in many passages
of the New Testament.

Some centuries ago this horrible distem-
per prevailed all Europe over; and out
forefathers were by no means exempt, as
a,ppears by the large provision made for
objects labouring under this calamity*
There was an hospital for female lepers ia
the diocese of Lincoln, a noble one near
Durham, three in London and Southwark,
and perhaps many more in or near our
great towns and cities. Moreover, some
cafowned heads, and other wealthy and
charitable personages, bequeathed large
legacies to such poor people as languished
under this hopeless infirmity.

It must, therefore, in these days, be, to
hh humane and thinking person, a matter
©f equal wonder and satisfaction, wheft h6

* Sefr Leviticus, ch*p. xiii. nnd xiv.

OF SELBORNE. 23

contemplates how nearly this pest is eradi-
cated, and observes that a leper no^y is a
rare sight. He will, moreover, when en-
gaged in such a train of thought, naturally
inquire for the reason. This happy change
perhaps may have originated and been con-
tinued from the much smaller quantity of
salted meat and fish now eaten in these
kingdoms ; from the use of linen next the
skin: from the plenty of better bread; and
from the profusion of fruits, roots, legumes,
and greens, so common in every family.
Three or four centuries ago, before there
were any enclosures, sown-grasses, field-
turnips, or field-carrots, or hay, all the cat-
tle which had grown fat in Summer, and
were not killed for Winter-use, were turned
out soon after Michaelmas to shift as they
CQuld through the dead months ; so that no
fjreshmeat could be had in Winterer Spring.
Hence the marvellous account of the vast
stores of salted flesh found in the larder of
the eldest Spencer'^ in the days of Edward

* Viz. Six hundred bacons, eighty carcasses of beef,
ai4 six hundred muttons.

24 NATURAL HISTORY

he Second, even so late in the Spring as
the third of May, It was from magazines
like these that the turbulent barons sup-
ported in idleness their riotous swarms of
retainers ready for any disorder or mischief.
But agriculture is now arrived at such a
pitch of perfection, that our best and fattest
meats are killed in the Winter : and no
man needs eat salted flesh, unless he pre-
fers it, that has money to buy fresh.

One cause of this distemper might be,
no doubt, the quantity of wretched fresh
and salt fish consumed by the commonalty
at all seasons as well as in Lent ; which
our poor now would hardly be persuaded
to touch.

The use of linen changes, shirts or shifts,
in the room of sordid and filthy woollen,
long worn next the skin, is a matter of
neatness comparatively modern ; but must
prove a great means of preventing cuta-
neous ails. At this very time woollen in-
stead of linen prevails among the poorer
Welch, who are subject to foul eruptions.

The plenty of good wheaten bread that

OF SELBORNE. 25

now is found among all ranks of people in
the south, instead of that miserable sort
which used in old days to be made of bar-
ley or beans, may contribute not a little to
the sweetening their blood and correcting
their juices ; for the inhabitants of moun-
tainous districts^, to this day, are still liable
to the itch and other cutaneous disorders,
from a wretchedness and poverty of diet.

As to the produce of a garden, every
middle-aged person of observation may
perceive, within his own memory, both in
town and country, how vastly the con-
sumption of vegetables is increased. Green-
stalls in cities now support multitudes in a
comfortable state, while gardeners get for-
tunes. Every decent labourer also has his
garden, which is half his support, as well
as his delight ; and common farmers pro-
vide plenty of beans, peas, and greens, for
their hinds to eat with their bacon ; and
those few that do not are despised for their
sordid parsimony, and looked upon as re-
gardless of the welfare of their dependants.
Potatoes have prevailed in this little district.

26 NATURAL HISTORY

by means of premiums, within these twenty
years only ^ and are much esteemed here
now by the poor, who would scarce have
ventured to taste them in the last reign.

Our Suxon ancestors certainly had some
sort of cabbage, beause they call the month
of Fehruari^ sprout- cale ; but long after
their days, the cultivation of gardens was
little attended to. The religious, being
men of leisure, and keeping up a constant
correspondence with Italy, were the first
people among us that had gardens and
fruit-trees in any perfection, within the
walls of their abbies* and priories. The
barons neglected every pursuit that did
not lead to war or tend to the pleasure of
the chase.

It was not till gentlemen took up the
study of horticulture themselves that the

* " In monasteries the lamp of knowledge continued
^ to bnm, however dimly. In them men of business
" were formed for the state : the art of writing was cul-
" tivated by the monks ; they were the only proficient.^
" in mechanics, gardening j and architecture."

See Dalr^mple's Annals of Scotland.

OF SBLBORNE. 37

knowledge of gardening made such hasty
advances. Lord Cobham, Lord Ila, and
Mr. Waller of Beaconsjield, were some of
the first people of rank that promoted the
elegant science of ornamenting without des-
pising the superintendence of the kitchen
quarters and fruit walls.

A remark made by the excellent Mr.
Ray in his Tour of Europe at once surprises
us, and corroborates what has been ad-
vanced above ; for we find him observing,
so late as his days, that " the Italians use
** several herbs for sallets, which are not
** yet or have not been but lately used ia
** England, viz. selleri (celery) which is no-
" thing else but the sweet smallage; the^
** young shoots whereof, with a little of the
*' head of the root cut off, they eat raw with
** oil and pepper.^' And farther he adds
•* curled endive blanched is much used be*
*• yond seas ; and, for a raw sallet, seemed
'* to excel lettuce itself." Now this journey
was undertaken no longer ago than in the
year 1663.

I am, &c.

28 NATURAL HISTOEY

LETTER XXXVIIT.

TO THE SAME.

" Forte puer, comitum seductas ab agmine fido,
*' Dixerat, ecquis adest ? et, adest, responderat echo.
" Hie stupet ; utque aciem partes divisit in omnes ;
" Voce, veni, clamat magna. Vocat ilia vocantem."

DEAR SIR; Selborne, Feb. 12,1778.

In a district SO diversified as this, so full of
hollow vales and hanging woods, it is no
wonder that echoes should abound. Many
we have discovered that return the cry of a
pack of dogs, the notes of a hunting-horn,
a tunable ring of bells, or the melody of
birds very agreeably : but we were still at
a loss for a polysyllabical, articulate echo,
till a young gentleman, who had parted
from his company in a Summer evening
walk, and was calling after them, stumbled
upxxn a very curious one in a spot where it
might least be expected. At first he was

OF SELBORNE. 29

much surprised, and could not be persuaded
but that he was mocked by some boy ; but,
repeating his trials in several languages, and
finding his respondent to be a very adroit
polyglot, he then discerned the deception.
This echo in an evening, before rural
noises cease, would repeat ten syllables
most articulately and distinctly, especially
if quick dactyls were chosen. The last
syllables of

" Tityre, tu patulae recubans "

were as audibly and intelligibly returned as
the first : and there is no doubt, could trial
have been made, but that at midnight,
when the air is very elastic, and a dead
stillness prevails, one or two syllables more
might have been obtained : but the distance
rendered so Jate an experiment very incon-
venient.

Quick dactyls, we observed, succeeded
best ; for when we came to try its powers
in slow, heavy, embarrassed spondees of
the same number of syllables,

, " Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens— -*'

we could perceive a return but of four ox
five.

so NATURAL HISTORY

Ali echoes have some one place to ivhich
they are returned stronger and mom disf-
tinctthan to any other; and that is always
the place that lies at right angles with the
object of repercnssion, and is not too neair,
nor too far off. Buildings, or naked rocks,
re-echo much more articulately than hang-
ing w^iods or vales : because in the latt-er
the voice is as it were entangled, and em-
barrassed in the covert, and weakened m
the rebound.

The true object of this echo, as we found
by various experiments, is the stone-built,
tiled hop-kiln in Gally-lane, which mea-
sures in front, 40 feet, and from the ground
to the eaves 12 feet. The true centrum
phonicum, or just distance, is one particular
spot in the King*s-Jidd, in the path to N ore-
hill, on the very brink of the steep balk
above the hollow cart way. In thi« case
there Ss no choice of distance ; but the
path, by mere contingency, happens to be
the lucky, the identical spot, because the
ground rises or faills so immediately, if the
speaker eitlier retires or advances, that his

OF SELBORNE. 31

mouth would at onoe be above or below
the object.

We measured this polysyllabical echo
with great exactness, and found the distance
to fall very short of Dr. P/o<*s rule for dis-
tinct articulation : for the Doctor in his
history of Oxfordshtj^e, allows 120 feet for
theretumof each syllable distinctly : hence
this echo, which gives ten distinct syllables,
ought to measure 400 yards, or 120 feet to
each syllable ; whereas our distance is only
258 yards, or near 75 feet, to each syllable.
Thus our measure falls short of the Doctor's,
as five to eight : but then it must be ac-
knowledged that this candid philosopher
was convinced afterwards, that some lati-
tude must be admitted of in the distance
of echoes according to time and place.

When experiments of this sort are mak-
ing it should always be remembered that
weather and the time of day have a vast in-
fluence on an echo ; for a dull, heavy, moist
air deadens and clogs the sound ; and hot
sunshine renders the air thin and weak,
and deprives it of all its springiness ; and

32 NATURAL HISTORY

a ruffling wind quite defeats the whole. In
a still, clear, dewy evening, the air is most
elastic ; and perhaps the later the hour the
more so.

Echo has always been so amusing to the
imagination, that the poets have personified
her ; and in their hands she has been the
occasion of many a beautiful fiction. Nor
need the gravest man be ashamed to appear
taken with such a phsenomenon, since it
may become the subject of philosophical
or mathematical inquiries.

One should have imagined that echoes,
if not entertaining, must at least have been
harmless and inoffensive ; yet Virgil ad-
vances a strange notion, that they are in-
jurious to bees. After enumerating some
probable and reasonable annoyances, such
as prudent owners would wish far removed
from their bee-gardens, he adds

aut iibi concava piilsu

" Saxa sonant, vocisque ofFensa resultat imago."

This wild and fanciful assertion will
hardly be admitted by the philosophers of

OF SELBOUNE. 33

these days; especially as they all now seem
agreed that insects are not furnished with
any organs of hearing at all. But, if it
should be urged, that though they cannot
hear, yet perhaps they may feei the reper-
cussion of sounds, I grant it is possible they
may. Yet that these impressions are dis-
tasteful or hurtful, I deny, because bees, in
good Summers, thrive well in my outlet,
where the echoes are very strong : for this
village is another Anatlioth, a place of re-
sponses or echoes. Besides, it does not ap-
pear from experiment that bees are in any
way capable of being affected by sounds :
for 1 have often tried my own with a large
speaking-trumpet held close to their hives,
and with such an exertion of voice as would
have hailed a ship at the distance of a mile,
and still these insects pursued their various
employments undisturbed, and without
showing the least sensibility or resentment*
Some time since its discovery this echo
is become totally silent, though the object
or hop-kiln, remains: nor is there any
mystery in this defect; for the field between

VOL. II. D

S4 NATURAL HISTORY

is planted as an hop-garden, and the voice
of the speaker is totally absorbed and lost
^mong the poles and entangled foliage of
the hops. And when the poles are rer
moved in Autumn the disappointment is
the same ; because a tall quick-set hedge,
nurtured up for the purpose of shelter to
the hop- ground, entirely interrupts the im-
pulse and repercussion of the voice: so that
till those obstructions are removed no more
of its garrulity can be expected.

Should any gentleman of fortune think
an echo in his park or outlet a pleasing in-
cident, he might build one at little or no
expense. For whenever he had occasion
for a new barn, stable, dog-kennel, or the
like structure, it would be only needful to
erect this building on the gentle declivity
of an hill, with a like rising opposite to it,
at a few hundred yards distance ; and per-
haps success might be the easier ensured
could some canal, lake, or stream, inter-
vene. From a seat at the centrum phonicum
he and his friends might amuse themselves
sometimes of an evening with the prattle of

OF SELBORNE. 55

this loquacious nymph ; of whose compla-
cency and decent reserve more may be said
than can with truth of every individual of
her sex • since she is

quae nee reticere loquenti.

" Nee prior ipsa loqui didicit resonabilis echo.**

I am, &c.

P. S. The classic reader will, I trust,
pardon the following lovely quotation, so
finely describing echoes, and so poetically
accounting for their causes from popular
superstition :

" Quae bene quom videas, rationem reddere possis
" Tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loca sola
" Saxa pareis fonnas verborum ex ordine reddant,
" Palanteis comites quom monteis inter opacoa
" Quaerimus, et magnd dispersos voce ciemus.
" Sex etiam, aut septem loca vidi reddere voces
" Unam quom jaceres : ita colles colHbus ipsis
'^ Verba repulsantes iterab$nt dicta ref(^re.
" Haec loca capripedes Satyros, Nymphasque tenere
" Finitimi fingunt, et Faunos esse loquuntur ;
" Quorum noctivago strepitu, ludoque jocanti
^' Affirmant volgo tacituma silentia rumpi,
" Chordarumque sonos fieri, dulceisque querelas,
" Tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum :
D 2

36 NATURAL HISTORY

" Et genus agricolum late sentiscere, quom Pan
" Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans,
" Unco saepe labro calamos percurrit hianteis,
" Fistula silVestrem ne cesset fundere musam."

Lucretius, Lib. iv. 1. 67^*

LETTER XXXIX.

TO THE SAME.

DEAR SIR; Selborne, May 13, 1778.

Among the many singularities attending
those amusing birds the swifts, I am now
confirmed in the opinion that we have every
year the same number of pairs invariably ;
at least the result of my inquiry has been
exactly the same for a longtime past. The
swallows and martins are so numerous, and
so widely distributed over the village, that
it is hardly possible to recount them ; while
the swifts, though they do not all build in
the church, yet so frequently haunt it, and
play and rendezvous round it, that they are
easily enumerated. The number that I

OF SELBORNE. 37

constantly find are eight pairs ; about half
of which reside in the church, and the rest
build in some of the lowest and meanest
thatched cottages. Now as these eight
pairs, allowance being made for accidents,
breed yearly eight pairs more, what, be-
comes annually of this increase ; and, what
determines every Spring which pairs shall
visit us, and re-occupy their ancient haunts?
Ever since I have attended to the sub-
ject of ornithology, I have always sup-
posed that that sudden reverse of affection,
that strange aurKTropyvi which immediately
succeeds in the feathered kind to the most
passionate fondness, is the occasion of an
equal dispersion of birds over the face of
the earth. Without this provision one
favourite district would be crowded with
inhabitants, while others would be destitute
and forsaken. But the parent birds seem
to maintain a jealous superiority, and to
oblige the young to seek for new abodes ;
and the rivalry of the males in many kinds,
prevents their crowding the one on the
jother. Whether the swallows and house^

38 NATURAL HISTORY

martins return in the same exact number
annually is not easy to say, for reasons
given above : but it is apparent, as I havQ
remarked before in my Monographies, that
the numbers returning bear no manner of
proportion to the numbers retiring.

L E T T E R XL.

TO THE SAME*

PEAE SIE; Selborne, June 2, 1778.

The standing objection to botany has
always been, that it is a pursuit that amuses
the fancy and exercises the memory, with-
out improving the mind or advancing any
real knowledge ; and, where the science is
carried no farther than a mere systematic
classification, the charge is but too true.
But the botanist that is desirous of wiping
off this aspersion should be by no means
content with a list of names ; he should
study plants philosophically, should inves-

OF SELBORNE. 39

tigate the laws of vegetation, should exa^
mine the powers and virtues of efficacious
herbs, should promote their cultivation ;
and graft the gardener, the planter, and
the husbandman, on the phytologist. Not
that system is by any means to be thrown
aside; without system the field of Nature
would be a pathless wilderness : but sys-
tem should be subservient to, not the main
object of, pursuit.

Vegetation is highly worthy of our at-
tention; and in itself is of the utmost con-
sequence to mankind, and productive of
many of the greatest comforts and ele-
gancies of life. To plants we owe timber,
bread, beer, honey, wine, oil, linen, cotton,
&c. what not only strengthens our hearts,
and exhilarates our spirits, but what se-
cures us from inclemencies of weather and
adorns our persons. Man, in his true state
of nature, seems to be subsisted by sponta-
neous vegetation : in middle climes, where
grasses prevail, he mixes some animal foo4
with the produce of the field and garden :
and it is towards the polar extremes only

40 NATURAL HISTORY

that, like his kindred bears and wolves, he
gorges himself with flesh alone, and is
driven to what hunger has never been
known to compel the very beasts, to prey
on his own species.*

The productions of vegetation have had
a vast influence on the commerce of na-
tions, and have been the great promoters
of navigation, as may be seen in the articles
of sugar, tea, tobacco, opium, ginseng,
betel, paper, &c. As every climate has its
peculiar produce, our natural wants bring
on a mutual intercourse ; so that by means
of trade each distant part is supplied with
the growth of every latitude. But, without
the knowledge of plants and their culture,
we must have been content with our hips
and haws, without enjoying the delicate
fruits of India and the salutiferous drugs
of Peru,

Instead of examining the minute distinc-
tions of every various species of each ob-
scure genus, the botanist should endea-

* See the late voyages to the South Seas.

OF SELBORNE. 41

vour to make himself acquainted with
those that are useful. You shall see a man
readily ascertain every herb of the field,
yet hardly know wheat from barley, or at
least one sort of wheat or barley from an-
other.

But of all sorts of vegetation the grasses
seem to be most neglected ; neither the
farmer nor the grazier seem to distinguish
the annual from the perennial, the hardy
from the tender, nor the succulent and
nutritive from the dry and juiceless.

The study of grasses would be of great
consequence to a northerly and grazing
kingdom. The botanist that could improve
the swerd of the district where he lived,
would be an useful member of society : to
raise a thick turf on a naked soil would be
worth volumes of systematic knowledge :
and he would be the best commonwealth's
man that could occasion the growth of
** two blades of grass where one alone was
" seen before/*

I am, &c.

4S JSTATqi^At His TORY

LETTER XLI.

TO THE SAME.
DEAR SIR; Selborne, July 3, 1778.

In a district so diversified with such a
variety of hill and dale, aspects, and soils,
it is no wonder that great choice of plants
should be found. Chalks, clays, sands,
sheep-walks and downs, bogs, heaths,
woodlands, and campaign fields, cannot
but furnish an ample Flora, The deep
rocky lanes abound with Jilices, and the
pastures and moist woods y^iih fungi. If in
any branch of botany we may seem to be
wanting, it must be in the large aquatic
plants, which are not to be expected on a
spot far removed from rivers, and lying
up amidst the hill country at the spring
heads. To enumerate all the plants that
have been discovered within our limits
would be a needless work ; but a short list

CHAlMJOmiUS HIMANTOPUS.

OF SELBORNE. 43

of the more rare, and the spots where they
are to be found, may be neither unaccept-
able nor unentertaining :—

Helleborus fcetidus, stinking hellebore,
bear's foot or setterwort, all over the High-
wood and Coney-croft'hanger : this cour
tinues a great branching plant the Winter
through, blossoming about January y and is
very ornamental in shady walks and shrub-
beries. The good women give the leaves
powdered to children troubled with worms;
but it is a violent remedy, and ought tq be
administered with caution.

Helleborus viridis, green hellebore — in
the deep stony lane on the left hand just
before the turning to Norton farm, and at
the top of Middle Dorton under the hedge :
this plant dies down to the ground early
in Autumn, and springs again about Feb-
vuary, flowering almost as soon as it ap-
pears above ground.

Vaccinium oxy coccus, creeping bilberries,
or cranberries, — in the bogs of Bins-pond ;

Vaccinium myrtillus^ whortle, or bil-

44 NATURAL HISTORY

berries — on the dry hillocks of Wolmer-
forest ;

Drosera rotuvdifolia, round-leaved sun-
dew. In the bogs of Bin's-pond ;

Drosera longifolia, long-leaved sundew
' — in the bogs of Bins-pond ;

Comarum palustre, purple comarum, or
marsh cinque foil — in the bogs of Bins-
pond ;

Hypericum androscemum, Tutsan, St.
John's Wort — in the stony, hollow lanes ;

Vinca minor, less periwinkle — in Sel-
borne-hanger and Shrub-wood ;

Monotropa hypopiihys, yellow mono-
tropa, or bird's nest — in Selborne-hanger
under the shady beeches, to whose roots
it seems to be parasitical — at the north-
west end of the Hanger ;

Chlora perfoliata, Blackstonia perfoliatay
Hudsoniy perfoliated yellow-wort — on the
banks in the King^s-Jield ;

Paris quadrifolia, herb Paris, true-love,

or one-berry — in the Church-litten-coppice ;

ChrysospLenium oppositi folium, opposite

OF SELBORNE. 45

golden saxifrage — in the dark and. rocky
hollow lanes ;

Genitalia amarella, Autumnal gentian,
or fell wort — on the Ziz-zag and Hanger ;

Lathrwa squammaria, tooth-wort — in
the Church-litten-coppice under some hazels
near the foot-bridge, in Trimmings garden
hedge, and on the dry wall opposite
Grange-yard ;

Dipsacus pilosuSf small teasel — in the
Short and Long Lith ;

Lathyrus sylvestris, narrow-leaved, or
wild lathyrus— in the bushes at the foot of
the Short Lith, near the path ;

Ophrys spiralis ladies traces — in the
Long Lith^ and towards the south corner of
the common ;

Ophrys nidus avis, bird's nest ophrys —
in the Long Lith under the shady beeches
among the dead leaves : in Great Dorton
among the bushes, and on the Hanger
plentifully ;

Serapias latifolia, helleborine — in the
High' wood under the shady beeches ;

46 NATUEAt HISTORY

Daphne laurevla, spurge laurel, in Sel*
borne-Hanger and the High-wood ;

Daphne mezereum, the mezereon — in
Selborne- Hanger among the shrubs at the
south-east end above the cottages ;

Lycoperdon tuber, truffles — in the Hanger
and High-wood ;

Sambucus ebulus, dwarf eldef, walwort,
or danewort — among the rubbish and
ruined foundations of the Priory,

Of all the propensities of plants none
seem more strange than their different
periods of blossoming. Some produce their
flowers in the Winter, or very first dawn-
ings of Spring ; many when the Spring is
established ; some at Midsummer, and
some not till Autumn. When we see the
helleborusfcetidus and helleborusniger blow-
ing at Christmas, the helkborus hyemalis in
January, and the helleborus viridis as soon
as ever it emerges out of the ground, we do
not wonder, because they are kindred
plants that we expect should keep pace the
one with the other. But other congene*

OF SELBORNE. ^ 4^

rous vegetables differ so widely in their
time of flowering, that we cannot but
admire. I shall only instance at present in
the crocm sativus, the vernal, and the Au-
tumnal crocus, which have such an affinity,
that the best botanists only make' them
varieties of the same genus, of which there
is only one species; not being able to dis-
cern any difference in the corolla, or in the
internal structure. Yet the vernal crocus
expands its flowers by the beginning of
March at farthest, and often in very rigor-
ous weather ; and cannot be retarded but
by some violence offered : — while the
autumnal (the Saffron) defies the influence
of the Spring and Summer, and will not
blow till most plants begin to fade and run
to seed. This circumstance is one of the
wonders of the creation, little noticed,
because a common occurrence : yet ought
not to be overlooked on account of its
being familiar, since it would be as diffi-
cult to be explained as the most stupendous
phsenomenon in nature.

48 KATUllAL HISTORY

Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow
Congeal'd the crocus* flamy bud to glow ?
Say, what retards, amidst the Summer's blaze,
Th* autumnal bulb, tiU pale, declining days?
The God of Seasons ; whose pervading power
Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower :
He bids each flower his quick ning word obey ;
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay.

LETTER XLIL

TO THE SAME.

" Omnibus animalibus reliquis certus et uniusmodi, et
" in suo cuique genere incessus est : aves solse vario
" meatu feruntur, et in terrd, et in aere."

Plin. Hist Nat. lib. x. cap. 38.

DEAR SIR; Selbornb, Aug. 7, 1778.

A Good ornithologist should be able to
distinguish birds by their air as well as by
their colours and shape ; on the ground as
well as on the wing, and in the bush as
well as in the hand. For, though it must
not be said that every species of birds has a

OP SELBORNfi. 49

manner peculiar to itself, yet there is some-
what in most genera at least, that at first
sight discriminates them, and enables a ju-
dicious observer to pronounce upon them
with some certainty. Put a bird in motion

Et vera incessu patuit

Thus kites and buzzards sail round itt
circles with wings expanded and motion-
less ; and it is from their gliding manner
that the former are still called in the north
of England gleads, from the Saxon verb
glidan, to glide. The kestrel or wind'hover,
has a peculiar mode of hanging in the air
in one place, his wings all the while being
briskly agitated . Hen-harriers fly low over
heaths or fields of corn, and beat the
ground regularly like a pointer or setting-
dog. Owls move in a buoyant manner, as
if lighter than the air ; they seem to want
ballast. There is a peculiarity belonging
to ravens that must draw the attention even
of the most incurious — they spend all their
leisure time in striking and cuffing each
other on the wing in a kind of playful

VOL. II. E

50 NATURAL HISTORY

skirmish ; and when they move from one
place to another, frequently turn on their
backs with a loud croak, and seem to be
falling to the ground. When this odd
gesture betides them, they are scratching
themselves with one foot, and thus lose
the center of gravity. Rooks sometimes
dive and tumble in a frolicksome manner ;
crows and daws swagger in their walk ;
wood-peckers fly volatu undoso, opening and
closing their wings at every stroke, and so
are always rising or falling in curves. All
of this genus use their tails, which incline
downward, as a support while they run up
trees. Parrots, like- all other hooked-
clawed birds, walk awkwardly, and make
use of their bill as a third foot, climbing
and descending with ridiculous caution.
AH the gallincB parade and walk gracefully,
and run nimbly ; but fly with difficulty,
with an impetuous whirring, and in ^
straight line. Magpies wadjai/s flutter with
powerless wings, and make no dispatch ;
herons seem encumbered with too much
sail for their light bodies ; but these vast

or SELBORNE. 51

hollow wings are necessary in carrying bur-
thens, such as large fishes, and the like ;
pigeonsy and particularly the sort called
smiters, have a way of clashing their wings
the one against the other over their backs
with a loud snap ; another variety called
tumblers turn themselves over in the air.
Some birds have movements peculiar to
the season of love : thus ring-doves, though
strong and rapid at other times, yet in the
Spring hang about on the wing in a toying
and playful manner ; thus the cock-snipe,
while breeding, forgetting his former flight,
fans the air like the wind-hover : and the
green-Jinch in particular exhibits such lan-
guishing and faultering gestures as to ap-
pear like a wounded and dying bird ; the
hing'Jisher darts along like an arrow ; fern-
owls, or goat-suckers^ glance in the dusk
over the tops of trees like a meteor ; star-
lings, as it were, swim along, while missel-
thrushes use a wild and desultory flight ;
swallows sweep over the surface of the
ground and water, and distinguish them*
e2

52 NATURAL HISTORY

sevles by rapid turns and quick evolutions ;
swifts dash round in circles ; and the hank-
martin moves w^ith frequent vacillations
like a butterfly. Most of the small birds
fly by jerks, rising and falling as they ad-
vance. Most small birds hop ; but wagtails
and larks walk, moving their legs alter-
nately. Skylarks rise and fall perpendicu-
larly as they sing ; woodlarks hang poised
in the air ; and titlarks rise and fall in large
curves, singing in their descent. The
white-throat uses odd jerks and gesticula-
tions over the tops of hedges and bushes.
All the duek'kind waddle ; divers and auks
walk as if fettered, and stand erect on their
tails : these are the cowpedes of Linn(Bus.
Geese and cranes, and most wild-fowls, move
in figured flights, often changing their
position. The secondary remiges of Trin^
g(E, wild ducks, and some others, are very
long, and give their wings, when in motion,
an hooked appearance. Dab^chicks, moor-
hens, and coots, fly erect, with their legs
hanging down^ and hardly make any dis-

OF SELBORNE. 53

patch ; the reason is plain, their wings are
placed too forward out of the true centre
of gravity ; as the legs of auks and divers
Jire situated too backward

LETTER XLIIL

TO THE SAME.

DEAR SIR; Selborne, Sept. 9, 1778,

From the motion of birds, the transition
is natural enough to their notes and lan-
guage, of which I shall say something.
Not that I would pretend to understand
their language like the vizier ; who, by the
recital of a conversation which passed be-
tween two owls, reclaimed a sultan,* before
delighting in conquest and devastation;
but I would be thought only to mean that
many of the winged tribes have various
sounds and voices adapted to express their
various passions, wants, and feelings ; such

* See Spectator, Vol. viL No. .512.

54 NATURAL HISTORY

as anger, fear, love, hatred, hunger, and the
like. All species are not equally eloquent ;
some /are copious and fluent, as it were, in
their utterance, while others are confined
to a few important sounds : no bird, like
the fish kind, is quite mute, though some
are rather silent. The language of birds
is very ancient, and like other ancient
modes of speech, very elliptical ; little is
said, but much is meant and understood.

The notes of the eagle-kind are shrill and
piercing ; and about the season of nidifica-
tion much diversified, as I have been often
assured by a curious observer of Nature,
wholoBg resided at Gibraltar , where eagles
abound. The notes of our hawks much
resemble those of the king of birds. Owls
have very expressive notes ; they hoot in a
fine vocal sound, much resembling the vox
humaria, and reducible by a pitch-pipe to a
musical key. This note seerns to express
complacency and rivalry among the males :
they use also a quick call and an horrible
sscreara ; and can snore and hiss when they
mean to menace. Ravens, beside their

OF SELBOllNE. 55

loud croak, can exert a deep and solemn
note that makes the woods to echo ; the
amorous sound of a crow is strange and
ridiculous; rooks, in the breeding season,
attempt sometimes, in the gaiety of their
heaVts, to sing, but with no great success ;
the parrot-kmdi have many modulations of
voice, as appears by their aptitude to learn
human sounds ; doves coo in an amorous
and mournful manner, and are emblems of
despairing lovers ; the woodpecker sets up a
sort of loud and hearty laugh ; t\iQ fern-owl
or goatsucker, from the dusk till day-break,
serenades his mate with the clattering of
castanets. All the tuneful passeres express
their complacency by sweet modulations,
and a variety of melody. The swallow, as
has been observed in a former letter, by a
shrill alarm bespeaks the attention of the
other hirundines, and bids them be aware
that the hawk is at hand. Aquatic and
gregarious birds, especially the nocturnal,
that shift their quarters in the dark, are
very noisy and loquacious; as cranes, wild-
geese, wild-ducks, and the like ; their per-

56 NATURAL HISTORY

petual clamour prevents them from dis-
persing and losing their companions.

In so extensive a subject, sketches and
outlines are as much as can be expected :
for it would be endless to instance in all
the infinite variety of the feathered nation.
We shall therefore confine the remainder
of this letter to the few domestic fowls of
our yards, which are most known, and
therefore best understood. And first the
peacock, with his gorgeous train, demands
our attention ; but, like most of the gaudy
birds, his notes are grating and shocking
to the ear : the yelling of cats, and the
braying of an ass, are not more disgustful.
The voice of the goose is trumpet-like, and
clanking ; and once saved the Capitol at
Rome, as grave historians assert : the hiss
also of the gander is formidable and full of
menace, and " protective of his young."
Among ducks the sexual distinction of voice
is remarkable ; for while the quack of the
female is loud and sonorous, the voice of
the drake is inward and harsh, and feeble,
and scarce discernible. The cock turkey

OF SELBORNE. 57

Struts and gobbles to his mistress in a most
uncouth manner ; he hath also a pert and
petulant note when he attacks his adver-
sary. When a hen turkey leads forth her
young brood she keeps a watchful eye :
and if a bird of prey appear, though ever
so high in the air, the careful mother
announces the enemy with a little inward
moan, and watches him with a steady and
attentive look ; but, if he approach, her
note becomes earnest and alarming, and
her outcries are redoubled.

No inhabitants of a yard seem possessed
of such a variety of expression and so co-
pious a language as common poultry. Take
a chicken of four or five days old, and
hold it up to a window where there are
flies, and it will immediately seize its prey,
with little twitterings of complacency ; but
if you tender it a wasp or a bee, at once
its note becomes harsh and expressive of
disapprobation and a sense of danger.
When a pullet is ready to lay, she intimates
the event by a joyous and easy soft note.

58 NATURAL HISTORY

Of all the occurrences of their life that of
laying seems to be the most important ; for
no sooner has a hen disburthened herself,
than she rushes forth with a clamorous
kind of joy, which the cock and the rest
of his mistresses immediately adopt. The
tumult is not confined to the family con-
cerned, but catches from yard to yard, and
spreads to every homestead within hearing,
till at last the whole village is in an uproar.
As soon as a hen becomes a mother her
new relation demands a new language ; she
then runs clucking and screaming about,
and seems agitated as if possessed. The
father of the flock has also a considerable
vocabulary ; if he finds food, he calls a
favourite concubine to partake ; and if a
bird of prey passes over, with a warning
voice he bids his family beware. The gal-
lant chanticleer has, at command, his amo-
rous phrases and his terms of defiance.
But the sound by which he is best known
is his crowing : by this he has been distin-
guished in all ages as the countryman^s

OF SELBORNE. 59

clock or larum, as the watchman that pro-
claims the divisions of the night. Thus the
poet elegantly styles him

" the crested cock, whose clarion sounds

" The silent hours."

A neighbouring gentleman one Summer
had lost most of his chickens by a sparrow-
hawk, that came gliding down between a
faggot pile and the end of his house to
the place where the coops stood. The
owner inwardly vexed to see his flock thus
diminishing, hung a setting net adroitly
between the pile and the house, into which
the caitiff dashed, and was entangled. Re-
sentment suggested the law of retaliation ;
he therefore clipped the hawk^s wings, cut
off his talons, and fixing a cork on his bill,
threw him down among the brood-hens.
Imagination cannot paint the^ scene that
ensued ; the expressions that fear, rage,
and retenge, inspired, were new, or at
least such as had been unnoticed before :
the exasperated matrons upbraided, they
eJlLecrated, they insulted, they triumphed.

60 NATURAL HISTORY

In a word, they never desisted from buf-
feting their adversary till they had torn
him in an hundred pieces.

LETTER XLIV.

TO THE SAME.

Selborne.

*' — — — — monstrent"

t< , , ■ »»

'' Quid tan turn Oceano properent se tingere soles"
*' Hyberni ; vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet."

Gentlemen who have outlets might
contrive to make ornament subservient to
utility; a pleasing eye-trap might also
contribute to promote science : an obelisk
in -a garden or park might be both an
embellishment and an heliotrope.

Any person that is curious, and enjoys
the advantage of a good horizon, might,
with little trouble, make two heliotropes ;
the one for the Winter, the other for the

OP SELBORNE. 6l

Summer solstice ; and these two erections
might be constructed with very little
expense ; for two pieces of timber frame-
work, about ten or twelve feet high, and
four feet broad at the base, and close lined
with plank, would answer the purpose.

The erection for the former should, if
possible, be placed within sight of some
window in the common sitting-parlour;
because, men at that dead season of the
year, are usually within doors at the close
of the day ; while that for the latter might
be fixed for any given spot in the garden or
outlet : whence the owner might contem-
plate, in a fine Summer's evening, the
utmost extent that the sun makes to the
northward dX the season of the longest days.
Now nothing would be necessary but to
place these two objects with so much exact-
ness, that the westerly limb of the sun, at
setting, might but just clear the Winter
heliotrope to the west of it on the shortest
day ; and that the W«o/e disc of the sun, at
the longest day, might exactly at setting

6^ NATURAL HISTORY

also clear the Summer heliotrope to the north
of it.

By this simple expedient it would soon
appear that there is no such thing, strictly-
speaking, as a solstice : for, from the shortest
day, the owner would, every clear evening,
see the disc advancing, at its setting, to
the westward, of the object ; and, from the
longest day, observe the sun retiring back-
wards every evening at its setting, towards
the object westward, till, in a few nights, it
would set quite behind it, and so by de-
grees to t\\e west of it: for when the sun
comes near the Summer solstice, the whole
disc of it would at first set behind the ob-
ject ; after a time the northern limb would
first appear, and so every night gradually
more, till at length the whole diameter
would set northward of it for about three
nights ; but on the middle night of the
three, sensibly more remote than the former
or following. When beginning its recess
from the Summer tropic, it would continue
more and more to be hidden every night,

OF SEL BORNE. 63

till at length it would descend quite behind
the object again ; and so nightly more and
more to the westward.

LETTER XLV.

TQ THE SAME.

Sblborne.

" — -^ — Mugire videbis

" Sub pedibus terrain, et descendere montibus omos/'

When I was a boy I used to read, with
astonishment and implicit assent, accounts
in Baker s Chronicle of walking hills and
travelling mountains. John Philips, in his
Cyder, alludes to the credit that was given
to such stories with a delicate but quaint
vein of humour peculiar to the author of
the Splendid Shilling.

" I nor advise, nor reprehend, the choice

" Of Marcley Hill ; the apple no where finds

" A kinder mould : yet 'tis unsafe to trust

** Deceitful ground : who knows but that once more

64

NATURAL HISTORY

*' This mount may journey, and his present site
*' Forsaken, to thy neighbour's bounds transfer
, " Thy goodly plants, affording matter strange
" For law debates !"

But, when I came to consider better, I
began to suspect that though our hills may
never have journeyed far, yet that the
ends of many of them have slipped and
fallen away at distant periods, leaving the
cliffs bare and abrupt. This seems to have
been the case with Nore and Whetham
Hills: and especially with the ridge between
Harteley Park and Ward-le-ham, where the
ground has slid into vast swellings and
furrows ; and lies still in such romantic
confusion as cannot be accounted for from
any other cause. A strange event, that
happened not long since, justifies our sus-
picions ; which, though it befel not within
the limits of this parish, yet as it was
within the hundred of Selborne, and as the
circumstances were singular, may fairly
claim a place in a work of this nature.

The month of January and February, in
the year 1774, were remarkable for great

OF SELBORNE. 6*5

melting snows and vast gluts of rain ; so
that by the end of the latter month the
land-springs, or lavants, began to prevail,
and to be near as high as in the memorable
Winter of 1764. The beginning of March
also went on in the same tenor ; when, in
the night between the 8th and 9th of that
month, a considerable part of the great
woody hanger at Hawklet/ was torn from
its place, and fell down, leaving a high
free-stone cliff naked and bare, and resem-,
bling the steep side of a chalk-pit. It ap-
pears that this huge fragment, being per-
haps sapped and undermined by waters,
foundered, and was ingulfed, going down
in a perpendicular direction ; for a gate
which stood in the field, on the top of the
hill, after sinking with its posts for thirty
or forty feet, remained in so true and up-
right a position as to open and shut with
great exactness, just as in its first situation.
Several oaks also are still standing, and in
a state of vegetation, after taking the same
desperate leap. That great part of this
prodigious mass was absorbed in some gulf

VOL. II. F

66 NATURAL HISTORY

below, is plain also from the inclining
ground at the bottom of the hill, which is
free and unincumbered ; but would have
been buried in heaps of rubbish, had the
fragment parted and fallen forward. About
an hundred yards from the foot of this
hanging coppice stood a cottage by the side
of a lane ; and tWo hundred yards lower,
on the other side of the lane, was a farm-
house, in which lived a labourer and his
family; and, just by, a stout new barn.
The cottage was inhabited by an old
woman and her son, and his wife. These
people, in the evening, which was very dark
and tempestuous, observed that the brick
floors of their kitchens began to heave and
part ; and that the walls seemed to open,
aiid the roofs to crack : but they all agree
that no tremor of the ground, indicating an
earthquake, was ever felt ; only that the
wind continued to make a most tremendous
roaring in the woods and hangers. The
miserable inhabitants, not daring to go to
bed, remained in the utmost solicitude and
confusion, expecting every moment to be

OF SELBORNE. 67

buried under the xuins of their shattered
edifices. When day-light came they were
at leisure to contemplate the devastations
of the night : They then found that a deep
rift, or chasm, had opened under their
houses, and torn them, as it were, in two ;
and that one end of the barn had suffered
in a similar manner ; that a pond near the
cottage had undergone a strange reverse,
becoming deep at the shallow end, and so
vice versa ; that many large oaks were re-
moved out of their perpendicular, some
thrown down, and some fallen into the
heads of neighbouring trees ; and that a
gate was thrust forward, with its hedge,
full six feet, so as to require a new track
to be made to it. From the foot of the
cliff the general course of the ground, which
is pasture, inclines in a moderate descent
for half a mile, and is interspersed with
some hillocks, which were rifted, in every
direction, as well towards the great woody
hanger, as from it. In the first pasture
the deep clefts began : and running across
the lane, and under the buildings, made
F 2

68 NATURAL HISTORY

such vast shelves that the road was im-
passable for some time ; and so over to an
arable field on the other side, which was
strangely torn and disordered. The second
pasture field, being more soft and springy,
was protruded forward without many fis-
sures in the turf, which was raised in long
ridges resembling graves, lying at right
angles to the motion. At the bottom of
this enclosure the soil and turf rose many
fe^t against the bodies of some oaks that
obstructed their farther course and termi-
nated this awful commotion.

The perpendicular height of the preci-
pice, in general, is twenty- three yards ; the
length of the lapse, or slip, as seen from the
fiejds below, one hundred and eighty-one ;
aind a partial fall, concealed in the coppice,
extends seventy yards more : so that the
total length of this fragment that fell was
two hundred and fifty-one yards. About
fifty acres of land suffered from this violent
convulsion : two houses were entirely de-
stroyed ; one end of a new barn was left in
ruins, the walls being cracked through the

OF SELBORNE. 69

very stones that composed them ; a hang-
ing coppice was changed to a naked rock;
and some grass grounds and ah arable field
so broken and rifted by the chasms as to
be rendered, for a time, neither fit for the
plough or safe for pasturage, till consider-
able labour and expense had been bestowed
in levelling the surface and filling in the
gaping fissures.

LETTER XLVI.

TO THE SAME.

Selborne.

resonant arbusta-

1 HERE is a steep abrupt pasture field in-
terspersed with furze close to the back of
this village, well known by the name of
the Short Lithe, consisting of a rocky dry
soil, and inclining to the afternoon sun.
This spot abounds with the gryllus campes-
tris, or Jield- cricket ; which, though frequent

70 NATURAL HISTORY

in these parts, is by no means a common
insect in many other counties.

As their cheerful Summer cry cannot but
draw the attention of a naturalist, I have
often gone down to examine the oeconomy
of these grylli, and study their mode of life :
but they are so shy and cautious that it is
no easy matter to get a sight of them ; for,
feeling a person's footsteps as he advances,
they stop short in the midst of their song,
and retire backward nimbly into their bur-
rows, where they lurk till all suspicion of
danger is over.

At first we attempted to dig them out
with a spade, but without any great suc-
cess j for either we could not get to the
bottom of the hole, which often terminated
under a great stone ; or else in breaking up
the ground, we inadvertently squeezed the
poor insect to death. Out of one so bruised
we took a multitude of eggs, which were
long and narrow, of a yellow colour, and
covered with a very tough skin. By this
accident we learned to distinguish the male
from the female : the former of which is

OF SELBORNE. 71

shining black, with a golden stripe across

his shoulders ; the latter is more dusky,

more capacious about the abdomen, and

carries a long sword-shaped weapon at her

tail, which probably is the instrument with

which she deposits her eggs in crannies and

safe recepticles.

Where violent methods will not avail

>

more gentle means will often succeed ; and
so it proved in the present case ; for,
though a spade be too boisterous and rough
an implement, a pliant stalk of grass,
gently insinuated into the caverns, will
probe their windings to the bottom, and
quickly bring out the inhabitant ; and thus
the humane inquirer may gratify his curio-
sity without injuring the object of it. It
is remarkable that, though these insects are
furnished with long 'legs behind, and
brawny thighs for leaping, like grasshop-
pers ; yet when driven from their holes
they show no activity, but crawl along in a
shiftless manner, so as easily to be taken :
and again, though provided with a curious
apparatus of wings, yet they never exert

72 NATURAL HISTORY

them when there seems to be the greatest
occasion. The males only make that shrill-
ing noise, perhaps out of rivalry and emula-
tion, as is the case with many animals
which exert some sprightly note during
their breeding time : it is raised by a brisk
friction of one wing against the other.
They are solitary beings, living singly male
or female, each as it may happen; but
there must be a time when the sexes have
some intercourse, and then the wings may
be useful perhaps during the hours of night.
When the males meet they will fight fiercely,
as I found by some which I put into the
crevices of a dry stone wall, where I
should have been glad to have made them
settle. For though they seemed distressed
by being taken out of their knowledge,
yet the first that got possession of the
chinks would seize on any that were ob-
truded upon them with a vast row of ser-
rated fangs. With their strong jaws,
toothed like the shears of a lobster's claws,
they perforate and round their curious
regular cells, having no fore-claws to dig,

OF SELBORNK. 73

like the mole-cricket. When taken in hand
I could not but wonder that they never
offered to defend themselves, though armed
with such formidable weapons. Of such
herbs as grow before the mouths of their
burrows they eat indiscriminately ; and on
a little platform, which they make just by,
they drop their dung ; and, never, in the
day-time, seem to stir more than two or
three inches from home. Sitting in the
entrance of their caverns they chirp all
night as well as day from the middle of the
month of May to the middle of July ; and
in hot weather, when they are most vigor-
ous, they make the hills echo ; and, in the
stiller hours of darkness, may be heard to
a considerable distance. In the beginning
of the season their notes are more faint
and inward; but become louder as the
Summer advances, and so die away again
by degrees.

Sounds do not always give us pleasure
according to their sweetness and melody ;
nor do harsh sounds always displease.
We are more apt to be captivated or dis-

74 NATURAL HISTORY

gusted with the associations which they
promote, than with the notes themselves.
Thus the shriW'mg of thejfield-cricket, though
sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously de-
lights some hearers, filling their minds with
a train of Summer ideas of every thing that
is rural verdurous and joyous.

About the tenth of March the crickets
appear at the mouths of their cells, which
they then open and bore, and shape very
elegantly. All that ever I have seen at that
season were in their pupa state, and had
only the rudiments of wings lying under
a skin or coat, which must be cast before
the insect can arrive at its perfect state ;*
from whence I should suppose that the old
ones of last year do not always survive the
Winter. In August their holes begin to
be obliterated, and the insects are seen no
more till Spring.

Not many Summers ago I endeavoured
to transplant a colony to the terrace in my

* We have observed that they cast these skins in
April, which are then seen lying at the mouths of their
holes.

OF SELBORNE. 75

garden, by boring deep holes in the sloping
turf. The new inhabitants stayed some
time, and fed and sung; but wandered
away by degrees, and were heard at a far-
ther distance every morning ; so that it
appears that on this emergency they made
use of their wings in attempting to return
to the spot from which they were taken.

One of these crickets, when confined in
a paper cage and set in the sun, and sup-
plied with plants moistened with water,
will feed and thrive, and become so merry
and loud as to be irksome in the same
room where a person is sitting: if the
plants are not wetted it will die.

76 NATURAL HISTORY

LETTER XLVII.

TO THE SAME.

DEAR SIR ; Selbornb.

" Far from all resort of mirth
" Save the cricket on the hearth."

Milton's 11 Penseroso.

VV HiLE many other insects must be sought
after in fields and woods, and waters, the
gryllus domesticus, or house-cricket, resides
altogether within our dwellings, intruding
itself upon our notice whether we will or
no. This species delights in new-built
houses, being, like the spider, pleased with
the moisture of the walls ; and besides, the
softness of the mortar enables them to bur-
row and mine between the joints of the
bricks or stones, and to open communica-
tions from one room to another. They are
particularly fond of kitchens and bakers
ovens, on account of their perpetual
warmth.

OF SELBORNE. 77

Tender insects that live abroad either
enjoy only the short period of one Summer,
or else doze away the cold uncomfortable
months in profound slumbers ; but these,
residing as it were in a torrid zone, are
always alert and merry : a good Christmas
fire is to them like the heats of the dog-
days. Though they are frequently heard
by day, yet is their natural time of motion
only in the night. As soon as it grows
dusk, the chirping increases, and they come
running forth, and are from the size of a
flea to that of their full stature. As one
should suppose, from the burning atmo-
sphere which they inhabit, they area thirsty
race, and show a great propensity for liquids,
being found frequently drowned in pans of
water, milk, broth, or the like. Whatever
is moist they affect ; and, therefore, often
gnaw holes in wet woollen stockings and
aprons that are hung to the fire : they are
the house-wife's barometer, foretelling her
when it will rain ; and are prognostic some-
times, she thinks, of ill or good luck; of
the death of a near relation, or the approach

78 NATURAL HISTORY

of an absent lover. By being the constant
companions of her solitary hours they natu-
rally become the objects of her superstition.
These crickets are not only very thirsty, but
very voracious ; for they will eat the scum-
mings of pots, and yeast, salt, and crumbs
of bread ; and any kitchen offal or sweep-
ings. In the Summer we liave observed
them to fly, when it became dusk, out of
the windows, and over the neighbouring
roofs. This feat of activity accounts for
the sudden manner in which they often
leave their haunts, as it does for the
method by which they come to houses
where they were not known before. It is
remarkable, that many sorts of insects seem
never to use their wings but when they
have a mind to shift their quarters and
settle new colonies. When in the air they
move " volatu undoso,'' in waves or curves,
like wood-peckers, opening and shutting
their wings at every stroke, and so are
always rising or sinking.

When they increase to a great degree,
as they did once in the house where I am

OF SELBORNE. 79

now writing, they become noisome pests,
flying into the candles, and dashing into
people's faces; but may be blasted and
destroyed by gunpowder discharged into
their crevices and crannies. In families,
at such times, they are, like Pharaoh's
plague of frogs — ** in their bed-chambers
" and upon their beds, and in their ovens,
" and in their kneading-troughs."* Their
shrilling noise is occasioned by a brisk
attrition of their wings. Cats catch hearth-
crickets, and, playing with them as they
do with mice, devour them. Crickets may
be destroyed, like wasps, by phials half
filled with beer, or any liquid, and set in
their haunts ; for, being always eager to
drink, they will crowd in till the bottles
are full

* Exod. viii. 3.

80 NATURAL HISTORY

LETTER XLVIIL

TO THE SAME.

Selborne.

How diversified are the modes of life not
only of incongruous but even of congener-
ous animals ; and yet their specific distinc-
tions are not more various than their pro-
pensities. Thus, while the Jleld-cricket
delights in sunny dry banks, and the house-
cricket rejoices amidst the glowing heat of
the kitchen hearth or oven, the grillus
grillo talpa (the mole-cricket), haunts moist
meadows, and frequents the sides of ponds,
and banks of streams, performing all its
functions in a swampy wet soil. With a
pair of fore-feet, curiously adapted to the
purpose, it burrows and works under
ground like the mole, raising a ridge as
it proceeds, but seldom throwing up
hillocks.

OF SELBORNE. 81

As mole crickets often infest gardens by
the sides of canals, they are unwelcome
guests to the gardener, raising up ridges in
their subterraneous progress and rendering
the walks unsightly. If they take to the
kitchen quarters, they occasion great da-
mage among the plants and roots, by
destroying whole beds of cabbages, young
legumes, and flowers. When dug out they
seem very slow and helpless, and make no
use of their wings by day ; but at night
they come abroad, and make long excur-
sions, as I have been convinced by finding
stragglers, in a morning, in improbable
places. In fine weather, about the middle
of April, and just at the close of day, they
begin to solace themselves with a low, dull,
jarring note, continued for a long time
without interruption, and not unlike the
chattering of the fern-owl, or goat-sucker,
but more inward.

About the beginning of Mat/ they lay
their eggs, as I was once an eye witness ;
for a gardener at an house, where 1 was
on a visit, happening to be mowing, on the

VOL. II. ('

82 NATURAL HISTORY

6th of that month, by the side of a canal,
his scythe struck too deep, pared off a
large piece of turf, and laid open to view
a curious scene of domestic economy :

" ingentera lato dedit ore fenestram :

" Apparet domus intus, et atria longa patescunt :
*' Apparent penetralia."

There were many caverns and winding
passages leading to a kind of chamber,
neatly smoothed and rounded, and about
the size of a moderate snuff-box. Within
this secret nursery were deposited near an
hundred eggs of a dirty yellow colour, and
enveloped in a tough skin, but too lately
excluded to contain any rudiments of
young, being full of a viscous substance.
The eggs lay but shallow, and within the
influence of the sun, just under a little
heap of fresh-moved mould, like that which
is raised by ants.

When mole-crickets fly, they move ''cursu
undoso,'' rising and falling in curves, like
the other species mentioned before. In
different parts of this kingdom people call

OF SELBORNE. 83

them fen-crickets, churr -worms, and eve-
churrs, all very apposite names.

Anatomists, who have examined the
intestines of these insects, astonish me with
their accounts : for they say that, from the
structure, position, and number of their
stomachs, or maws, there seems to be good
reason to suppose that this and the two
former species ruminate or chew the cud
like many quadrupeds !

LETTER XLIX.

TO THE SAME,

Selborne, May 7, 1779.

It is now more than forty years that I
have paid some attention to the orni-
thology of this district, without being able
to exhaust the subject : new occurrences
still arise as long as any inquiries are kept
alive.

G 2

84 NATURAL HISTORY

In the last week of last month five of
those most rare birds, too uncommon to
have obtained an English name, but known
to naturalists by the terms of hi manlopus, or
loripes, dindcharadrius hima7ilopus,weYe shot
upon the verge of Frinsham-pond, a large
lake belonging to the bishop of Winchester,
and lying between Wo I mer forest, and the
to^Vioi Far nham, in the county of Surrey,
The pond-keeper says there were three
brace in the flock ; but that after he had
satisfied his curiosity, he suffered the sixth
to remain unmolested. One of these spe-
cimens I procured, and found the length of
the legs to be so extraordinary, that, at
first sight, one might have supposed the
shanks had been fastened on to impose on
the credulity of the beholder : they were
legs in caricatura ; and had we seen such
proportions on a Chinese or Japan screen
we should have made large allowances for
the fancy of the draughtsman. These birds
are of the plover family, and might with
propriety be called the stilt plovers. Bris»
son, under that idea, gives them the appo-

OF SELBORNE. 8o

site name of fechasse. ]\Iy specimen, when
drawn and stuffed with pepper, weighed
only four ounces and a quarter, though
the naked part of the thigh measured three
inches and a half, and the legs four inches,
and a half. Hence we may safely assert
that these birds exhibit, weight for inches
incomparably the greatest length of legs of
any known bird. The flamingo, for in-
stance, is one of the most long-legged birds,
and yet it bears no manner of proportion
to the himantopus ; for a cock flamingo
weighs, at an average, about four pounds
avoirdupois ; and his legs and thighs mea-
sure usually about twenty inches. But four
pounds are fifteen times and a fraction more
than four ounces, and one quarter ; and if
four ounces and a quarter have eight inches
of legs, four pounds must have one hun-
dred and twenty inches and a fraction of
legs ; viz, somewhat more than ten feet ;
such a monstrous proportion as the world
never saw ! If you should try the experi-
ment in still larger birds the disparity
would still increase. It must be matter of

86 NATURAL HISTORY

great curiosity to see the stilt plover move ;
to observe how it can wield such a length
of lever with such feeble muscles as the
thighs seem to be furnished with. At best
one should expect it to be but a bad
walker : but what adds to the wonder is,
that it has no back toe. Now without that
steady prop to support its steps it must be
liable, in speculation, to perpetual vacilla-
tions, and seldom able to preserve the true
center of gravity.

The old name of himantopus is taken
from Pliny ; and, by an awkward metaphor,
implies that the legs are as slender and
pliant as if cut out of a thong of leather.
Neither Willughby nor Ray, in all their cu-
yious researches, either at home or abroad,
ever saw this bird. Mr. Pennant never met
with it in all Great Britain, but observed
it often in the cabinets of the curious at
Paris. Hasselquist says that it migrates to
Egypt in the Autumn : and a most accurate
observer of Nature has assured me that he
has found it on the banks of the streams
in Andalusia,

OF SELBORNE. 87

Our writers record it to have been found
only twice in Great- Britain, From all these
relations it plainly appears that these long-
legged plovers are birds of South Europe
and rarely visit our island , and when they
do are wanderers and stragglers, and impel-
led to make so distant and northern an ex-
cursion from motives or accidents for which
w^e are not able to account. One thing
may fairly be deduced, that these birds
come over to us from the continent, since
nobody can suppose that a species not
noticed once in an age, and of such a
remarkable make, can constantly breed un-
observed in this kingdom.

LETTER L.

TO THE SAME

DEAR SIR; Selborne, April21, 1780,

The old Sussex tortoise, that I have men-
tioned to you so often, is become my pro-
perty. I dug it out of its Winter dormi-

88 NATURAL HISTORY

tory in March last, when it was enough
awakened to express its resentments by
hissing ; and, packing it in a box with
earth, carried it eighty miles in post chaises.
The rattle and hurry of the journey so per-
fectly roused it, that, when I turned it out
on a border, it walked twice down to the
bottom of my garden : however, in the
evening, the weather being cold, it buried
itself in the loose mould, and continues still
concealed.

As it will be under my eye, I shall now
have an opportunity of enlarging my ob-
servations on its mode of life, and propen-
sities; and perceive already that, towards
the time of coming forth, it opens a breath-
ing place in the ground near its head,
requiring, I conclude, a freer respiration
as it becomes more alive. This creature
not only goes under the earth from the
middle of November to the middle oi April,
but sleeps great part of the Summer ; for it
goes to bed in the longest days at four in
the afternoon, and often does not stir in
the morning till late. Besides, it retires

OF SELBORNE. 89

to rest for every shower; and does not
move at all in wet days.

When one reflects on the state of this
strange being, it is a matter of wonder, to
find that Providence should bestow such a
profusion of days, such a seeming waste of
longevity, on a reptile that appears to relish
it so little as to squander more than two
thirds of its existence in a joyless stupor,
and be lost to all sensation for months to-
gether in the profoundest of slumbers.

While I was writing this letter, a moist
and warm afternoon, with the thermometer
at 50, brought forth troops of shell-snails ;
and, at the same juncture, the tortoise
heaved up the mould and put out its head ;
and the next morning came forth, as it
were raised from the dead ; and walked
about till four in the afternoon. This was
a curious coincidence ! a very amusing oc-
currence ! to see such a similarity of feel-
ings between the two <p^ioiy.oi ! for so the
Greeks call both the shell-snail and the
tortoise.

Summer birds are, this cold and back-

90 NATURAL HISTORY

ward Spring, unusually late : I have seen
but one swallow yet. This conformity
with the weather convinces me more and
more that they sleep in the Winter.

More particulars respecting the old family
Tortoise,

Because we call this creature an abject
reptile, we are too apt to undervalue his
abilities, and depreciate his powers of in-
stinct. Yet he is, as Mr. Pope says of his
lord.

Much too wise to walk into a well :'

and has so much discernment as not to fall
down an haha : but to stop and withdraw
from the brink with the readiest precaution.

Though he loves warm weather he avoids
the hot sun ; because his thick shell, when
once heated, would, as the poet says of solid
armour — '* scald with safety." He there-
fore spends the more sultry hours under the
umbrella of a large cabbage leaf, or amidst
the waving forests of an asparagus-bed.

But as he avoids heat in the Summer, so.

\

OF SELBORNE. 91^

in the decline of the year, he improves the
faint autumnal beams, by getting within
the reflection of a fruit-wall : and, though
he never has read that planes inclining to
the horizon receive a greater share of
warmth,* he inclines his shell, by tilting it
against the wall, to collect and admit every
feeble ray.

Pitiable seems the condition of this poor
embarrassed reptile : to be cased in a suit
of ponderous armour, which he cannot lay
aside ; to be imprisoned, as it were, within
his own shell, must preclude, we should
suppose, all activity and disposition for en-
terprize. Yet there is a season of the year
(usually the beginning of June) when his
exertions are remarkable. He then walks
on tiptoe, and is stirring by five in the
morning ; and^ traversing the garden, ex-

* Several years ago a book was written entitled
" Fruit-walls improved by inclining tliem to the ho-
'' rizon :" in which the author has shown, by calcu*
lation, that a much greater number of the rays of the
sun will fall on such walls than on those which are
perpendicular.

92 NATURAL HISTORY

amines every wicket and interstice in the
fences, through which he will escape if
possible ; and often has eluded the care of
the gardener, and wandered to some distant
field. The motives that impel him to un-
dertake these rambles seem to be of the
amorous kind : his fancy then becomes in-
tent on sexual attachments, which trans-
port him beyond his usual gravity, and in-
duce him to forget for a time his x^rdinary
solemn deportment.

LETTER LI.

TO THE SAME.

Selborne, Sept. 3, 1781.

I HAVE now read your miscellanies through
with much care and satisfaction ; and am
to return you my best thanks for the
honourable mention made in them of me as
a naturalist, which I wish I may deserve.
In some former letters I expressed my

OF SELBORNE. 93

suspicions that many of the house-martins
do not depart in the Winter far from this
village. I therefore determined to make
some search about the south-east end of the
hill, where I imagined they might slumber
out the uncomfortable months of Winter.
But supposing that the examination would
be made to the best advantage in the Spring,
and observing that no martins had ap-
peared by the llth of April last; on that
day I employed some men to explore the
shrubs and cavities of the suspected spot.
The persons took pains, but without any
success ; however a remarkable incident
occurred in the midst of our pursuit —
while the labourers were at work a house-
martin, the first that had been seen this
year, came down the village in the sight of
several people, and went at once into a
nest, where it stayed a short time, and then
flew over the houses ; for some days after,
no martins were observed, not till the 16th
of April, and then only a pair. Martins in
general were remarkably late this year.

94 NATURAL HISTORY

LETTER LIL

TO THE SAME.

Selborne, Sept. 9, 1781.

I HAVE just met with a circumstance re-
specting swifts, which furnishes an excep-
tion to the whole tenor of my observations
ever since I have bestowed any attention
on that species of hirundines. Our swifts,
in general, withdrew this year about the
first day of August, all save one pair, which
in two or three days was reduced to a
single bird. The perseverance of this indi-
vidual made me suspect that the strongest
of motives, that of an attachment to her
young, could alone occasion so late a stay.
I watched therefore till the twenty-fourth
of August, and then discovered that, under
the eaves of the church, she attended upon
two young, which were fledged, and now
put out their white chins from a crevice.

OF SELBORNE. 95

These remained till the twenty-seventh,
looking more alert ^ very day, and seeming
to long to be on the wing. After this day
they v^ere missing at once ; nor could I
ever observe them w^ith their dam coursing-
round the church in the act of learning to
fly, as the first broods evidently do. On
the thirty-first I caused the eaves to be
searched, but we found in the nest only two
callow, dead, stinking swifts, on which a
second nest had been formed. This double
nest was full of the black shining cases of
the hippohosca hirundmis.

The following remarks on this unusual
incident are obvious. The first is, that
though it may be disagreeable to swifts to
remain beyond the beginning of August, yet
that they can subsist longer is undeniable.
The second is, that this uncommon event,
as it was owing to the loss of the first brood,
so it corroborates my former remark, that
swifts breed regularly but once ; since,
was the contrary the case, the occurrence
above could neither be new nor rare.

96 NATURAL HISTORY

P. S. One swift was seen at Lyndon, in
the county oi Rutland , in 1782, so late as
the third of September,

LETTER Ltll.

TO THE SAME<

As I have sometimes known you make in-
quiries about several kinds of insects, I
shall here send you an account of one sort
which I little expected to have found in
this kingdom. I had often observed that
one particular part of a vine growing on
the walls of my house was covered in the
Autumn with a black, dust-like appearance,
on which the flies fed eagerly ; and that
the shoots and leaves thus aflected did not
thrive : nor did the fruit ripen. To this
substance I applied my glasses ; but could
not discover that it had any thing to do
with animal life, as I at first expected :

OF SELBORNE. QJ

but, upon a closer examination behind the
larger boughs, we were surprised to find
that they were coated over with husky
shells, from whose sides proceeded a cot-
ton-like substance, surrounding a multi-
tude of eggs. This curious and uncommon
production put me upon recollecting what
I have heard and read concerning the coccus
vitis vinifercB of LinncBus^ which, in the
south of Europe^ infests many vines, and is
an horrid and loathsome pest. As soon as
I had turned to the accounts given of this
insect, I saw at once that it swarmed on
my vine ; and did not appear to have been
at all checked by the preceding Winter,
which had been uncommonly severe.

Not being then at all aware that it had
any thing to do with England, I was much
inclined to think that it came from Gib^
ra//ar among the many boxes and packages
of plants and birds which I had formerly
received from thence; and especially as
the vine infested grew immediately under
my study-window, where I usually kept
my specimens. True it is that I had re-

VOL. II. H

98 NATURAT. HISTORY

ceived nothing from thence for some years :
but as insects, we know, are conveyed
from one country to another in a very MUh
expected manner, and have a wonderful
power of maintaining their existence till
they fall into a nidus proper for their sup-
port and increase, I cannot but suspect still
that these cocci came to me originally from
Andalusia. Yet, all the while, candour
obliges me to confess that Mr. Lightfoot
has written me word, that he once, and but
once, saw these insects on a vine at Wey-
Tnouth in Dorsetshire ; which, it is here to
be observed, is a sea-port town to which the
coccus might be conveyed by shipping.

As many of my readers may possibly
never have heard of this strange and un-
usual insect, I shall here transcribe a pas-
sage from a natural history of Gibraltar^
written by the Reverend John White, late
tqcar of Blackburn in Lancashire, but not
yet published : —

"In the year 1770 a vine which grew

>* oh the east-side of my house, and which

^' had produced the finest crops of grapes

OF SELBORNE. 99

*^Tor years past, was suddenly overspread
" on all the woody branches with large
^' lumps of a white fibrous substance re-
*' sembling spiders webs, or rather raw
** cotton. It was of a very clammy quality,
*' sticking fast to every thing that touched
f* it, and capable of being spun into long
** threads. At first I suspected it to be the
" product of spiders, but could find none.
*' Nothing was to be seen connected with
" it but many ^roMJ/i oval huski/ shells, which
*' by no means looked like insects, but
'* rather resembled bits of the dry bark of
" the vine. The tree had a plentiful crop
** of grapes set, when this pest appeared
" upon it ; but the fruit was manifestly
** injured by this foul incumbrance. It
*' remained all the Summer, still increas-
*' ing^ and loaded the woody and bearing
** branches to a vast degree. I often pulled
^f off great quantities by handfuls ; but it
*' was so slimy and tenacious that it could
*' by no means he cleared. The grapes
*' never filled to their natural perfection,
:** biat turned watery and vapid. Upon
11 2

IGO NATURAL HISTORY

*' perusing the works afterwards of M. de
*' Reaumur, I found this matter perfectly
** described and accounted for. Those
" husky shells, which I had observed, were
" no other than the female (wccus, from
" whose sides this cotton-like substance
** exudes, and serves as a covering and
*' security for their eggs."

To this account I think proper to add,
that, though the female cocci are stationary,
and seldom remove from the place to which
they stick, yet the male is a winged insect ;
and that the black dust which I saw was
undoubtedly the excrement of the females,
which is eaten by ants as Avell as flies.
Though the utmost severity of our Winter
did not destroy these insects, yet the atten-
tion of the gardener in a Summer or two,
has entirely relieved my vine from this
filthy annoyance.

As we have remarked above that insects
are often conveyed from one country to
another in a very unaccountable manner, I
shall here mention an emigration of small
aphides, which was observed in the village

OF SELBOIINE. IQl

of Selborne no longer ago than August the
1st, 1785.

At about' three o'clock in the afternoon
of that day, which was very hot, the people
of this village was surprised by a shower
of aphides, or smother-flies, which fell in
these parts. Those that were walking in
the street at that juncture found themselves
covered, with these insects, which settled
also on the hedges and gardens, blacken-
ing all the vegetables where they alighted.
My annuals were discoloured with them,
and the stalks of a bed of onions were
quite coated over for six days after. These
armies were then, no doubt, in a state of
emigration, and shifting their quarters ;
and might have come, as far as we know,
from the great hop-plantations of Kent or
Sussex, the wind being all that day in the
easterly quarter. They were observed at
the same time in great clouds about Farn-
ham, and all along the lane from Farnham
to Alton*

* For various methods by which several insects shift
iheir quarters, sse Derham's Physico-Theology.

102 NATURAL HISTORY

LETTER LIV.

TO THE SAME.

DEAR SIR;

When I happen to visit a family where
gold and silver-fishes are kept in a glass
bowl, I am always pleased with the occur-
rence, because it offers me an opportunity
of observing the actions and propensities
of those beings with whom we can belittle
acquainted in their natural state. Not
long since I spent a fortnight at the house
of a friend where there was such a vivary,
to which I paid no small attention, taking
every occasion to remark what passed with-
in its narrow limits. It was here that I
first observed the manner in which fishes
die. As soon as the creature sickens, the
head sinks lower and lower, and it stands
as it were on its head ; till, getting weaker,
and losing all poise, the tail turns over,
and at last it floats on the surface of the

OF SELBORNE. 103

water with its belly uppermost. The rea^
son why fishes, when dead, swim in that
manner is very obvious ; because, when the
body is no longer balanced by the fins of
the belly, the broad muscular back prepon-
derates by its own gravity, and turns the
belly uppermost, as lighter from its being
a cavity, and because it contains the swim-
ming-bladders, which contribute to render
it buoyant. Some that delight in gold and
silver jfishes have adopted a notion that they
need no aliment. True it is that they will
subsist for a long time without any appa-
rent food but what they can collect from
pure water frequently changed ; yet they
must draw some support from animalcula,
and other nourishment supplied by the
water ; because, though they seem to eat
nothing, yet the consequences of eating
.often drop from them. That they are best
pleased with such jejune diet may easily be
confuted, since if you toss them crumbs
they will seize them with great readiness,
not to say greediness : however, bread
should be given sparingly, lest, turning

104 NATURAL HISTORY

sour, it corrupt the water. They will also
feed on the water-plant called lemna (duck's
meat), and also on small fry.

"When they want to move a little they
gently protrude themselves with \he\v pinncB
pectorales\ but it is with their strong mus-
cular tails only that they and all fishes shoot
along with such inconceivable rapidity. It
has been said that the eyes of fishes are
immoveable : but these apparently turn
them forward or backward in their sockets
as their occasions require. They take little
notice of a lighted candle, though applied
close to their heads, but flounce and seem
much frightened by a sudden stroke of the
hand against the support whereon the bowl
is hung ; especially when they have been
motionless, and are perhaps asleep. As
fishes have no eyelids, it is not easy to
discern when they are sleeping or not, be-
cause their eyes are always open.

Nothing can be more amusing than a
glass bowl containing such fishes : the dou-
ble refractions of the glass and water repre-
sent them, when moving, in a shifting and

OF SELBORNE. 105

changeable variety of dimensions, shades,
and colours: while the two mediums,
assisted by the concavo-convex shape of
the vessel, magnify and distort them vastly;
not to mention that the introduction of
another element and its inhabitants into
our parlours engages the fancy in a very
agreeable manner.

Gold and silver fishes, though originally
natives of China and Japan, yet are be-
come so well reconciled to our climate as
to thrive and multiply very fast in our
ponds and stews. Linnceus ranks this
species offish under the genus of ci/prinus,
or carp, and calls it cyprinus auratus.

Some people exhibit this sort of fish in a
very fanciful way ; for they cause a glass
bowl to be blown with a large hollow space
within, that does not communicate with it.
In this cavity they put a bird occasionally ;
so that you may see a goldfinch or a linnet
hopping as it were in the midst of the
water, and the fishes swimming in a circle
round it. The simple exhibition of the
fishes is agreeable and pleasant ; but in

106 NATURAL HISTORY

§0 corriplicated a way becomes whimsical
and unnatural, and liable to the objection
due to him,

" Qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam."

I am, &c.

LETTER LV.

TO THE SAME

' DEAR SIR; October 10, 1781.

I THINK I have observed before, that much
the most considerable part of the house-
martins withdraw from hence about the
first. week in October; but that some, the
latter broods, I am now convinced, linger
on till towards the middle of that month ;
and that at times, once perhaps in two or
three years, a flight, for one day only, has
shown itself in the first week in November.
Having taken notice, in October, 1780,

. OF SELBORNE. 107

that the last flight was numerous, amount-
ing perhaps to one hundred and fifty ; and
that the season was soft and still ; I was
resolved to pay uncommon attention to
these late birds ; to find, if possible, where
they roosted, and to determine the precise
time of their retreat. The mode of life of
tJiese latter hirundines is very favourable to
such a design : for they spend the whole
day in the sheltered district, between me
and the Hanger, sailing about in a placid,
easy manner, and feasting on those insects
which love to haunt a spot so secure from
ruffling winds. As my principal object
was to discover the place of their roosting,
I took care to wait on them before they
retired to rest, and was much pleased to
find that, for several evenings together, just
at a quarter past five in the afternoon, they
all scudded away in great haste towards
the south east, and darted down among
the low shrubs above the cottages at
the end of the hill. This spot in many
respects seems to be well calculated for
their winter residence : for in many parts

108 NATURAL HISTORY

it is as steep as the roof of any house, and
therefore secure from the annoyances of
water; and it is moreover clothed with
beechen shrubs, which, being stunted and
bitten by sheep, make the thickest covert
imaginable ; and are so entangled as to be
impervious to the smallest spaniel : besides,
it is the nature of underwood beech never
to cast its leaf all the winter; so that,
with the leaves on the ground and those
on the twigs, no shelter can be more com-
plete. I watched them on to the thirteenth
9,nd fourteenth of October, and found their
evening retreat was exact and uniform :
but after this they made no regular appear-
ance. Now and then a straggler was seen ;
and, on the twenty-second of Octoher, I
observed two, in the morning, over the vil-
lage, and with them my remarks for the
season ended.

From all these circumstances put toge-
ther, it is more than probable that this
lingering flight, at so late a season of the
year, never departed from the island. Had
they indulged me that Autumn with a Nor

OF SELBORNE. 109

vemher visit, as I much desired, I presume
that with proper assistants, I should have
settled the matter past all doubt; but
though the third of November w^as a sw^eet
day, and in appearance exactly suited to
my w^ishes, yet not a martin w^as to be
seen ; and so I was forced reluctantly, to
give up the pursuit.

I have only to add that were the bushes,
which cover some acres, and are not my
own property, to be grubbed and carefully
examined, probably those late broods, and
perhaps the whole aggregate body of the
house-martins of this district, might be
found there, in different secret dormito-
ries ; and that, so far from withdrawing
into warmer climes, it would appear that
they never depart three hundred yards
from the village.

110 NATtJRAL IirsTORir

LETTER LVI.

TO THE SAME.

They who write on natural history can-
not too frequent advert to instinct, that
wonderful limited faculty, which, in some
instances, raises the brute creation as it
were. above reason, and in others leaves
them so far below it. Philosophers have
defined instinct to be that secret influence
by which every species is impelled natu-
rally to pursue, at all times, the same
way or track, without any teaching or ex-
ample ; whereas reason, without instruction,
would often vary and do that by many
methods which instinct effects by one alone.
Now thi s maxim must be taken in a qualified
sense ; for there are instances in which m-
stinct does vary and conform to the circum-
stances of place and convenience..

It has been remarked that every species
of bird has a mode of nidifi cation peculiar

OF SELBORNE. Ill

to itself; so that a school-boy would al
once pronounce on the sort of nest before
him. This is the case among fields and
woods, and wilds ; but, in the villages
round London, where mosses and gossamer^
and cotton from vegetables, are hardly to
be found, the nest of the chaffinch has not
that elegant finished appearance, nor is it
so beautifully studded with lichens, as iri
a more rural district; and the wren is
obliged to construct its house with straws
and dry grasses, which do not give it that
rotundity and compactness so remarkable
in the edifices of that little architect.
Again, the regular nest of the house-martin
is hemispheric ; but where a rafter, or a
joist, or a cornice, may happen to stand m
the way, the nest is so contrived as to con-
form to the obstruction, and becomes flat
or oval, or compressed.

In the following instances instinct is per^
fectly uniform and consistent. There are
three creatures, the squirrel, ihejield-mouse,
and the bird called the nut-hatch (sitta
Eiirajxs), which live much on hazel-nuts ;

112 NATURAL HISTORY

and yet they open them each in a different
way. The first after rasping off the small
end, splits the shell in two with his long
fore teeth, as a man does with his knife ;
the second nibbles a hole with his teeth,
so regular as if drilled with a wimble, and
yet so small that one would wonder how
the kernel can be extracted through it ;
while the last picks an irregular ragged
hole with its bill : but as this artist has
no paws to hold the nut firm while he
pierces it, like an adroit workman, he fixes
it, as it were in a vice, in some cleft of a
tree, or in some crevice; when, standing
over it, he perforates the stubborn shell.
We have often placed nuts in the chink
of a gate-post where nut-hatches have been
known to haunt, and have always found
that those birds have readily penetrated
them. While at work they make a rapping
noise that may be heard at a considerable
distance.

You that understand both the theory and
practical part of music may best inform us
why harmony or melody should so strangely

OP SELBORNE. 113

affect some men, as it were by recollection,

for days after a concert is over. What I

mean the following passage will most

readily explain :

" Prsehabebat porr6 vocibus humanis,

'* instrumentisque harmonicis musicam il-

*' lam avium : non quod ali^ quoque non

" delectaretur ; sed quod ex music^ hu-

** mana relinqueretur in animo continens

" quaedam, attentionemque et somnum

" conturbans agitatio ; dum ascensus, ex-

*' scensus, tenores, ac mutationes illae sono-

" rum, et consonantiarum euntque, red-

" euntque per phantasiam : — cum nihil tale

*' relinqui possit et modulationibus avium,

" quae, quod non sunt perinde a nobis

" imitabiles, non possunt perinde internam

*' facultatem-commovere/^
'■■*■
Gassendus in Vita Peireskii.

This curious quotation strikes me much

by so well representing my own case, and

by describing what I have so often felt,

but never could so well express. When I

hear fine music I am haunted with passages

therefrom night and day ; and especially

VOL. II. I

114 NATURAL HISTORY

at first waking, which, by their importu-
nity, give me more uneasiness than plea-
sure : elegant lessons still tease my imagi-
nation, and recur irresistibly to my recollec-
tion at seasons, and even when I am desir-
ous of thinking of more serious matters.

I am, &c.

LETTER LVIL

TO THE SAME.

A RARE, and I think a new, little bird
frequents my garden, which I have great
reason to think is the pettichaps : it is com-
mon in some parts of the kingdom ; and I
have received formerly several dead spe-
cimens from Gibraltar, This bird much
resembles the white-throat, but has a more
white or rather silvery breast and belly ;
is restless and active, like the willow-wrens
and hops from bough to bough, examining
every part for food; it also runs up the

OF SELBORNE. 115

stems of the crown-imperials, and, putting
its head into the bells of those flowers, sips
the liquor which stands in the nectarium of
each petal. Sometimes it feeds on the
ground like the hedge-sparrow , by hopping
about on the grass-plots and mown walks.
One of my neighbours, an intelligent and
observing man, informs me that, in the
beginning of May, and about ten minutes
before eight o'clock in the evening, he dis-
covered a great cluster of house-.^wallows,
thirty at least he supposes, perching on a
willow that hung over the verge of James
Knighfs upper pond. His attention was
first drawn by the twittering of these birds,
which sat motionless in a row on the
bough, with their heads all one way, and,
by their weight, pressing down the twig
so that it nearly touched the water. In
this situation he watched them till he could
see no longer. Repeated accounts of this
sort. Spring and fall, induce us greatly to
suspect that house-swallows have some
strong attachment to water, independent
of the matter of food ; and, though they
I 2

116 NATURAL HISTORY

may not retire into that element, yet they
may conceal themselves in the banks of
pools and rivers during the uncomfortable
months of Winter.

One of the keepers of Wolmer-forest sent
me a peregrine falcon, which he shot on the
verge of that district as it was devouring a
wood-pigeon. The falco peregrinus, or
haggard falcon, is a noble species of hawk
seldom seen in the southern counties. In
Winter 1767 one was killed in the neigh-
bouring parish of Faringdon, and sent by
me to Mr. Pennant into North Wales.*
Since that time I have met with none till
now. The specimen mentioned above was
in fine preservation, and not injured by
the shot : it measured forty-two inches
from wing to wing, and twenty-one from
beak to tail, and weighed two pounds and
a half standing weight. This species is
very robust, and wonderfully formed for
rapine : its breast was plump and muscular ;
its thighs long, thick, and brawny; and
its legs remarkably short and well-set : the
* See my tenth and eleventh letter to that gentleman.

OF SELBORNE. 1 1?

feet were armed with most formidable,
sharp, long talons : the eyelids and cere of
the bill were yellow ; but the irides of the
eyes dusky ; the beak was thick and hooked,
and of a dark colour, and had a jagged
process near the end of the upper mandible
on each side : its tail, or train, was short
in proportion to the bulk of its body : yet
the wings, when closed, did not extend to
the end of the train. From its large and
fair proportions it might be supposed to
have been a female ; but I was not per-
mitted to cut open the specimen. For one
of the birds of prey, which are usually
lean, this was in high case : in its craw-
were many barley-corns, which probably
came from the crop of the wood-pigeon,
on which it was feeding when shot : for
voracious birds do not eat grain ; but, when
devouring their quarry, with undistinguish-
ing vehemence swallow bones and feathers,
and all matters, indiscriminately. This
falcon was probably driven from the moun-
tains of North Wales or Scotland^ where

118 NATURAL HISTORY

they are known to breed, by rigorous
weather and deep snows that had lately
fallen I am, &e.

LETTER LVIII.

TO THE SAME.

My near neighbour, a young gentleman
in the service of the East India Company,
has brought home a dog and a bitch of the
Chinese breed from Canton ; such as are
fattened in that country for the purpose
of being eaten ; they are about the size
of a moderate spaniel ; of a pale yellow
colour, with coarse bristling hairs on their
backs ; sharp upright ears, and peaked
heads which give them a very fox-like
appearance. Their hind legs are unusually
straight, without any bend at the hock or
ham, to such a degree as to give them an
awkward gait when they trot. When they

OF SELBORJSTE. 119

are in motion their tails are curved high
over their backs like those of some hounds,
and have a bare place each on the outside
from the tip midw^ay, that does not seem to
be matter of accident, but somewhat sin-
gular. Their eyes are jet-black, small, and
piercing ; the insides of their lips and
mouths of the same colour, and their
tongues blue. The bitch has a devv^-claw
on each hind leg ; the dog has none. When
taken out into a field the bitch showed
some disposition for hunting, and dwelt oil
the scent of a covey of partridges till she
sprung them, giving her tongue all the
time. The dogs in South America are dumb ;
but these bark much in a short thick man-
ner, like foxes; and have a surly, 'savage
demeanor like their ancestors, which are
not domesticated, but bred up in sties,
where they are fed for the table with rice-
meal and other farinaceous food. These
dogs, having been taken on board as soon
as weaned, could not learn much from their
dam ; yet they did not relish flesh when
they came to England, In the islands of

120 NATURAL IIISTORV

the Pacific ocean the dogs are bred up on
vegetables, and would not eat flesh when
offered them by our circumnavigators.

We believe that all dogs, in a state of
nature, have sharp, upright, fox-like ears ;
and that hanging ears, which are esteemed
so graceful, are the effect of choice breed-
ing and cultivation. Thus, in the Travels
of Ysbrandt Ides from Muscovy to China,
the dogs which draw the Tartars on snow-
sledges near the river Oby are engraved
with prick-ears, like those from Canton.
The Kamschatdales also train the same sort
of sharped-eared peaked-nosed dogs to draw
their sledges ; as may be seen in an elegant
print engraved for Captain Cook's last
voyage round the world.

Now we are upon the subject of dogs, it
may not be impertinent to add, that spa-
niels, as all sportsmen know, though they
hunt partridges and pheasants as it were
by instinct, and with much delight and
alacrity, yet will hardly touch their bones
when offered as food ; nor will a mongrel
dog of my own, though he is remarkable

OF SELBORNE. 121

for finding that sort of game. But, when
we came to offer the bones of partridges
to the two Chinese dogs, they devoured
them with much greediness, and licked the
platter clean

No sporting dogs will flush woodcocks
till inured to the scent and trained to the
sport, which they then pursue with vehe-
mence and transport ; but then they will
not touch their bones, but turn from them
with abhorrence, even when they are
hungry.

Now, that dogs should not be fond of the
bones of such birds as they are not dis-
posed to hunt is no wonder ; but why they
reject and do not care to eat their natural
game is not so easily accotmted for, since
the end of hunting seems to be, that the
chase pursued should be eaten. Dogs again
will not devour the more rancid water-
fowls, nor indeed the bones of any wild-
fowls ; nor will they touch the foetid bodies
of birds that feed on offal and garbage :
and indeed there may be somewhat of pro-
vidential instinct in this circumstance of

J22 NATURAL HISTORY

dislike; for vultures,* and kites, and ravens,
and crows, &c. were intended to be mess-
mates with dogsl over their carrion ; and
seem to be appointed by Nature as fellow-
scavengers to remove all cadaverous nui-
sances from the face of the earth.

I am, &c.

LETTER LIX.

TO THE SAME.

The fossil wood buried in the bogs of
Wolmer-forest is not yet all exhausted ; for
the peat-cutterj5 now and then stumble upon
a log. I have just seen a piece which was
sent by a labourer of Oakhanger to a car-

* Hasselquist, in his Travels to the Levantj observes
that the dogs and vultures at Grand Cairo maintain
such a friendly intercourse as to bring up their young
together in the same place.

t The Chinese word for a dog to an European ear
sounds like quihloh.

OF SELBORNE. 123

penter of this village ; this was the but-
end of a small oak, about five feet long, and
about five inches in diameter. It had ap-
parently been severed from the ground by
an axe, was very ponderous, and as black
as ebony. Upon asking the carpenter for
v^hat purpose he had procured it, he told
me that it was to be sent to his brother,
a joiner at Farnham, who was to make use
of it in cabinet work, by inlaying it along
with whiter woods.

Those that are much abroad on evenings
after it is dark, in Spring and Summer, fre-
quently hear a nocturnal bird passing by
on the wing, and repeating often a short
quick note. This bird I have remarked
myself, but never could make out till
lately. I am assured now that it is the
Slone'Curlew(charadriusoedicnemus), Some
of them pass over or near my house almost
every evening after it is dark, from the up-
lands of the hill and North Jield, away
down towards Dorion ; where, among the
streams and meadows, they find a greater
plenty of food. Birds that fly by night are

124 NATURAL HISTORY

obliged to be noisy ; their notes often re-
peated become signals or watch words to
keep them together, that they may not stray
or lose each other in the dark.

The evening proceedings and manoeuvres
of the rooks are curious and amusing in
the Autumn. Just before dusk they return
in long strings from the foraging of the
day, and rendezvous by thousands over
Selborne-dowriy where they wheel round in
the air, and sport and dive in a playful
manner, all the while exerting their voices,
and making a loud cawing, which, being
blended and softened by the distance that
we at the village are below them, becomes
a confused noise or chiding ; or rather a
pleasing murmur, very engaging to the
imagination, and not unlike the cry of a
pack of hounds in hollow, echoing woods,
or the rushing of the wind in tall trees, or
the tumbling of the tide upon a pebbly
shore. When this ceremony is over, with
the last gleam of day, they retire for the
night to the deep beechen woods of Tisted
and Ropley, We remember a little girl who,

OF SELBORNE. 123

as she was going to bed, used to remark on
such an occurrence, in the true spirit of
phy sic 0- theology, that the rooks were saying
their prayers ; and yet this child was much'
too young to be aware that the scriptures
have said of the Deity — that '* he feedeth
the ravens who call upon him/'

I am, &c.

LETTER LX.

TO THE SAME,

In reading Dr. Huxham^s Ohservationes de
Aire, &c. written at Plymouth, I find by
those curious and accurate remarks, which
contain an account of the weather from
the year 1727 to the year 1748, inclusive,
that though there is frequent rain in that
d\.s,tx\ctoi Devonshire, yet the quantity fall-
ing is not great ; and that some years it
has been very small : for in 1731 the rain
measured only 17^"^^— 266*'^'^\ and in 1741,
20—354; and again in 1743 only 20— 908-

126 NATURAL HISTORY

Places near the sea have frequent scuds,
that keep the atmosphere moist, yet do
not reach far up into the country ; making
thus the maritime situations appear wet,
when the rain is not considerable. In the
wettest years at Plymouth the doctor mea-
sured only once 36 ; and again once, viz.
1734, 37 — 114 : a quantity of rain that has
twice been exceeded at Selborne in the short
period of my observations. Dr. Huxham
remarks, that frequent small rains keep the
air moist ; while heavy ones render it more
dry, by beating down the vapours. He is
also of opinion that the dingi/^ smoky appear-
ance in the sky, in very dry seasons, arises
from the want of moisture sufficient to let
the light through, and render the atmo-
sphere transparent ; because he had ob-
served several bodies more diaphanous
when wet than dry; and did never recollect
that the air had that look in rainy seasons.
My friend, who lives just beyond the top
of the down, brought his three swivel guns
to try them in my outlet, with their muz-
zles towards the Hanger^ supposing that

OF SELBORNE. 127

the report would have had a great effect ;
but the experiment did not answer his
expectation. He then removed them to
the A /cove on the Hanger; when the sound,
rushing along the Lythe and Comb-wood,
was very grand : but it was at the Hermit-
age that the echoes and repercussions de-
lighted the hearers ; not only filling the
Lythe with the roar, as if all the beeches
were tearing up by the roots ; but turning
to the left, they pervaded the vale above
Comhwood ponds ; and after a pause seemed
to take up the crash again, and to extend
round Harteley hangers, and to die away
at last among the coppices and coverts of
Ward-le-ham, It has been remarked before
that this district is an anathoth, a place of
responses or echoes, and therefore proper
for such experiments : we may farther add
that the pauses in echoes, when they cease
and yet are taken up again, like the pauses
in music, surprise the hearers, and have a
fine effect on the imagination.

The gentleman above-mentioned has just
fixed a barometer in his parlour at Newton

128 ' NATURAL HISTORY

Valence. The tube was first filled here (at
Selborne) twice with care, when the mer-
cury agreed and stood exactly with my own;
but being filled again twice at Newton, the
mercury stood, on account of the great
elevation of that house, three-tenths of an
inch lower than the barometers at this vil-
lage, and so continues to do, be the weight
of the atmosphere what it may. The plate
of the barometer at Newton is figured as
low as 27 ; because in stormy weather the
mercury there will sometimes descend be-
low 28. We have supposed Newton-house
to stand two hundred feet higher than this
house : but if the rule holds good, which
says that mercury in a barometer sinks one-
tenth of an inch for every hundred feet
elevation, then the Newton barometer, by
standing three-tenths lower than that of
Selborne, proves that Newton-house must be
three hundred feet higher than that in
which I am writing, instead of two hun-
dred.

It may not be impertinent to add, that
the barometers at Selborne stand three-

OF SELBORNE. 139

tenths of an inch lower than the barometers
at South Lambeth ; whence we may con-
clude that the former place is about three
hundred feet higher than the latter ; and
with good reason, because the streams that
rise with us run into the Thames at Wey-
bridge, and so to London, Of course there-
fore there must be lower ground all the
way from Selborne to South Lambeth ; the
distance between which, all the windings
and indentings of the streams considered,
cannot be less than an hundred miles.

I am, &c.

LETTI;R LXL

TO THE SAME.

Since the weather of a district is un-
doubtedly part of its natural history, I
shall make no further apology for the four
following letters, which will contain many
particulars concerning some of the great

VOL. II K

l3i&r NATtfK AL HISTORY

frosts and a few respecting some very hot
Summers, that have distinguished them-
selves from the rest during the course of
my observations.

As the frost in January 1768 was, for the
small time it lasted, the most severe that
we had then known for many years, and
was remarkably injurious to ever-greens,
some account of its rigour, and reason of
its ravages, may be useful, and not unac-
ceptable to persons that delight in plant-
ing and ornamenting ; and may particu-
larly become a work that professes never
to lose sight of utility.

For the last two or three days of the
former year there were considerable falls of
snow, which lay deep and uniform on the
ground without any drifting, wrapping up
the more humble vegetation in perfect se-
curity. From the first day to the fifth of
the n^w year more snow succeeded ; but
from that day the air became entirely
dear ; and the heat of the sun about noon
had a considerable influence in sheltered
situations.

OF SELBORNE. 131

It was in such an aspect that the snow
on the author's ever-greens was melted
every day, and frozen intensely every night ;
so that the laurustines, bays, laurels, and
arbutuses, looked, in three or four days, as
if they had been burnt in the fire ; while a
neighbour's plantation of the same kind,
in a high cold situation, where the snow
was never melted at all, remained un-
injured.

From hence I would infer that it is the
repeated melting and freezing of the snow
that is so fatal to vegetation, rather than
the severity of the cold. Therefore it
highly behoves every planter, who wishes
to escape the cruel mortification of losing
in a few days the labour and hopes of
years, to bestir himself on such emergen-
cies ; and, if his plantations are small, to
avail himself of mats, cloths, pease-haum,
straw, reeds or any such covering, for a
short time ; or if his shrubberies are ex-
tensive, to see that his people go about with
prongs and forks, and carefully dislodge
the snow from the boughs : since the naked
K 2

132 NATURAL HISTORY

foliage will shift much better for itself, than
where the snow is partly melted and frozen
again.

It may perhaps appear at first like a para-
dox ; but doubtless the more tender trees
and shrubs should never be planted in hot
aspects ; not only for the reason assigned
above, but also because,thus circumstanced,
they are disposed to shoot earlier in the
Spring, and to grow on later in the Au-
tumn than they would otherwise do, and
so are sufferers by lagging or early frosts.
For this reason also plants from Siberia will
hardly endure our climate : because, on the
very first advances of Spring, they shoot
away, and so are cut off by the severe
nights of March or ApriL
- Dr. Fothergill and others have expe-
rienced the same inconvenience with re-
spect to the more tender shrubs ivom North--
America; which they therefore plant under
north-walls. There should also perhaps be
a wall to the east to defend them from the
piercing blasts from that quarter.

This observation might without any im-

OF SELBORNE. 133

propriety be carried into animal life ; for
discerning bee-masters now find that their
hives should not in the Winter be exposed
to the hot sun, because such unseasonable
warmth awakens the inhabitants too early
from their slumbers ; and, by putting their
juices into motion too soon, subjects them
afterwards to inconveniences when rigor-
ous weather returns.

The coincidents attending this short but
intense frost were, that the horses fell sick
with an epidemic distemper, which injured
the winds of many, and killed some ; that
colds and coughs were general among the
human species ; that it froze under people's
beds for several nights ; that meat was so
hard frozen that it could not be spitted, and
could not be secured but in cellars ; that
several redwings and thrushes were killed
by the frost ; and that the large titmouse
continued to pull straws lengthwise from
the eaves of thatched houses and barns in
a most adroit manner, for a purpose that
has been explained already.*

* See Letter xli to Mr. Pennant.

134 NATURAL HISTORY

On the 3rd of January, Benjamin Mar-
tifis thermometer within doors, in a close
parlour where there was no fire, fell in the
night to 20, and on the 4th to 1 8, and on
the 7th to 17|-, a degree of cold which the
owner never since saw in the same situa-
tion ; and he regrets much that he was not
able at that juncture to attend his instru-
ment abroad. All this time the wind con-
tinued north and north-east ; and yet on
the 8th roost-cocks, which had been silent,
began to sound their clarions, and crows to
clamour as prognostic of milder weather ;
and, moreover, moles began to heave and
work, and a manifest thaw took place.
From the latter circumstance we may con-
clude that thaws often originate under
ground from warm vapours which arise,
else how should subterraneous animals re-
ceive such early intimations of their ap-
proach. Moreover, we have often observed
that cold seems to descend from above ;
for, when a thermometer hangs abroad in
a frosty night, the intervention of a cloud
shall immediately raise the mercury ten

OF SELBORNE. 135

degrees ; and a clear sky shall again compel
it to descend to its former gage.

And here it may be proper to observe,
on what has been said above, that though
frosts advance to their utmost severity by
somewhat of a regular gradation, yet thaws
do not usually come on by as regular a de.^
clension of cold ; but often take place im-
mediately from intense freezing; as men
in sickness often mend at once from a pa^
roxyism.

To the great credit of Portugal laurels
and y^mmca/i junipers, be it remembered
that they remained untouched amidst the
general havock : hence men should learn
to ornament chiefly with such trees as are
able to withstand accidental severities, and
not subject themselves to the vexation of
a loss which may befal them once perhaps
in ten years, yet may hardly be recovered
through the whole course of their lives.

As it appeared afterwards the ilexes

were much injured, the cypresses were

half destroyed, the arbutuses lingered on,

.but never recovered ; and the bays, lau-

136 NATURAL HISTORY

rustines, and laurels, were killed to the
ground ; and the very wild hollies, in hot
aspects, were so much affected that they
cast all their leaves.

By the 14th of January the snow was
entirely gone; the turnips emerged not
damaged at all, save in sunny places ; the
wheat looked delicately, and the garden
plants were well preserved ; for snow is
the most kindly mantle that infant vege-
tation can be wrapped in : were it not for
that friendly meteor no vegetable life
could exist at all in northerly regions.
Yet in Sweden the earth in April is not
divested of snow for more than a fortnight
before the face of the country is covered
with flowers.

OF SELBORNE. 137

LETTER LXII.

TO THE SAME.

There were some circumstances attend-
ing the remarkable frost in January 1776
so singular and striking, that a short detail
of them may not be unacceptable.

The most certain way to be exact will
be to copy the passages from my journal,
which were taken from time to time as
things occurred. But it may be proper
previously to remark, that the first week in
January was uncommonly wet, and drown-
ed with vast rains from every quarter : from
whence may be inferred, as there is great
reason to believe is the case, that intense
frosts seldom take place till the earth is per-
fectly glutted and chilled with water;*

* The Autumn preceding January I768 was very
wet, and particularly the month of September , during
which there fell at Lyndon, in the county of Rutland,
six inches and an half of rain. And the terrible long
frost in 1739-40 set in after a rainy season, and when
the springs were very high,

138 NATUKAL HISTORY

and hence dry Autumns are seldom fol-
lowed by rigorous Winters.

January 7th. — Snow driving all the day,
which was followed by frost, sleet, and
some snow, till the 12th, when a prodigious
^mass overwhelmed all the works of men,
drifting over the tops of the gates and fil^
ling the hollaw lanes.

On the 14th the writer was obliged to
be much abroad ; and thinks he never be-
fore or since has encountered such rugged
Siberian weather. Many of the narrow
roads were now filled above the tops of
the hedges ; through which the snow was
driven into most romantic and grotesque
shapes, so striking to the imagination as
not to be seen without wonder and plea-
sure. The poultry dared not to stir out
of their roosting places ; for cocks and
hens are so dazzled and confounded by
the glare of snow, that they would soon
perish, without assistance. The hares also
lay sullenly in their seats, and would not
move till compelled by hunger ; being con-
scious, poor animals, that the drifts and

OF SELBORNE. 139

heaps treacherously betray their footsteps,
a:nd prove fatal to numbers of them.

From the 14th the snow continued to
increase, and began to stop the road wag-
gons and coaches, which could no longer
keep on their regular stages ; and especially
on the western roads, where the fall ap-
pears to have been deeper than in the
south. The company at Bath, that wanted
to attend Xh^Queens birth-day, were strange-
ly incommoded : many carriages of persons
who got in their way to town from Bath
as far as Marlborough, after strange em-
barrassments, here met with a neplus ultra^
The ladies fretted, and offered large re-
wards to labourers if they would shovel
them a track to London : but the relentless
heaps of snow were too bulky to be re-
moved ; and so the 18th passed over, leav-
ing the company in very uncomfortable cir^
cumstances at the Castle and other inns.

On the 20th the sun shone out for the
first time since the frost began ; a circum-
stance that has been remarked before much

140 NATURAL HISTORY

in favour of vegetation. -All this time the
cold was not very intense, for the ther-
mometer stood at 29, 28, 25, and there-
about ; but on the 21st it descended to 20.
The birds now began to be in a very pitia-
ble and starving condition. Tamed by the
season, sky-larks settled in the streets of
towns> because they saw the ground was
bare ; rooks frequented dunghills close to
houses ; and crows watched horses as they
passed, and greedilydevoured what dropped
from them; hares now came into men's
gardens, and, scraping away the snow, de-
voured such plants as they could find.

On the 22nd the author had occasion to
go to London through a sort of Laplandian-
scene, very wild and grotesque indeed. But
the metropolis itself exhibited a still more
singular appearance than the country ; for,
being bedded deep in snow, the pavement
of the streets could not be touched by the
wheels or the horses' feet, so that the car-
riages ran about without the least noise.
Such an exemption from din and clatter

OF SELBORNE. 141

was strange, but not pleasant; it seemed
to convey an uncomfortable idea of deso-
lation :

ipsa silentia terrent.'

On the 27th much snow fell all day, and
in the evening the frost became very in-
tense. At South Lamheth, for the four fol-
lowing nights, the thermometer fell to 11,
7, 6, 6 ; and at Selborne to 7, 6, 10 ; and
on the 31st oi January, just before sun-rise,
with rime on the trees and on the tube of
the glass, the quicksilver sunk exactly to
zero, being 32 degrees below the freezing
point: but by eleven in the morning,
though in the shade, it sprung up to 16^*
— a most unusual degree of cold this for
the south of England! J)\nm% these four

* At Selborne the cold was greater than at any other
place that the author could hear of with certainty :
though some reported at the time that at a village in
Kent the thermometer fell two degrees below zero, viz*
34! degrees below the freezing point.

The thermometer used at Selborne was graduated by
Benjamin Martin.

142 NATURAL HISTORY

nights the cold was so penetrating that it
occasioned ice in warm chambers and under
beds ; and in the day the wind was so keen
that persons of robust constitutions could
scarcely endure to face it. The Thames
was at once so frozen over both above and
below bridge that crowds ran about on the
ice. The streets were now strangely in-
cumbered with snow, which crumbled and
trod dusty ; and, turning grey, resembled
bay-salt : what had fallen on the roofs was
so perfectly dry, that, from first to last, it
lay twenty-six days on the houses in the
city ; a longer time than had been remem-
bered by the oldest housekeepers living.
According to all appearances we might now
have expected the continuance of this rigor-
ous weather for weeks to come, since every
jiight increased in severity; but behold,
without any apparent cause, on the 1st of
February a thaw took place, and some rain
followed before night ; making good the
observation above, that frosts often go off
as it were at once, without any gradual
declension of cold. On the 2nd of February

OF selborne. 14S^

the thaw persisted ; and on the 3rd swarms
of little insects were frisking and sporting
in a court-yard oi South Lambeth, as if they
had felt no frost. Why the juices in the
small bodies and smaller limbs of such mi-
nute beings are not frozen is a matter of
curious inquiry.

Severe frosts seem to be partial, or to
run in currents ; for at the same juncture,
as the author was informed by accurate
correspondents, at Lyndon in the county
oi Rutland, the thermometer stood at 19:
at Blackburn, in Lancashire, at 1 9 : and at
Mauchester at 21, 20, and 18. Thus does
some unknown circumstance strangely
overbalance latitude, and render the cold
sometimes much greater in the southern
than the northern parts of this kingdom.

The consequences of this severity were,
that in Hampshire, at the melting of the
snow, the wheat looked well, and the tur-
nips came forth little injured. The laurels
and laurustines were somewhat damaged,
but only in hot aspects. No evergreens
were quite destroyed; and not half the

144 NJVTURAL HISTORY

damage sustained that befel in January
1768. Those laurels that >?^ere a little
scorched on the south-sides were perfectly-
untouched on their north-sides. The care
taken to shake the snow day by day from
the branches seemed greatly to avail the
author's evergreens. A neighbour's laurel-
hedge, in a high situation, and facing to
the north, was perfectly green and vigor-
ous ; and the Portugal laurels remained
unhurt.

As to the birds, the thrushes and black-r
birds were mostly destroyed ; and the par-
tridges, by the weather and poachers, were
so thinned that few remained to breed the
following year.

LETTER LXIII.

TO THE SAME.

A s the frosts in December 1 7 84 was . tery
extraordinary, you, I trust, will not be dis-
pleased to hear the particulars ; and espe-

OF SELBORNE. 145

cially when I promise to say no more about
the severities of Winter after I have finished
this letten

The first week in December was very wet,
with the barometer very low. On the 7th,
with the barometer at 28 — five tenths,
came on a vast snow, which continued all
that day and the next, and most part of
the following night ; so that by the morn-
ing of the 9th the works of men were quite
overwhelmed, the lanes filled so as to be
impassable, and the ground covered twelve
or fifteen inches without any drifting. In
the evening of the 9th the air began to be
so very sharp that we thought it would be
curious to attend to the motions of a ther-
mometer ; we therefore hung out two ; one
made by Martin and one by Dollond, which
soon began to show us what we were to
expect; for, by ten o'clock, they fell to 21,
and at eleven to 4, when we went to bed.
On the 10th, in the morning, the quick-
silver o^ Dollond's glass was down to half a
degree below zero ; and that of Marlins
which was absurdly graduated only to four

VOL. II, L

146 NATUUAL HISTORY

degrees above zero, sunk quite into the brass
guard of the ball ; so that when the weather
became most interesting, this was useless.
On the 10th, at eleven at night, though the
air was perfectly still, Doliond's glass went
down to one degree below zero! This
strange severity of the weather made me
very desirous to know what degree of cold
there might be in such an exalted and near
situation as Newton, We had, therefore,
on the morning of the 10th, written to
Mr. - — , and entreated him to hang out
his thermometer, made by Adatns ; and to
pay some attention to it morning and even-
ing ; expecting wonderful phsenomena, in
so elevated a region, at two hundred feet
or more above my house. But, behold ! on
the 10th, at eleven at night, it was down
only to 17, and the next morning at 22,
when mine was at 10! We were so dis-
turbed at this unexpected reverse of com-
parative local cold, that we sent one of my

glasses up, thinking that of Mr. must,

some how, be wrongly constructed. But,
when the instruments came to be con-

OF SELBORNE, 147

fronted, they went exactly together: so
that, for one night at least, the cold at
Newton was 1 8 degrees less than at Sel-
borne ; and, through the whole frost, 10 or
12 degrees; and, indeed, when we came
to observe consequences, we could readily
credit this; for all my laurustines, bays,
ilexes, arbutuses, cypresses, and even my
Portugal laurels,'^ and (which occasions
more regret) my fine sloping laurel-hedge,
were scorched up ; while, at Newton, the
same trees have not lost a leaf !

We had steady frost on to the 25th,
when the thermometer in the morning was
down to 10 with us, and at Newton only to
21. Strong frost continued till the 31st,
when some tendency to thaw was observed ;
and, by January the 3rd, 1785, the thaw
was confirmed, and some rain fell.

* Mr. Miller y in his Gardener's Dictionaiy, says posi-
tively that the Portugal laurels remained untouched in
the remarkable frost of 1739-40. So that either that
accurate observer was much mistaken, or else the frost
of December 1784 was much more severe and destructive
ihan that in the year above-mentioned.
L 2

148 NATURAL HISTORY

A circumstance that I must not t)mit,
because it was new to us, is, that on Friday,
December the 10th, being bright sun-shine,
the air was full of icy spiculce, floating in
all directions, like atoms in a sun-beam let
into a dark room. We thought them at
first particles of the rime falling from my
tall hedges ; but were soon convinced to
the contrary, by making our observations
in open places where no rime could reach
us. Were they watery particles of the air
frozen as they floated ; or were they eva--
porations from the snow frozen as they
mounted ?

We were much obliged to the thermo-
meters for the early information they gave
us ; and hurried our apples, pears, onions,
potatoes, &c. into the cellar, and warm
closets ; while those who had not, or neg-
lected such warnings, lost all their stores
of roots and fruits^ and had their very bread
and cheese frozen.

I must not omit to tell you that, during
those two Siberian days, my parlour-cat
was so electric, that had a person stroked

OF SELBORNE. 149

her, and been properly insulated, the shock
might have been given to a whole circle of
people.

I forgot to mention before, that, during
the two severe days, two men, who were
tracing hares in the snow, had their feet
frozen ; and two men, who were much
better employed, had their fingers so
affected by the frost, while they were
thrashing in a barn, that a mortification fol-
lowed, from which they did not recover
for many weeks.

This frost killed all the furze and most
of the ivy, and in many places stripped the
hollies of all their leaves. It came at a
very early time of the year, before old
November ended ; and yet may be allowed
from its effects to have exceeded any since
1739—40.

150 NATURAL IIISTOKY

LETTER LXIV.

TO THE SAME.

As the effects of heat are seldom very re-
markable in the northerly climate of Eng-
land, where the Summers are often so de^
fective in warmth and sun-shine as not to
ripen the fruits of the earth so well as might
be wished, I shall be more concise in my
account of the severity of a Summer season,
and so make a little amends for the prolix
account of the degrees of cold, and the in-
conveniences that we suffered from some
late rigorous Winters.

The Summers of 1781 and 1783 were
unusually hot and dry ; to them therefore
I shall turn back in my journals, without
recurring to any more distant period. In
the former of these years my peach and
nectarine-trees suffered so much from the
heat that the rind on the bodies was scalded
and came off ; since which the trees have

OF SELBORNE. 151

been in a decaying state. This may prove
a hint to assiduous gardeners to fence and
shelter their wall-trees with mats or boards,
as they may easily do, because such annoy-
ance is seldom of long continuance. Dur-
ing that Summer also, I observed that my
apples were coddled, as it were on the
trees; so that they had no quickness of
flavour, and would not keep in the Winter.
This circumstance put me in mind of what
I have heard travellers assert, that they
never ate a good apple or apricot in the
south of Europcy where the heats were so
great as to render the juices vapid and inr
sipid.

The great pests of a garden are wasps,
which destroy all the finer fruits just as
they are coming into perfection. In 1781
we had none ; in 1783 there were myriads ;
which would have devoured all the produce
of my garden, had not we set the boys to
take the nests, and caught thousands with
hazel twigs tipped with bird-lime ; we
have since employed the boys to take and
destroy the large breeding wasps in the

152 NATURAL HISTORY

Spring. Such expedients have a great effect
on these marauders, and will keep them
under. Though wasps do not abound but
in hot Summers, yet they do not prevail
in every hot Summer, as I have instanced
in the two years above-mentioned.

In the sultry season of 1783 honey-dews
were so frequent as to deface and destroy
the beauties of my garden. My honey-
suckles, which were one week the most
sweet and lovely objects that the eye could
behold, became the next the most loath-
some ; being enveloped in a viscous sub-
stance, and loaded with black aphides, or
smother-flies. The occasion of this clammy
appearance seems to be this, that in hot
weather the effluvia of flowers in fields and
meadows and gardens are drawn up in the
day by a brisk evaporation, and then in
the night fall down again with the dews,
in which they are entangled ; that the air
is strongly scented, and therefore impreg-
nated with the particles of flowers in Sum-
mer, weather, our senses will inform us ;
and that this clammy sweet substance is

OF SELBORNE. 153

of the vegetable kind we may learn from
bees, to whom it is very grateful : and we
may be assured that it falls in the night,
because it is always first seen in warm still
mornings.

On Chalky and sandy soils, and in the
hot villages dihoui London, the thermometer
has been often observed to mount as high
as 83 or 84 ; but with us, in this hilly and
woody district, I have hardly ever seen it
exceed 80 ; nor does it often arrive at that
pitch. The reason, I conclude, is, that our
dense clayey soil, so much shaded by trees,
is not so easily heated through as those
above-mentioned : and besides, our moun-
tains cause currents of air and breezes ; and
the vast effluvia from our woodlands temper
and moderate our heats.

15'4f NATURAL HISTORY

LETTER LXV.

TO THE SAME.

The Summer of the year 1783 was an
amazing and a portentous one, and full of
horrible phsenomena ; for, besides the
alarming meteors and tremendous thunder-
storms that affrighted and distressed the
different counties of this kingdom, the
peculiar haze, or smokey fog that prevailed
for many weeks in this island, and in every
part of Europe, and even beyond its limits,
was a most extraordinary appearance, un-
like any thing known within the memory
of man. By my journal I find that I had
noticed this strange occurrence from June
23 to Juli/ 20 inclusive, during which period
the wind varied to every quarter without
making any alteration in the air. The sun,
at noon, looked as blank as a clouded
moon, and shed a rust- coloured ferruginous
light on the ground, and floors of rooms ;

OF SELBORNE. 155

but was particularly lurid and blood-
coloured at rising and setting. All the tiriie
the heat was so intense that butchers meat
could hardly be eaten on the day after, it
was killed ; and the flies swarmed so in the
lanes and hedges that they rendered the
horses half frantic, and riding irksome.
The country people began to look with a
superstitious awe, at the red, louring aspect
of the sun ; and indeed there was reason
for the most enlightened person to be ap-
prehensive ; for all the while, Calabria and
part of the isle of Sicily, were torn and con-
vulsed with earthquakes ; and about that
juncture a volcano sprung out of the sea on
the coast of Norway. On this occasion
Milton s noble simile of the sun, in his first
book of Paradise Lost, frequently occurred
to my mind ; and it is indeed particularly
applicable, because towards the end, it
alludes to a superstitious kind of dread,
with which the minds of men are always
impressed by such strange and unusual
phaenomena.

156 NATURAL HISTORY

« As when the su7i, new risen.

" Looks through the horizontal misty air

" Shorn of his beams ; or from behind the moon>

*' In dim ech.pse disasterous twilight sheds

" On half the nations, and with^otr of change

'^ Perplexes monarchs '*

LETTER LXVl.

TO THE SAME.

We are very seldom annoyed with thun-
der-storms ; and it is no less remarkable
than true, that those which arise in the
south have hardly been known to reach
this village ; for before they get over us,
-they take a direction to the east or to the
west, or sometimes divide into two, and
go in part to one of those quarters, and in
part to the other ; as was truly the case in
Summer 1783, when though the country
round was continually harassed with tem-
pests, and often from the south, yet we
escaped them all ; as appears by my journgtl

OF SELBORNE. 15?

of that Summer. The only way that T can
at all account for this fact^ — for such it is
— is, that on that quarter, between us and
the sea, there are continual mountains, hill
behind hill, such as Nore-hilly the Barnet,
BuUer-Hill, and Ports-down, which some
how divert the storms, and give them a
different direction. High promontories,
and elevated grounds, have always been
observed to attract clouds, and disarm them
of their mischievous contents, which are
discharged into the trees and summits as
soon as they come in contact with those
turbulent meteors ; while the humble vales
escape, because they are so far beneath
them.

But when I say I do not remember a
thunder-storm from the south, I do not
mean that we never have suffered from
thunder-storms at all; for on June 5th,
1784, the thermometer in the morning
being at 64, and at noon at 70, the baro-
meter at 29— six tenths one-half, and the
wind.north, I observed a blue mist, smell-
ing.strongly of sulphur, hanging along our

i58 NATURAL HISTOIir

sloping woods, and seeming to indicate
that thunder was at hand. I was called in
about two in the afternoon, and so missed
seeing the gathering of the clouds in the
north, which they who were abroad as-
sured me had something uncommon in its
appearance. At about a quarter after two
the storm began in the parish of Hartley,
moving slowly from north to south ; and
from thence it came over Norton-farm, and
so to Grange-Farm, both in this parish. It
began with vast drops of rain, which were
soon succeeded by round hail, and then by
convex pieces of ice, which measured three
inches in girth. Had it been as extensive
as it was violent, and of any continuance
(for it was very short), it must have ravaged
all the neighbourhood. In the parish of
Hartley it did some damage to one farm ;
but Norton, which lay in the centre of the
storm, was greatly injured ; as was Grange,
\vhich lay next to it. It did but just reach
to the middle of the village, where the hail
l3roke my north windows, and all my gar-
den-lights and hand-glasses, and many of

or SELBORNE. 159

my neighbours' windows. The extent of
the storm was about two miles in length
and one in breadth. We were just sitting
down to dinner ; but were soon diverted
from our repast by the clattering of tiles
and the jingling of glass. There fell at the
same time prodigious torrents of rain on
the farms above-mentioned, which occa-
sioned a flood as violent as it was sudden ;
doing great damage to the meadows and
fallows, by deluging the one and washing
away the soil of the other. The hollow lane
towards Alton was so torn and disordered
as not to be passable till mended, rocks
being removed that weighed 200 weight.
Those that saw the effect which the great
hail had on ponds and pools say that the
dashing of the water made an extraordi-
nary appearance, the froth and spray stand-
ing up in the air three feet above the sur-
face. The rushing and roaring of the hail,
as it approached, was truly tremendous.

Though the clouds at South Lambeth^
near London, were at that juncture thin
and light, and no storm was in sight, nor

160 NATURAL HISTORY

within hearing, yet the air was strongly
electric ; for the bells of an electric machine
at that place rang repeatedly, and fierce
sparks were discharged.

When I first took the present work in
hand, I proposed to have added an Annus
Historico-naturaUs, or the natural History
of the Twelve Months of the Year ; which
would have comprised many incidents and
occurrences that have not fallen into my
way to be mentioned in my series of letters ;
— but, as Mr. Aikin of Warrington has
lately published somewhat of this sort, and
as the length of my correspondence has
sufficiently put your patience to the test, 1
shall here take a respectful leave of you and
natural history together ; and am.

With all due deference and regard.

Your most obliged.

And most humble servant.

Ju'„?"87. GIL. WHITE.

A

COMPARATIVE VIEW

OF THE

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR,

AS KEPT AT

SELBORNE, IN HAMPSHIRE,

BY THE LATE

REV. GILBERT WHITE, M.A,

AKD

AT CATSFIELD, NEAR BATTLE,

IN SUSSEX,

By WILLIAM MARK WICK, ESQ. F.LS,

FROM THE YEAR 1768, TO THE YEAR 1793.

VOL. II. M

N. B. The dates in the following calendars, when
more than one, express the earliest and the latest times
in which the circumstance noted was observed.

naturalist's calendar. 163

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2

OBSERVATIONS

ON

VARIOUS PARTS OF NATURE.

FROM MR. WHITE'S MSS.
WITH REMARKS BY MR. MARKWICK.

OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS,

PIRPS IN GENERAL.

In severe weather, fieldfares, red-wings,
sky-larks, and tit-larks, resort to watered
meadows for food ; the latter wades up to
its belly in pursuit of the pupae of insects,
and runs along upon the floating grass and
weeds. Many gnats are on the snow near
the water, these support the birds in part*

Birds are much influenced in their choice
of food by colour, for though white currants
are a much sweeter fruit than red, yet they
seldom touch the former till they have de-
voured every bunch of the latter.

Red-starts, fly-catchers, and black-caps,
arrive early in April. If these little deli-
cate beings are birds of passage (as we h^ve

200 ON VARIOUS PARTS

reason to suppose they are, because they
are never seen in winter) how could they,
feeble as they seem, bear up against such
storms of snow and rain, and make their
way through such meteorous turbulences,
as one should suppose would embarrass
and retard the most hardy and resolute of
the winged nation ? Yet they keep their
appointed times and seasons ; and in spite
of frost and winds return to their stations
periodically, as if they had met with no-
thing to obstruct them. The withdrawing
and appearance of the short- winged Sum-
mer birds is a very puzzling circumstance
in natural history !

When the boys bring me wasps' nests,
my bantom fowls fare deliciously, and
when the combs are pulled to pieces, de-
vour the young wasps in their maggot state
with the highest glee and delight. Any
insect-eating bird would do the same ; and
therefore I have often wondered that the
accurate Mr. Ray should call one species of
buzzard huteo apivorus sive vespivorus, or
the hon€2/ buzzard, because some combs of

OF NATURE. 201

wasps happened to be found in one of their
nests. The combs were conveyed thither
doubtless for the sake of the maggots or
nymphs, and not for their honey : since
none is to be found in the combs of wasps.
Birds of prey occasionally feed on insects ;
thus have I seen a tame kite picking up
the female ants full of eggs with much satis-
faction. White.

That red-starts, fly-catchers, black-caps,
and other slender-billed insectivorous small
birds, particularly the swallow tribe, make
their first appearance very early in the
Spring, is a well known fact ; though the
fly-catcher is the latest of them all in its
visit (as this accurate naturalist observes in
another place), for it is never seen before
the month of May. If these delicate crea-
tures come to us from a distant country,
they will probably be exposed in their pas-
sage, as Mr. White justly remarks, to much
greater dijQBculties from storms and tem-
pests than their feeble powers appear to be
able to surmount : on the other hand, if we

202 ON VARIOUS PARTS

suppose them to pass the Winter in a dor-
pant state in this country concealed in
caverns or other hiding places sufficiently
guarded from the extreme cold of our Winter
to preserve their life, and that at the ap-
proach of Spring they revive from their tor-
pid state and reassume their usual powers
of action, it will entirely remove the first
difficulty, arising from the storms and tem-
pests they are liable to meet with in their
passage ; but how are we to get over the
still greater difficulty of their revivification
from their torpid state ? What degree of
warmth in the temperature of the air is
necessary to produce that effect, and how
it operates on the functions of animal life,
are questions not easily answered.

How could Mr. White suppose that Ray
named this species the honey buzzard be-
cause it fed on honey, when he not only
named it in Latin huteo apivorus et vespi-
vorous, but expressly says, that '* it feeds
on insects, and brings up its young with
the maggots or nymphs of wasps ?"

That birds of prey, when in want of their

OF NATURE. 205

proper food, flesh, sometimes feed on in-
sects I have little doubt, and think I have
observed the common buzzard, falco buieo,
to settle on the ground and pick up insects
of some kind or other. Maekwick.

ROOKS.

Rooks are continually fighting and pull-
ing each other's nests to pieces : these pro-
ceedings are inconsistent with living in
such close community. And yet if a pair
offer to build on a single tree, the nest is
plundered and demolished at once. Some
rooks roost on their nest trees. The twigs
which the rooks drop in building supply
the poor with brushwood to light their
fires. Some unhappy pairs are not per^
mitted to finish any •nests till the rest have
completed their building. As soon as they
get a few sticks together, a party comes
and demolishes the whole. As soon as
rooks have finished their nests, and before

204 ON VARIOUS PARTS

they lay, the cocks begin to feed the hens,
who receive their bounty with a fondling
tremulous voice and fluttering wings, and
all the little blandishments that are ex-
pressed by the young, while in a helpless
state. This gallant deportment of the
male is continued through the whole sea-
son of incubation. These birds do not
copulate on trees, nor in their nests, but
on the ground in the open fields. White.

- After the first brood of rooks are suffi-
ciently fledged, they all leave their nest-
trees in the day-time, and resort to some
distant place in search of food, but return
regularly every evening, in vast flights, to
their nest-trees, where, after flying round
several times with much noise and clamour,
till they are all assembled together, they
take up their abode for the night.

Markwick.

OF NATURE. 205

THRUSHES

Thrushes during long droughts are of
great service in hunting out shell snails,
which they pull in pieces for their young,
and are thereby very serviceable ingardens*
Missel thrushes do not destroy the fruit in
gardens like the other species of turdi, but
feed on the berries of misseltoe, and in the
Spring on ivy berries, which then begin
to ripen. In the Summer, when their
young become fledged, they leave neigh-
bourhoods, and retire to sheep-walks and
wild commons.

The magpies, when they have young,
destroy the broods of missel thrushes*
though the dams are fierce birds, and fight
boldly in defence of their nests. It is pro-
bably to avoid such insults, that this species
of thrush, though wild at other times, de-
lights to build near houses, and in fre-
quented walks and gardens. White.

206 ON VARIOUS PARTS

Of the truth of this I have been an eye-
witness, having seen the common thrush
feeding on the shell snail.

In the very early part of this Spring
(1797) a bird of this species used to sit
every morning on the top of some high
elms close by my windows, and delight me
with its charming song, attracted thither,
probably, by some ripe ivy berries that
grew near the place.

I have remarked something like the lat-
ter fact, for I remember, many years ago,
seeing a pair of these birds fly up re-
peatedly and attack some larger bird,
which I suppose disturbed their nest in
my orchard, uttering at the same time
violent shrieks. Since writing the above,
I have seen more than once a pair of these
birds attack some magpies that had dis-
turbed their nest, with great violence and
loud shrieks. Markwick.

OF i^ATURE. 207

POULTRY.

Many creatures are endowed with a
ready discernment to see what will turn to
their own advantage and emolument ; and
often discover more sagacity than could be
expected. Thus my neighbour's poultry
watch for waggons loaded with wheat, and
running after them pick up a number of
grains which are shaken from the sheaves
by the agitation of the carriages. Thus,
when my brother used to take down his
gun to shoot sparrows, his cats would run
out before him, to be ready to catch up the
birds as they fall.

The earnest and early propensity of the
gallinse to roost on high is very observable ;
and discovers a strong dread impressed on
their spirits respecting vermin that may
emnoy them on the ground during the
hours of darkness. Hence poultry, if left
to themselves and not housed, will perch
the Winter through on yew-trees and fir-
trees ; and turkies and guinea fowls, heavy

208 ON VARIOUS PAR^S

as they are, get up into apple trees : phea-'
sants also in woods sleep on trees to avoid
foxes ; while pea-fowls climb to the tops
of the highest trees round their owner's
house for security, let the weather be ever
so cold or blowing. Partridges, it is true,
roost on the ground, not having the faculty
of perching ; but then the same fear pre-
vails in their minds ; for through apprehen-
sions from pole-cats and stoats, they never
trust themselves to coverts, but nestle to-
gether in the midst of large fields, far re-
moved from hedges and coppices, which
they love to haunt in the day, and where at
that season they can sculk more secure
from the ravages of rapacious birds.

As to ducks and geese, their awkward
splay web-feet forbid them to settle on
trees ; they therefore, in the hours of dark-
ness and danger, betake themselves to their
own element the water, where amidst large
lakes and pools, like ships riding at anchor,
they float the whole night long in peace and
security,

WHITE.

Oi' NATURE. 209

Guinea fowls not only roost on high, but
in hard weather resort, even in the day
time, to the very tops of the highest trees.

Last Winter, when the ground was co-
vered with snow, I discovered all my
guinea fowls, in the middle of the day,
sitting on the highest boughs of some very
tall elms, chattering and making a great
clamour: I ordered them to be driven down,
lest they should be frozen to death in so
elevated a situation, but this was not ef-
fected without much difficulty, they being
very unwilling to quit their lofty abode,
notwithstanding one of them had its feet
so much frozen that we were obliged to
kill it. I know not how to account for this,
unless it was occasioned by their aversion
to the snow on the ground, they being
birds that come originally from a hot
climate.

Notwithstanding the awkward splay
web-feet (as Mr. White calls them) of the
duck genus, some of the foreign species
have the power of settling on the boughs
of trees apparently with great ease ; an in-

VOL. II. P

£10 ON VARIOUS PARTS

stance of which I have seen in the earl of
Ashburnham^s menagerie, where the sum-
mer duck, anas sponsa, flew up and settled
on the branch of an oak-tree in my pre-
sence ; but whether any of them roost on
trees in the night, we are not informed by
any author that I am acquainted with. I
suppose not, but that, like the rest of the
genus, they sleep on the water, where the
birds of this genus are not always perfectly
secure, as will appear from the following
circumstance which happened in this
neighbourhood a few years since, as I was
credibly informed. A female fox was
found in the morning drowned in the same
pond in which were several geese, and it
was supposed that in the night the fox
swam into the pond to devour the geese,
but was attacked by the. gander, which
being most powerful in its own element,
bufFetted the fox with its wings about the
head till it was drowned. Markwick.

OF NATURE. 211

HEN-PARTRIDGE.

A hen partridge came out of a ditch, and
ran along shivering with her wings, and
crying out as if wounded and unable to get
from us. While the dam acted this dis-
tress, the boy who attended me saw her
brood, that was small and unable to fly,
run for shelter into an old fox-earth under
the bank. So wonderful a power is in-
stinct. White.

It is not uncommon to see an old par-
tridge feign itself wounded and run along
on the ground fluttering and crying before
either dog or man, to draw them away
from its helpless unfledged young ones. I
have seen it often, and once in particular I
saw a remarkable instance of the old bird's
solicitude to save its brood. As I was hunt-
ing with a young pointer, the dog ran on a
brood of very small partridges; the old bird
cried, fluttered, and ran tumbling along
V 2

S12 ON VARIOUS PARTS

just before the dog's nose till she had
drawn him to a considerable distance, when
she took wing and flew still farther off, but
not out of the field : on this the dog re-
turned to me, near which place the young
ones lay concealed in the grass, which the
old bird no sooner perceived than she flew
back again to us, settled just before the
dog's nose again, and by rolling and tum-
bling about drew off his attention from her
young, and thus preserved her brood a
second time. I have also seen, when a kite
has been hovering over a covey of young
partridges, the old birds fly up at the bird
of prey, screaming and fighting with all
their might to preserve their brood.

Markwick.

A HYBRID PHEASANT.

Lord Stawell sent me from the great
lodge in the Holt a curious bird for my
inspection. It was found by the spaniels
of one of his keepers in a coppice, and

OF NATURE. 213

shot on the wing. The shape, air, and
habit of the bird, and the scarlet ring
round the eyes, agreed well with the ap-
pearance of a cock pheasant : but then the
head and neck, and breast and belly were
of a glossy black : and though it weighed
three pounds three ounces and a half,* the
weight of a large full-grown cock pheasant,
yet there was no signs of any spurs on the
legs, as is usual with all grown cock phea-
sants, who have long ones. The legs and
feet were naked of feathers, and therefore
it could be nothing of the grous kind. In
the tail were no long bending feathers,
such as cock pheasants usually have, and
are characteristic of the sex. The tail was
much shorter than the tail of a hen phea-
sant, and blunt and square at the end. The
back, wing-feathers, and tail, were all of a
pale russet curiously streaked, somewhat
like the upper parts of a hen-partridge. I
returned it with my verdict, that it was
probably a spurious or hybrid hen bird,

* Hen pheasants usually weigh only two pounds ten
ounces.*

214 ON VAlllOtrS PARTS

bred between a cock pheasant and some
domestic fowl. When I came to talk with
the keeper who brought it, he told me
that some pea-hens had been known last
Summer to haunt the coppices and coverts
where this mule was found.

Mr. Elmer, of Farnham, the famous
game painter, was employed to take an
exact copy of this curious bird.

N. B, It ought to be mentioned that
some good judges have imagined this bird
to have been a stray grous or black cock ;
it is, however, to be observed, that Mr. W.
remarks, that its legs and feet were naked,
whereas those of the grous are feathered
to the toes. White.

JVlr. Latham observes, that '* pea-hens,
after they have done laying, sometimes
assume the plumage of the male bird," and
has given a figure of the male-feathered
pea-hen now to be seen in the Leverian
Museum ; and M. Salerne remarks, that
" the hen pheasant, when she has done

OF NATURE. 215

laying and sitting, will get the plumage of
the male." May not this hybrid pheasant
(as Mr. White calls it) be a bird of this
kind ? that is, an old hen pheasant which
had just begun to assume the plumage of
the cock. Markwick.

LAND-RAIL.

A man brought me a land-rail or daker-
hen, a bird so rare in this district that we
seldom see more than one or two in a
season, and those only in Autumn. This is
deemed a bird of passage by all the writers :
yet from its formation seems to be poorly
qualified for migration ; for its wings are
short, and placed so forward, and out of
the centre of gravity, that it flies in a very
heavy and embarrassed manner, with its
legs hanging down ; and can hardly be
sprung a second time, as it runs very fast,
and seems to depend more on the swiftness
of its feet than on its flying.

S16 ON VARIOUS PARTS

When we came to draw it, we found the
entrails so soft and tender, that in appear-
ance they might have been dressed like
the ropes of a woodcock. The craw or crop
was small and lank, containing a mucus ;
the gizzard thick and strong, and filled
with small shell snails, some whole, and
many ground to pieces through the attri-
tion which is occasioned by the muscular
force and motion of that intestine. We
saw no gravels among the food : perhaps
the shell snails might perform the func-
tions of gravels or pebbles, and might grind
one another. Land-rails used to abound
formerly, I remember, in the low wet bean
fields of Christian Malford in North Wilts,
and in the meadows near Paradise-gardens
at Oxford, where I have often heard them
cry crex, crex. The bird mentioned above
weighed 7^ oz., was fat and tender, and in
flavour like the flesh of a woodcock. The
liver was very large and delicate. White.

OF NATURE. 2l7

Land-rails are more plentiful with us
than in the neighbourhood of Selborne. I
have found four brace in an afternoon,
and a friend of mine lately shot nine in
two adjoining fields ; but I never saw them
in any other season than the Autumn.

That it is a bird of passage there can be
little doubt, though Mr. White thinks it
poorly qualified for migration, on account
of the wings being short, and not placed
in the exact centre of gravity : how that
may be I cannot say, but I know that its
heavy sluggish flight is not owing to its
inability of flying faster, for I have seen it
fly very swiftly, although in general its
actions are sluggish. Its unwillingness to
rise proceeds, I imagine, from its sluggish
disposition, and its great timidity, for it
will sometimes squat so close to the ground
as to suffer itself to be taken up by the
hand, rather than rise ; and yet it will at
times run very fast.

What Mr. White remarks respecting
the small shell snails found in its gizzard.

218 ON VARIOUS PARTS

confirms ray opinion, that it frequents
corn-fields, seed clover, and brakes or fern,
more for the sake of snails, slugs, and
other insects which abound in such places,
than for the grain or seeds; and that it
is entirely an insectivorous bird.

Markwick.

FOOD FOR THE RING-DOVE.

One of my neighbours shot a ring-dove
on an evening as it v^as returning from
feed and going to roost. When his v^ife
had picked and drawn it, she found its
craw stuffed with the most nice and tender
tops of turnips. These she washed and
boiled, and so sat down to a choice and
delicate plate of greens, culled and pro-
vided in this extraordinary manner.
^ Hence we may see that graminivorous
birds, when grain fails, can subsist on the
leaves of vegetables. There is reason to
suppose that they would not long be

OF NATURE. 219

healthy without ; for turkies, though corn-
fed, delight in a variety of plants, such as
cabbage, lettuce, endive, &c, and poul-
try pick much grass ; while geese live for
months together on commons by grazing
alone.

Nought is useless made :■

•On the barren heath

" The shepherd tends his flock that daily crop

'' Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf

" Sufficient ; after them the cackling goose,

*^ Close-grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want."

Philips's Cyder.

White.

That many graminivorous birds feed also
on the herbage or leaves of plants, there
can be na doubt : partridges and larks fre-
quently feed -on the green leaves of turnips,
which gives a peculiar flavour to their flesh,
that is, to me, very palatable : the flavour
also of wild ducks and geese greatly de-
pends on the nature of their food ; and
their flesh frequently contracts a rank un-
pleasant taste, from their having lately fed

220 ON VARIOUS PARTS

on strong marshy aquatic plants, as I
suppose.

That the leaves of vegetables are whole-
some and conducive to the health of birds,
seems probable, for many people fat their
ducks and turkies v^ith the leaves of let-
tuce chopped small. Markwick.

HEN HARRIER.

A neighbouring gentleman sprung a
pheasant in a wheat stubble, and shot at
it ; when, notwithstanding the report of
the gun, it was immediately pursued by
the blue hawk, known by the name of the
hen-harrier, but escaped into some covert.
He then sprung a second, and a third, in
the same field, that got away in the same
manner ; the hawk hovering round him
all the while that he was beating the field,
conscious no doubt of the game that lurked
in the stubble. Hence we may conclude
that this bird of prey was rendered very
daring and bold by hunger, and that

OV NATURE. 221

hawks cannot always seize their game
when they please. We may farther ob-
serve, that they cannot pounce their quarry
on the ground, where it might be able to
make a stout resistance, since so large a
fowl as a pheasant could not but be visible
to the piercing eye of a hawk, when hover-
ing over the field. Hence that propensity
of cowring and squatting till they are
almost trod on, which no doubt was in-
tended as a mode of security : though long
irendered destructive to the whole race of
gallinae by the invention of nets and guns.

White.

Of the great boldness and rapacity of
birds of prey, when urged on by hunger, I
have seen several instances ; particularly,
when shooting in the Winter in company
with two friends, a woodcock flew across
us closely pursued by a small hawk ; we
all three fired at the woodcock instead of
the hawk, which, notwithstanding the
report of three guns close by it, continued
its pursuit of the woodcock, struck it down^

222 ON VARIOUS PARTS

and carried it off, as we afterwards disco-*
vered.

At another time, when partridge-shoot-
ing with a friend, we saw a ring- tail hawk

' rise out of a pit with some large bird in its
claws ; though at a great distance, we both
fired and obliged it to drop its prey, which
proved to be one of the partridges which
we were in pursuit of; and lastly, in an
evening, I shot at and plainly saw that I
had wounded a partridge, but it being late

- was obliged to go home without finding
it again. The next morning I walked round
my land without any gun, but a favourite
old spaniel followed my heels. When I
came near the field where I wounded the
bird the evening before, I heard the par-
tridges call, and seemed to be much dis-
turbed. On my approaching the bar-way
they all rose, some on my right and some
on my left hand ; and just before and over
my head, I perceived (though indistinctly,
from the extreme velocity of their motion)
two birds fly directly against each other,
when instantly, to my great astonishment,

or NATURE. 223

down dropped a partridge at my feet : the
dog immediately seized it, and on exa-
mination I found the blood flow very fast
from a fresh wound in the head, but there
was some dry clotted blood on its wings
and side ; whence I concluded that a hawk
had singled out my wounded bird as the
object of his prey, and had struck it down
the instant that my approach had obliged
the birds to rise on the wing : but the
space between the hedges was so small,
and the motion of the birds so instanta-
neous and quick, that I could not distinctly
observe the operation. Markwick.

GREAT SPECKLED DIVER, OR LOON.

As one of my neighbours was traversing
Wolmer forest from Bramshot across the
moors, he found a large uncommon bird
fluttering in the heath, but not wounded,
which he brought home alive. On exa-
mination it proved to be colymhus glacialis
Linn, the great speckled diver or loon.

224 ON VARIOUS PARTS

which is most excellently described in
Willughby's Ornithology.

Every part and proportion of this bird
is so incomparably adapted to its mode of
life, that in no instance do we see the wis-
dom of God in the creation to more advan-
tage. The head is sharp and smaller than
the part of the neck adjoining, in order
that it may pierce the water ; the wings are
placed forward and out of the centre of
gravity, for a purpose which shall be noticed
hereafter ; the thighs quite at the podex, in
order to facilitate diving ; and the legs are
flat, and as sharp backwards almost as the
edge of a knife, that in striking they may
easily cut the water : while the feet are
palmated, and broad for swimming, yet so
folded up when advanced forward to take
a fresh stroke, as to be full as narrow as the
shank. The two exterior toes of the feet
are longest; the nails flat and broad, resem-
bling the human, which give strength and
increase the power of swimming. The
foot when expanded, is not at right angles
to -the leg or body of the bird: but the

OF NATURE. 225

exterior part inclining towards the head
forms an acute angle with the body; the
intention being, not to give motion in the
line of the legs themselves, but by the
combined impulse of both in an interme-
diate line, the line of the body.

Most people know, that have observed at
all, that the swimming of birds is nothing
more than a walking in the water, where
one foot succeeds the other as on the land ;
yet no one, as far as I am aware, has re-
marked that diving fowls, while under
water, impel and row themselves forward
by a motion of their wings, as well as by
the impulse of their feet : but such is really
the case, as any person may easily be con-
vinced, who will observe ducks when
hunted by dogs in a clear pond. Nor do 1
know that any one has given a reason why
the wings of diving fowls are placed so for-
ward : doubtless, not for the purpose of
promoting their speed in flying, since that
position certainly impedes it ; but probably
for the increase of their motion under water,
by the use of four oars instead of two ; yet

VOL. ir. Q

226 ON VARIOUS PARTS

were the wings and feet nearer together,
as in land-birds, they would, when in
action, rather hinder than assist one ano-
ther.

This colymbus was of considerable bulk,
weighing only three drachms short of three
pounds avoirdupois. It measured in length
from the bill to the tail (which was very
short) two feet, and to the extremities of
the toes four inches more ; and the breadth
of the wings expanded was 42 inches. A
person attempted to eat the body, but found
it very strong and rancid, as is the flesh of
all birds living on fish. Divers or loons,
though bred in the most northerly parts of
Europe, yet are seen with us in very severe
Winters; and on the Thames are called
sprat loons, because they prey much on
that sort offish.

The legs of the colymhi and mergi are
placed so very backward, and so out of all
centra of gravity, that these birds cannot
walk at all. They are called by Linnaeus
compedes, because they move on the ground
as if shackled or fettered. White; :

of NATURE. 22f

These accurate and ingenious observa-
tions, tending to set forth in a proper light
the wonderful works of God in the crea-
tion, and to point out his wisdom in
adapting the singular form and position of
the limbs of this bird to the particular
mode in which it is destined to pass the
greatest part of its life in an element much
denser than the air, do Mr. White credit,
not only as a naturalist, but as a man and
as a philosopher, in the truest sense of the
word, in my opinion ; for were we enabled
to trace the works of nature minutely and
accurately, we should find, not only that
every bird, but every creature, was equally
well adapted to the purpose for which it
was intended ; though this fitness and pro-
priety of form is more striking in such
animals as are destined to any uncommon
mode of life.

I have had in my possession two birds,

which, though of a different genus, bear a

great resemblance to Mr. White's Colym-

bus, in their manner of life, which is spent

q2

228 ON vAiirous parts

chiefly in the water, where they swim and
dive with astonishing rapidity, for which
purpose their fin-toed feet, placed far be-
hind, and very short wings, are particularly
well adapted, and show the wisdom of God
in the creation as conspicuously as the bird
before-mentioned. These birds were the
greater and lesser crested grebe, podiceps
crista tus et auritus. What surprised me
most was, that the first of these birds was
found alive on dry ground, about seven
miles from the sea, to which place there
was no communication- by water. How
did it get so far from the sea ? its wings
and legs being so ill adapted either to fly-
ing or walking. The lesser crested grebe
was also found in a fresh-water pond
which had no communication with other
water, at some miles distance from the sea.

Markwick.

or NATURE. 229

STONE CURLEW.

On the 27th of February 1788, Stone
Curlews were heard to pipe ; and on
March 1st, after it was dark, some were
passing over the village, as might be per-
ceived by their quick short note, which
they use in their nocturnal excursions by
way of watch-word, that they may not
stray and lose their companions.

Thus, we see, that retire whithersoever
they may in the Winter, they return again
early in the Spring, and are, as it now
appears, the first Summer birds that come
back. Perhaps the mildness of the season
may have quickened the emigration of the
curlews this year.

They spend the day in high elevated
fields and sheep-walks ; but seem to de-
scend in the night to streams and meadows,
perhaps for water, which their upland
haunts do not afford them. White.

On the 31st of January 1792 I received
a bird of this species which had been re-

230 ON VARIOUS PARTS

cently killed by a neighbouring farmer,
who said that he had frequently seen it in
his fields during the former part of the
Winter : this perhaps was an occasional
straggler, which, by some accident, was
prevented from accompanying its com-
panions in their migration. Markwick.

THE SMALLEST UNCRESTED
WILLOW WREN

The smallest uncrested willow wren, or
chifF chaf, is the next early Summer bird
which we have remarked ; it utters two
sharp piercing notes, so loud in hollow
woods, as to occasion an echo, and is
usually first heard about the 20th of
March. White.

This bird, which Mr. White calls the
smallest willow wren or chifFchaf, makes its
appearance very early in the Spring, and
is very common with us • but I cannot

OF NATURE. 231

make out the three different species of
willow wrens which he assures us he has
discovered. Ever since the publication of
his history of Selborne I have used my
utmost endeavours to discover his three
birds, but hitherto without success. I have
frequently shot the bird which ** haunts
only the tops of trees and makes a sibilous
noise/^ even in the very act of uttering
that sibilous note, but it always proved to
be the common willow wren or his chifF
chaf. In short, I never could discover
more than one species, unless my greater
pettychaps, sylvia hortensis of Latham, ii
his greatest willow wren. Markwick.

FERN-OWL, OR GOAT-SUCKER,

The country people have a notion that
the fern-owl, or churn-owl, or eve-jarr,
which they also call a puckeridge, is very
injurious to weanling calves, by inflicting,
as it strikes at them, the fatal distemper
known to cow-leeches by the name of

252 ON VARIOUS PARTS

puckeridge. Thus does this harmless ill-
fated bird fall under a double imputation
which it by no means deserves — in Italy,
of sucking the teats of goats, whence it is
called caprimuigus ; and with us, of com-
municating a deadly disorder to cattle.
But the truth of the matter is, the malady
above-mentioned is occasioned by the
cestrus bovis, a dipterous insect, which lays
its eggs along the chines of kine, where
the maggots, when hatched, eat their way
through the hide of the beast into the
flesh, and grow to a very large size. I
have just talked with a man, who says he
has more than once stripped calves who
have died of the puckeridge ; that the ail
or complaint lay along the chine, where
the flesh was much swelled, and filled with
purulent matter. Once I myself saw a
large rough maggot of this sort squeezed
out of the back of a cow.

These maggots in Essex are called
wornils.

The least observation and attention
would convince men, that these birds nei-

OF NATURE. 233

ther injure the goatherd nor the grazier,
but are perfectly harmless, and subsist
alone, being night birds, on night insects,
such as scarabcei, dindi phalcencB ; and through
the month of July mostly on the scarahcBus
solstitialis, which in many districts abounds
at that season. Those that we have opened,
have always had their craws stuffed with
large night moths and their eggs, and
pieces of chaffers : nor does it any-wise
appear how they can, weak and unarmed
as they seem, inflict any harm upon kine,
.unless they possess the powers of animal
magnetism, and can affect them by flutter-
ing over them.

A fern-owl, this evening (August 27),
showed off in a very uuusual and enter-
taining manner, by hawking round and
round the circumference of my great
spreading oak for twenty times following,
keeping mostly close to the grass, but oc-
casionally glancing up amidst the boughs
of the tree. This amusing bird was then
in pursuit of a brood of some particular
phalaena belonging to the oak, of which

234 ON VARIOUS PARTS

there are several sorts ; and exhibited on
the occasion a command of wing superior,
I think, to that of the swallow itself.

When a person approaches the haunt of
fern-owls in an evening, they continue
flying round the head of the obtruder ; and
by striking their wings together above their
backs, in the manner that the pigeons
called smiters are known to do, make a
smart snap ; perhaps at that time they
are jealous for their young; and their
noise and gesture are intended by way of
menace.

Fern-owls have attachment to oaks, no
doubt on account of food ; for the next
evening we saw one again several times
among the bouglis of the same tree ; but it
did not skim round its stem over the grass^
as on the evening before. In May these
birds find the scarabanis melolontha on the
oak ; and the scarahceus solsiitialis at mid^
summer. These peculiar birds can only be
watched and observed for two hours in the
twenty-four: and then in a dubious twi-^

OF NATURE. 235

light an hour after sun-set and an hour
before sun-rise.

On this day (July 14, 1789) a woman
brought me two eggs of a fern-owl, oreve-
jarr, which she found on the verge of the
Hanger, to the left of the hermitage, under
a beechen shrub. This person, who lives
just at the foot of the Hanger, seems well
acquainted with these nocturnal swallows,
and says she has often found their eggs near
that place, and that they lay only two at
a time on the bare ground. The eggs were
oblong, dusky, and streaked somewhat in
the manner of the plumage of the parent
bird, and were equal in size at each end.
The dam was sitting on the eggs when
found, which contained the rudiments of
young, and would have been hatched per-
haps in a week. From hence we may see
the time of their breeding, which corres-
ponds pretty well with that of the swift,
as does also the period of their arrival.
Each species is usually seen about the her
ginning of May. Each breeds but once
in a Summer; each lays only two eggs>

2S6 ON VAlilOUS PARTS

July 4, 1790. The woman who brought
me two fern-owrs eggs last year on July
14, on this day produced me two more,
one of which had been laid this morning,
as appears plainly, because there was only
one in the nest the evening before. They
were found, as last July, on the verge of
the down above the hermitage under a
beechen shrub, on the . naked ground.
Last year those eggs were full of young,
and just ready to be hatched.

These circumstances point out the exact
time when these curious nocturnal migra-
tory birds lay their eggs and hatch their
young. Fern-owls, like snipes, stone cur-
lews, and some other birds, make no nest.
Birds that build on the ground do not
make much of nests. White.

No author that I am acquainted with
has given so accurate and pleasing an ac-
count of the manners and habits of the
goat-sucker as Mr. White, taken entirely
from his own observations. Its being a
nocturnal bird, has prevented my having

OF NATURE. 237

many opportunities of observing it. I
suspect that it passes the day in conceal-
ment amidst the dark and shady gloom of
deep-wooded dells, or as they are called
here gills ; having more than once seen it
roused from such solitary places by my
dogs, when shooting in the day-time. I
have also sometimes seen it in an evening,
but not long enough to take notice of its
habits and manners. I have never seen it
but in the Summer, between the months of
May and September. Markwick.

SAND MARTINS.

March 23, 1788. A gentleman, who
was this week on a visit at Waverley, took
the opportunity of examining some of the
holes in the sand banks with which that
district abounds. As these are undoubtedly
bored by bank-martins, and are the places
where they avowedly breed, he was in
hopes they might have slept there also.

238 oisr VARIOUS pahts

and that he might have surprised them
just as they were awaking from their Win-
ter slumbers. When he had dug for some
time, he found the holes were horizontal
and serpentine, as I had observed before ;
and that the nests were deposited at the
inner end, and had been occupied by broods
in former Summers, but no torpid birds
were to be found. He opened and exa-
mined about a dozen holes. Another gen-
tleman made the same search many years
ago, with as little success.

These holes were in depth about two
feet.

March 21, 1790. A single bank or sand
martin was seen hovering and playing
round the sand pit at Short Heath, where
in the Summer they abound.

April 9, 1793. A sober hind assures us,
that this day, on Wish-hanger common,
between Hedleigh and Frinsham, he saw
several bank-martins playing in and out,
and hanging before some nest holes in a
sand-hill, where these birds usually nestle.

This incident confirms my suspicions

OF NATURE. 239

that this species of hirando is to be seen
first of any ; and gives great reason to sup-
pose that they do not leave their wild
haunts at all, but are secreted amidst the
clefts and caverns of those abrupt cliffs
where they usually spend their Summers,

The late severe weather considered, it
is not very probable that these birds should
have migrated so early from a tropical
region, through all these cutting winds
and pinching frosts : but it is easy to sup-
pose that they may, like bats and flies,
have been awakened by the influence of
the sun, amidst their secret latebrae, where
they have spent the uncomfortable foodless
months in a torpid state, and the pro-
foundest of slumbers.

There is a large pond at Wish-hanger^
which induces these sand-martins to fre-
quent that district. For I have ever re-
marked that they haunt near great waters,
either rivers or lakes. White.

• Here, and in many other passages of his
writings, this very ingenious Naturalist fa-

240 ON VARIOUS PARTS

vours the opinion that part at least of the
swallow tribe pass their Winter in a torpid
state in the same manner as bats and
flies, and revive again on the approach of
Spring.

I have frequently taken notice of all
these circumstances, which induced Mr.
White to suppose that some of the hirun-
dines lie torpid during Winter. I have
seen, so late as November, on a finer day
than usual at that season of the year, two
or three swallows flying backwards and
forwards under a warm hedge, or on the
sunny side of some old building ; nay I
once saw on the 8th of December two
martins flying about very briskly, the
weather being mild. I had not seen any
considerable number either of swallows or
martins for a considerable time before;
from whence then could these few birds
come, if not from some hole or cavern
where they had laid themselves up for the
Winter ? Surely it will not be asserted that
these birds migrate back again from some
distant tropical region, merely on the ap-

OF NATURE. 241

pearance of a fine day or two at this late
season of the year. Again, very early in the
Spring, and sometimes immediately after
very cold severe weather, on its growing a
little warmer, a few of these birds sud-
denly make their appearance, long before
the generality of them are seen. These
appearances certainly favour the opinion of
their passing the Winter in a torpid state,
but do not absolutely prove the fact ; for
who ever saw them reviving of their own
accord from their torpid state, without
being first brought to the fire, and as it
were forced into life again ; soon after
which revivification they constantly die.

Markwick.

SWALLOWS, CONGREGATING, AND
DISAPPEARANCE OF.

During the severe winds that often pre-
vail late in the Spring, it is not easy to say
how the hirundines subsist : for they with-
draw themselves, and are hardly ever seen,

VOL. II. R

242 ON VARIOUS FARTS

ncH: do aoiy insects appear for their support.
That they can retire to rest, and sleep away
these uncomfortable periods as bats do, is a
matter rather to be suspected than proved :
or do they not rather spend their time in
deep and sheltered vales near waters, where
ittsects are more likely to be found ? Cer-
taiu it i&, that hardly any individuals of
this genus have at such time^ been seem
foy several days together.

September 13, 1791. The eoBgregating
fiocks of hirundiues on the church and
tower are very beautiful and amusing f
When they fly off together from the roof,,
on any alarm, they quite swarm in the air.
But they soon settle in heaps, and preening
their feathers, and lifting up their wings to
admit the sun, seem highly to enjoy the
warm situation. Thus they spend the heat
of the day, preparing for their emigration,,
and, as it were, consulting when and where
they are to go. The flight about the
church seems to consist chiefly of house
uptaf tinsr^ about 40O iin number : but there

OF NATURE. 243

are other places of rendezvous about the
village frequented at the same tifne.

it is remarkable, that though most of
them sit on the battlements and roof, y^t
many hang or dling for some time by their
claws against the surface of the walls, ih a
manner not practised by them at any other
time of their remaining with us.

The swallows seem to delight more in
holding their assemblies on trees.

November 3, 1789. Two swallows were
^€€h this iriotning at Newton vicarage-
house, hovering and settling on the roofs
and out-buildings. None have been ob-
served at Selborne since October 11. It is
very remarkable, that after the hirundines
have disappeared for some weeks, a few*
are occasionally seen again ; sometimes, in
the first week in November, and that only
for one day. Do they not withdraw and
slumber in some hiding place during the
interval ? for we Cannot suppose they had
migrated to warmer climes, and so returned
again for one day. Is it not more probable
that they are awakened from sleep, and
e2

£44 ON VARIOUS PARTS

like the bats are come forth to collect a
little food ? Bats appear at all seasons
through the Autumn and Spring months,
when the thermometer is at 50, because
then phalsenae and moths are stirring.
These swallows looked like young ones.

White.

Of their migration the proofs are such as
will scarcely admit of a doubt. Sir Charles^
Wager and Captain Wright saw vast
flocks of them at sea, when on their pas-
sage from one country to another. Our
author, Mr. White, saw what he deemed
the actual migration of these birds, and
which he has described at p. Ill of his His-
tory of Selborne ; and of their congregat-
ing together on the roofs^ of churches and
other buildings, and on trees, previous to
their departure, many instances occur; par-
ticularly I once observed a large flock of
house- martins on the roof of the church
here at Catsfield, which acted exactly in
the manner here described by Mr. White,
sometimes preening their feathers and

OF NATURE. 245

spreading their wings to the sun, and then
flying off all together, but soon returning
to their former situation. The greatest
part of these birds seemed to be young
ones. Markwick.

WAGTAILS.

While the cows are feeding in the moist
low pasture, broods of wagtails, white and
grey, run round them close up to their
noses, and under their very bellies, avail-
ing themselves of the flies that settle on
their legs, and probably finding worms
and larvcB that are roused by the trampling
of their feet. Nature is such an (Econo-
mist, that the most incongruous animals
can avail themselves of each other !

Interest makes strange friendships.

White.

Birds continually avail themselves of
particular and unusual circumstances to

246 ON VARIOUS PARTS

procure their food ; thus wagtails keep
playing about the iioses ajxd legs of cattle
as they feed, in quest of fliies ^nd other
insepts which abound near ithose animals ;
and great numbers of thepa will follow close
to the plough to devour the worms, &c.
that are turned up by that instrument. The
redbreast attends the gardener when dig-
ging his borders ; and will, with great
familiarity and tameness, pick out the
>yorms aln>ost; close to his spade, 2^ I have
frpqueintly seen. Starlings and ynagpie§
very often sit on the backs of sheep and
deer to pick out their ticks. MaiikwicK;

WRYNECK.

Thesp birds appear on the gr^ss-plots
and walks ; they walk a little as well as
hop, and thrust their bills into the turf,
in quest, I conclude, of ants, which are
their food. While they hold their bills in
the grass, they draw pi|t their prey with

OF NATURE. 24/

their tongues, which are so long as to be
soiled round their heads. Whits.

OROSBEAK.

Mr. B. shot a cock grosbeak, which he
had observed to haunt his garden for more
than a fortnight. I began to accuse this
bird of making, sad havock among the buds
■of the cherries, gooseberries, and wall-fruit
of all the neighbouring orchards. Upoa
opening its crop or craw, no buds were to
be seen ; but a mass of kernels of the stones
of fruits. Mr. B. observed that this bird
frequented the spot where plum-trees
grow ; and that he had seen it with some-
what hard in its mouth, which it broke
with difficulty; these were the stones af
damsons. The Latin ornithologists call this
bird coccothraustes, i. e. berry-breaker, be-
oause with its large horny beak it cracks
and breaks the shells of stone fruits for the
sake of the seed or kernel. Birds of this

218 ON VARIOUS PARTS, &C.

sort are rarely seen in England, and only
in Winter. White.

I have never seen this rare bird but
during the severest cold of the hardest
Winters : at which season of the year I
have had in my possession two or three
that were killed in this neighbourhood in
diiferent years. Markwick.

249

OBSERVATIONS

ON

QUADRUPEDS,

SHEEP.

The sheep on the downs this Winter
(1769) are xvery ragged, and their coats
much torn ; the shepherds say, they tear
their fleeces with their own mouths and
horns, and they are always in that way in
mild wet Winters, being teased and tickled
with a kind of lice.

After ewes and lambs are shorn, there is
great confusion and bleating, neither the
dams nor the young being able to distin-
guish one another as before. This embar-
rassment seems not so much to arise from

250 OBSERVATIONS ON

the loss of the fleece, which may occasion
an alteration in their appearance, as from
the defect of that notus odor, discriminating
each individual personally ; which also is
confounded by the strong scent of the
pitch and tar wherewith they are newly
marked ; for the brute creation recognize
each other more from the smell than the
sight ; and in matters of identity and di-
versity appeal much more to their noses
than their eyes. After sheep have been
washed there is the same confusion, from
the reason given above. White.

RABBITS,

Rabbits make incomparably the finest
turf, for they not only bite closer than
larger quadrupeds, but they allow no bents
to rise ; hence warrens produce much the
most delicate turf for gardens. Sheep
never touch the stalks of grasses. White.

quapruj?i;ds, 251

CAT AND SQUIRRELS.

A boy has taken three little young squir-
rels in their nest, or drey qis it is called in
these parts. These small creatures he put
under the care of a cat who had lately lost
her kittens, and finds that she nurses and
suckles them with the same assiduity and
affection as if they were her own offspring.
This circumstance corroborates my suspi-
cion, that the mention of exposed and de-
serted children being nurtured by female
beasts of prey who had lost their young,
may not be so improbable an incident as
many have supppsed ; and therefore may
be a justification of those authors who
h^ve gri^vely mentioned, what some have
^epiR§4 tp b^ ft wild and improbable story.

So many people went to s^e the little
squirrels siicWeiJ by ^ ^^t, that the foster
mother beqame jealous gf her chgirg^, and
in pain for tb^ir safety ; ^ncj therefore hid
tbim ov?r the g^iling, wherfi one 4iQ4.

252 OBSERVATIONS ON

This circumstance shows her affection for
these fondlings, and that she supposes the
squirrels to be her own young. Thus hens,
when they have hatched ducklings, are
equally attached to them as if they were
their own chickens. White.

HORSE.

An old hunting mare, which ran on the
common, being taken very ill, ran down
into the village, as it were, to implore the
help of men, and died the night following
in the street. White.

HOUNDS.

The king s stag hounds came down to
Alton, attended by a huntsman and six
yeomen prickers, with horns, to try for
the stag that has haunted Hartley Wood
for so long a time. Many hundreds of
people, horse and foot, attended the dogs
to see the deer unharboured; but though

QUADRUPEDS. 253

the huntsman drew Hartley Wood, and
Long Coppice, and Shrubwood, and Temple
Hangers, and in their way back Hartley
and Ward-le-ham Hangers, yet no stag
could be found.

The royal pack, accustomed to have the
deer turned out before them, never drew
the coverts with any address and spirit, as
many people that were present observed ;
and this remark the event has proved to be
a true one. For as a person was lately
pursuing a pheasant that was wing-broken
in Hartley Wood, he stumbled upon the
stag by accident, and ran in upon him as
he lay concealed amidst a thick brake of
brambles and bushes. White.

254

OBSERVATIONS

ON

INSECTS AND VERMES.

INSECTS IN C^ENERALv

The day and night iftse^ts occupy the
annuals alternately: the papilios, miiseae,
and apes, are succeeded at the close of day
by phalsense, earwigs, woodlice, &c. In
the dusk of the evening, when beetles
begin to buz, partridges begin to call ; these
two circumstances are exactly coincident.
Ivy is the last flower that supports the
hymenopterous and dipterous insects. On
sunny days quite on to November they
swarm on trees covered with this plant ;
and when they disappear, probably retire

OBSERVATIONS, &C. ^55

under the shelter of its leaves, concealing
themselves between its fibres and the trees
which it entwines. White.

This I have often observed, having seeii
bees and other winged insects swarming
about the flowers of the ivy very late in
the Autumn. Markwick.

Spiders, woodlice, lepism^ in ctipbo^ds-
and amofig sugar, some emp^des, gnat^,^
flies- of several species, some phalaenae in
hedges, earth-worms, &c. are stirring at
all times, when Winters are mild; and are of
great service' to those soft-billed birds that
never leave us.

On every suntiy day the Winler through,
clouds of ifiseet^, usua% called gnats (I
s\appose tipul^ and empedes),- aippjear sport-
ifftg atid dancing over the tops of the ever-
green trees in the shrubbery, and frisking
about as if the business of gemr^cm Wa^
still going on. Heiice it appears tha^ thes^e
diptera (which by tbei* si2^s appeaft- to be

256 OBSERVATIONS ON

of different species) are not subject to a
torpid state in the Winter, as most winged
insects are. At night and in frosty wea-
ther, and when it rains and blows, they
seem to retire into those trees. They often
are out in a fog. White.

This I have also seen, and have fre-
quently observed swarms of little winged
insects playing up and down in the air
in the middle of the Winter, even when the
ground has been covered with snow.

Markwick.

' HUMMING IN THE AIR.

There is a natural occurrence to be met
with upon the highest part of our down in
hot Summer days, which always amuses me
much, without giving me any satisfaction
with respect to the cause of it ; and that is,
a loud audible humming of bees in the air,
though not one insect is to be seen. This
scvund is to be heard distinctly the whole

INSECTS AND VERMES. 25?

common through, from the Money- dells,
to Mr. White's avenue gate. Any person
would suppose that a large swarm of bees
was in motion, and playing about over his
head. This noise was heard last week, on
June 28th.

" Resounds the living surface of the ground,

" Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum

" To him who muses ■ at noon.*'

" Thick in yon stream of light a thousand ways,

" Upward and downward, thwarting and convolv'd,

" The quivering nations sport."

Thomson's Seasons.
White.

CHAFFERS.

Cockchaffers seldom abound oftener than
once in three or four years ; when they
swarm they deface the trees and hedges.
Whole woods of oaks are stripped bare by
them.

Chaffers are eaten by the turkey, the
rook, and the house-sparrow.

The scarabcBus solstitialis first appears
about June 26 : they are very punctual in
their coming out every year. They are a

VOL. II. s

258 OBSERVATIONS ON

small species, about half the size of the
May-chaffer, and are known in some parts
by the name of the fern-chaffer. White.

A singular circumstance relative to the
cock-chaffer, or, as it is called here, the
May-bug, scarabceus melolontha, happened
this year (1800) : — My gardener in digging
some ground found about six inches under
the surface, two of these insects alive and
perfectly formed so early as the 24th of
March. When he brought them to me,
they appeared to be as perfect and as much
alive as in the midst of Summer, crawling
about as briskly as ever : yet I saw no more
of this insect till the 22nd of May, when it
began to make its appearance. How comes
it, that though it was perfectly formed so
early as the 24th of March, it did not show
itself above ground till nearly two months
afterwards ? Markwick.

INSECTS AND VERMES. 259

PTINUS PECTINICORNIS.

Those maggots that make worm- holes
in tables, chairs, bed-posts, &c. and destroy
wooden furniture, especially where there
is any sap, are thelarvse of the pti?ius pecti-
nicornis. This insect, it is probable, depo-
sits its eggs on the surface, and the worms
eat their way in.

In their holes they turn into their pupae
state, and so come forth winged in July :
eating their way through the valances or
curtains of a bed, or any other furniture
that happens to obstruct their passage.

They seem to be most inclined to breed
in beech ; hence beech will not make last-
ing utensils, or furniture. If their eggs are
deposited on the surface, frequent rubbing-
will preserve wooden furniture. White.

BLATTA ORIENTALIS. C0CK1R0ACH.

A neighbour complained to me that her
house was over-run with a kind of black
beetle, or, as she expressed herself, with a

s2

260 OBSERVATIONS ON

kind of black-bob, which swarmed in her
kitchen when they got up in the morning
before day-break.

Soon after this account, I observed an
unusual insect in one of my dark chimney
closets, and find since, that in the night
they swarm also in my kitchen. On exa-
mination, I soon ascertained the species to
be the blatta orientalis of Linnaeus, and the
blatta molendinaria of MoufFet. The male
is winged ; the female is not, but shows
somewhat like the rudiments of wings, as
if in the pupa state.

These insects belonged originally to the
warmer parts of America, and were con-
veyed from thence by shipping to the East
Indies ; and by means of commerce begin
to prevail in the more northern parts of
Europe, as Russia, Sweden, &c. How
long they have abounded in England I
cannot say ; but have never observed them
in my house till lately.

They love warmth, and haunt chimney-
closets, and the backs of ovens. Poda says
that these and house-crickets will not asso-

INSECTS AND VERMt^S. 26l

ciate together ; but he is mistaken in that
assertion, as Linnaeus suspected he was^
They are altogether night insects, lucifugcB,
never coming forth till the rooms are dark
and still, and escaping away nimbly at the
approach of a candle. Their antennae are.
remarkably long, slender, and flexile.

October 1790. After the servants are
gone to bed, the kitchen hearth swarms
with young crickets, and young hlattce mo-
lendinar'i(B of all sizes, from the most minute
growth to their full proportions. They
seem to live in a friendly manner together,
and not to prey the one on the other.

August 1792. After the destruction of
many thousands oiblattce molendinaricB, we
find that at intervals a fresh detachment of
old ones arrives, and particularly during
this hot season ; for the windows being left
open in the evenings, ^he males come
flying in at the casements from the neigh-
bouring houses, which swarm with them.
How the females, that seem to have no
perfect wings that they can use, can con-
trive to get from house to house, does not.

262 OBSERVATIONS ON

SO readily appear. These, like many in-
sects, when they find their present abodes
overstocked, have powers of migrating to
fresh quarters. Since the hlattce have been
so much kept under, the crickets have
greatly increased in number. White.

GRYLLUS DOMESTICUS -HOUSE
CRICKET.

November. After the servants are gone
to bed, the kitchen hearth swarms with
minute crickets not so large as fleas, which
must have been lately hatched. So that
these domestic insects, cherished by the
influence of a constant large fire, regard
not the season of the year, but produce
their young at a time when their congeners
are either dead, or laid up for the Winter,
to pass away the uncomfortable months in
the profoundest slumbers, and a state of
torpidity.

When house-crickets are out and run-
ning about in a room in the night, if sur-
prised by a candle, they give two or three

INSECTS AND VERMES. 26S

shrill notes, as it were for a signal to their
fellows, that they may escape to their cran-
nies and lurking holes, to avoid danger.

White.

CIMEX LINEARIS.

August 12, 1775. Cimices lineares are
now in high copulation on ponds and
pools. The females, who vastly exceed the
males in bulk, dart and shoot along on the
surface of the water with the males on their
backs. When a female chooses to be dis-
engaged, she rears, and jumps, and
plunges, like an unruly colt; the lover
thus dismounted, soon finds a new mate.
The females, as fast as their curiosities are
satisfied, retire to another part of the lake,
perhaps to deposit their foetus in quiet ;
hence the sexes are found separate, except
where generation is going on. From the
multitude of minute young of all gradations
of sizes, these insects seem without doubt
to be viviparous. White.

264 OBSERVATIONS ON

PHAL.ENA QUERCUS.

Most of our oaks are naked of leaves,
and even the Holt in general, having been
ravaged by the caterpillars of a small pha-
Icena which is of a pale yellow colour.
These insects, though a feeble race, yet,
from their infinite numbers, are of wonder-
ful effect, being able to destroy the foliage
of whole forests and districts. At this sea-
son they leave their aurelia, and issue forth
in their fly-state, swarming and covering
the trees and hedges.

In a field near Greatham, I saw a flight
of swifts busied in catching their prey near
the ground ; and found they were hawking
after these phalcence. The aurelia of this
moth is shining and as black as jet ; and
lies wrapped up in a leaf of the tree, which
is rolled round it, and secured at the ends
by a web, to prevent the maggot from fall-
ing out. White.

I suspect that the insect here meant is
not the phalcena quercus, but the phalcsna

INSECTS AND VERMES. 265

viridata, concerning which, I find the fol-
lowing note in my Naturalist's Calendar
for the year 1785:

About this time, and for a few days last
past, I observed the leaves of almost all the
oak-trees in Denn copse to be eaten and
destroyed, and, on examining more nar-
rowly, saw an infinite number of small
beautiful pale green moths flying about
the trees ; the leaves of which that were
not quite destroyed were curled up, and
withinside were the exuvice or remains of
the chrysalis, from whence I suppose the
moths had issued, and whose caterpillar
had eaten the leaves. Mark wick.

EPHEMERA CAUDA BISETA.
MAY FLY.

June 10, 1771. Myriads of May flies
appear for the first time on the Alresford
stream. The air was crowded with them,
and the surface of the water covered. Large
trouts sucked them in as they lay strug-

266 OBSERVATIONS ON

gling on the surface of the stream, unable
to rise till their wings were dried.

This appearance reconciled me in some
measure to the wonderful account that
Scopoli gives of the quantities emerging
from the rivers of Camiola. Their motions
are very peculiar, up and down for many
yards almost in a perpendicular line.

White.

I once saw a swarm of these insects
playing up and down over the surface of a
pond in Denn park, exactly in the manner
described by this accurate naturalist. It
was late in the evening of a warm Sum-
mer's day, when I observed them.

Markwick.

SPHYNX OCELLATA.

A vast insect appears after it is dusk,
flying with a humming noise, and inserting
its tongue into the bloom of the honey-

INSECTS AND VERMES. 267

suckle ; it scarcely settles upon the plants,
but feeds on the wing in the manner of
humming birds. White.

I have frequently seen the large bee
moth, spJmix stellatarum, inserting its long-
tongue or proboscis into the centre of
flowers, and feeding on their nectar, with-
out settling on them, but keeping con-
stantly on the wing. Markwick.

WILD BEE.

There is a sort of wild bee frequenting
the garden-campion for the sake of its to-
mentum, which probably it turns to sortie
purpose in the business of nidification. It
is very pleasant to see with what address it
strips off the pubes, running from the top
to the bottom of a branch, and shaving it
bare with all the dexterity of a hoop shaver.
When it has got a vast bundle, almost as
large as itself, it flies away, holding it se-
cure between its chin and its fore legs.

268 OBSERVATIONS ON

There is a remarkable hill on the downs
near Lewes in Sussex, known by the name
of Mount Carburn, which overlooks that
town, and affords a most engaging prospect
of all the country round, besides several
views of the sea. On the very summit of
this exalted promontory, and amidst the
trenches of its Danish camp, there haunts
a species of wild bee, making its nest in the
chalky soil. When people approach the
place, these insects begin to be alarmed,
and, with a sharp and hostile sound, dash
and strike round the heads and faces of
intruders. I have often been interrupted
myself while contemplating the grandeur
of the scenery around me, and have thought
myself in danger of being stung.

White.

WASPS.

Wasps abound in woody wild districts
far from neighbourhoods ; they feed on
flowers, and catch flies and caterpillars to
carry to their young. Wasps make their

INSECTS AND VERMES. 269

nests with the raspings of sound timber ;
hornets, with what they gnaw from de-
cayed : these particles of wood are kneaded
up with a mixture of saliva from their
bodies and moulded into combs.

When there is no fruit in the gardens,
wasps eat flies, and suck the honey from
flowers, from ivy blossoms, and umbellated
plants : they carry off also flesh from
butchers' shambles. White.

In the year 1775 wasps abounded so
prodigiously in this neighbourhood, that,
in the month of August, no less than seven
or eight of their nests were ploughed up
in one field ; of which there were several
instances, as I was informed.

In the Spring, about the beginning of
April, a single wasp is sometimes seen,
which is of a larger size than usual ; this I
imagine is the queen or female wasp, the
mother of the future swarm.

Markwick.

270 OBSERVATIONS ON

OESTRUS CURVICAUDA.

This insect lays its nits or eggs on
horses' legs, flanks, &c. each on a single
hair. The maggots when hatched do not
enter the horses' skins, but fall to the
ground. It seems to abound most in
moist, moorish places, though sometimes
seen in the uplands. White.

NOSE FLY.

About the beginning of July, a species of
fly (musca) obtains, which proves very tor-
menting to horses, trying still to enter their
nostrils and ears, and actually laying their
eggs, in the latter of those organs, or per-
haps in both. When these abound, horses
in woodland districts become very impati-
ent at their work, continually tossing their
heads, and rubbing their noses on each
other, regardless of the driver, so that ac-
cidents often ensue. In the heat of the
day, men are often obliged to desist from
ploughing. Saddle-horses are also very

INSECTS AND VERMES. 271

troublesome at such seasons. Country peo-
ple call this insect the nose fly. White.

Is not this insect the oestrus nasaiis of
Linnseus, so well described by Mr. Clark
in the third volume of the Linngean Trans-
actions, under the name of oestrus veteri-
nus? Markwick.

ICHNEUMON FLY.

I saw lately a small ichneumon fly at-
tack a spider much larger than itself on
a grass walk. When the spider made any
resistance, the ichneumon applied her tail
to him, and stung him with great vehe-
mence, so that he soon became dead and
motionless. The ichneumon then running
backward, drew her prey very nimbly over
the walk into the standing grass. This
spider would be deposited in some hole
where the ichneumon would lay some eggs ;
and as soon as the eggs were hatched, the

272 OBSERVATIONS ON

carcase would afford ready food for the
maggots.

Perhaps some eggs might be injected
into the body of the spider, in the act of
stinging. Some ichneumons deposit their
eggs in the aurelia of moths and butter-
flies. White.

In my Naturalist's Calendar for 1795,
July 21st, I find the following note :

It is not uncommon for some of the
species of ichneumon flies to deposit their
eggs in the chrysalis of a butterfly : some
time ago I put two of the chrysalis of a
butterfly into a box and covered it with
gauze,_to discover what species of butterfly
they would produce ; but instead of a but-
terfly, one of them produced a number of
small ichneumon flies.

There are many instances of the great
service these little insects are to mankind
in reducing the number of noxious insects,
by depositing their eggs in the soft bodies
of their larvce ; but none more remarkable
than that of the ichneumon tipula, which

INSECTS AND VERMES. 273

pierces the tender body and deposits its
eggs in the larva of the tipula tritici, an in-
sect which, when it abounds greatly, is
very prejudicial to the grains of wheat.
This operation I have frequently seen it
perform with wonder and delight.

Markwick.

BOMBYLIUS MEDIUS.

The hofnhylius medius is much about in
March and the beginning of April, and
soon seems to retire. It is an hairy insect,
like an humble-bee, but with only two
wings, and a long straight beak, with
which it sucks the early flowers. The
female seems to lay its eggs as it poises on
its wings, by striking its tail on the ground,
and against the grass that stands in its way,
in a quick manner, for several times to-
gether. White.

I have often seen this insect fly with
great velocity, stop on a sudden, hang ia

VOL. II. T

274 OBSERVATIONS ON

the air in a stationary position for some
time, and then fly off again ; but do not
recollect having ever seen it strike its tail
against the ground, or mj Qth^r sub-
stance. Markwick.

MUSC^.— FLIES.

In the decline of the year, when the
mornings and evenings become chilly,
many species of flies (muscce) retire into
houses, and swarm in the windows.

At first they are very brisk and alerl;
but as they grow more torpid, one cannot
help observing that they move with diffi-
culty, and are scarce able to lift their legs,
which seem as if glued to the glass ; and
by degrees many do actually stick on till
they die in the place.

It has been observed that divers flies,
besides their sharp hooked nails, have
also skinny palms, or flaps to their feet,
whereby they are enabled to stick qti glass
and other smooth, bodies, a^d to walk on

INSECTS AND VERMES. 275

ceilings with their backs downward, by-
means of the pressure of the atmosphere on
those flaps ; the weight of which they easily-
overcome in warm weather when they are
brisk and alert. But in the decline of the
year, this resistance becomes too mighty
for their diminished strength ; and we see
flies labouring along, and lugging their feet
in windows, as if they stuck fast to the
glass, and it is with the utmost difliculty
they can draw one foot after another, and
disengage their hollow caps from the slip-
pery surface.

Upon the same principle that flies stick
and support themselves, do boys, by way
of play, carry heavy weights by only a
piece of wet leather at the end of a string
clapped close on the surface of a stone.

Whiter

TIPtJLiE, OR EMPEBES.

May. Millions of empedes, or tipulup,

come forth at the close of day, and swarm

to such a degree as to fill the air. At this

juncture they sport and copulate; as it

T 2

:276 OBSERVATIONS oisr

grows more dark they retire. All day they
hide in the hedges. As they rise in a
cloud they appear like smoke.

I do not ever remember to have seen
such swarms, except in the fens of the Isle
of Ely. They appear most over grass
grounds. White.

APHIDES.

On the 1st of August, about half an hour
after three in the afternoon, the people of
Selborne were suprised by a shower of
Aphides which fell in these parts. They
who were walking the streets at that time
found themselves covered with these in-
sects, which settled also on the trees and
gardens, and blackened all the vegetables
where they alighted. These armies, no
doubt, were then in a state of emigration*
and shifting their quarters ^ and might per-
haps come from the great hop-plantations
of Kent or Sussex, the wind being that
day at North. They were observed at the
same time at Farnham, and all along the
vale at Alton. . White.

INSECTS AND VERMES. ?77

ANTS,

August 23, Every ant-hill about this
time is in a strange hurry and confusion ;
and all the winged ants, agitated by some
violent impulse, are leaving their homes,
and, bent on emigration, swarm by myriads
in the air, to the great emolument of the
hirundines, which fare luxuriously. Those
that escape the swallows return no more to
their nests, but looking out for fresh settle-
ments, lay a foundation for future colonies.
All the females at this time are pregnant :
the males that escape being eaten, v^ander
away and die.

October 2. Flying-ants, male and fe-
male, usually swarm and migrate on hot
sunny days in August and September ; but
this day a vast emigration took place in my
garden, and myriads came forth, in appear-
ance from the drain which goes under the
fruit wall ; filling the air and the adjoining
trees and shrubs with their numbers. The
females were full of eggs. This late
swarming is probably owing to the back-

278 OBSERVATIONS ON

ward, wet season. The day following, not
one flying ant was to be seen.

Horse-ants travel home to their nests
laden with flies, which they have caught,
and the aurelise of smaller ants, which they
§eize by violence. White.

In my Naturalist's Calendar for the year
1777, on September 6th, I find the follow-
ing note to the article Flying Ants :

I saw a prodigious swarm of these ants
flying about the top of some tall elm-trees
(close by my house); some were conti-
nually dropping to the ground as if from
the trees, and others rising up from the
ground: many of them were joined toge-
ther in copulation ; and I imagine their life
is but short, for as soon as produced from-
the egg by the heat of the sun, they pro-
pagate their species, and soon after perish.
They were black, somewhat like the small
black ant, and had four wings. I saw
also, at another place, a large sort which
were yellowish. On the 8th of September,
178S, I again observed the same circum-

INSECTS AND VERMES. 279

Stance of a vast nutnber of these insects
flying near the tops of the elms and dropr
ping to the ground.

On the 2nd of March, 1777, 1 saw great
numbers of ants come out of the ground.

Markwick.

GLOW-WORMS.

By observing two gloSv-worms which
were brought from the field to the bank iii
the garden, it appeared to us, that these
little creatures put out their lamps between
eleven and twelve, and shine no more for
the rest of the night.

Male glow-worms, attracted by the light
of the candles, come into the parlour.

White.

MRTH-WORMS.

Earth-worms make their casts most in
mild weather about March and April ; they
do not lie torpid in Winter, but come forth

S80 OBSERVATIONS ON

when there is no frost ; they travel about
in rainy nights, as appears from their sinu-
ous tracks on the soft muddy soil, perhaps
in search of food.

.When earth-worms lie out a-nights on
the turf, though they extend their bodies a
great way, they do not quite leave their
holes, but keep the ends of their tails fixed
therein, so that on the least alarm they can
retire with precipitation under the earth.
Whatever food falls within their reach
when thus extended, they seem to be cou*
tent with, such as blades of grass, straws,
fallen leaves, the ends of which they often
draw into their holes ; even in copulation
their hinder parts never quit their holes :
so that no two, except they lie within reach
of each other's bodies, can have any com-
merce of that kind ; but as every individual
is an hermaphrodite, there is no difficulty
in meeting with a mate, as would be the
case were they of different sexes.

White,

INSECTS AND VERMES. 281

SNAILS AND SLUGS.

The shell-less snails called slugs are in
motion all the Winter in mild weather,
and commit great depredations on garden
plants, and much injure the green wheat,
the loss of which is imputed to earth-
worms ; while the shelled snail, the cpipjotxof,
does not come forth at all till about April
10th, and not only lays itself up pretty
early in Autumn, in places secure from
frost, but also throws out round the mouth
of its shell a thick operculum formed from
its own saliva; so that it is perfectly secured,
and corked up as it were, from all incle
mencies. The cause why the slugs are
able to endure the cold so much better
than shell-snails is, that their bodies are
covered with slime as whales are with
blubber.

Snails copulate about Midsummer; and
soon after deposit their eggs in the mould
by running their heads and bodies under

282 OBSERVATIONS ON

ground. Hence the way to be rid of them
is, to kill as many as possible before they
begin to breed.

Large, grey, shell-less, cellar snails lay
themselves up about the same time with
those that live abroad ; hence it is plain
that a defect of warmth is not the only cause
that influences their retreat. White.

SNAKES SLOUGH.

-I There the snake throws her enameU'd skin.

Shakespeare, Mids, Night's Dream.

About the middle of this month (Sep-
tember) we found in a field near a hedge
the slough of a large snake, which seemed
to have been newly cast. From circum-
stances it appeared as if turned wrong side
outward, and as drawn off backward, like
a stocking or woman^s glove. Not only the
whole skin, but scales from the very eyes,
are peeled off, and appear in the head of
the slough like a pair of spectacles. The
reptile, at the time of changing his coat.

INSECTS AND VERMES. 283

had entangled himself intricately in the
grass and weeds, so that the friction of the
stalks and blades might promote this curious
shifting of his exuviae.

Lubrica serpens

" Exuit in spinis vestem.'* LucreL

It would be a most entertaining sight
could a person be an eye-witness to such a
feat, and see the snake in the act of chang-
ing his garment. As the convexity of the
scales of the eyes in the slough is now in-
ward, that circumstance alone is a proof
that the skin has been turned : not to men-
tion that now the present inside is much
darker than the outer. If you look through
the scales of the snake s eyes from the
concave side, viz. as the reptile used them,
they lessen objects much. Thus it appears
from what has been said, that snakes crawl
out of the mouth of their own sloughs, and
quit the tail part last, just as eels are skinned
by a cook maid. While the scales of the
eyes are growing loose, and a new skin is
forming, the creature, in appearance, must

284 OBSERVATIONS, &C,

be blind, and fe^l itself in an awkward
uneasy situation. White.

I have seen many sloughs or skins of
snakes entire, after they have cast them
off ; and once in particular I remember to
have found one of these sloughs so intri-
cately interwoven amongst some brakes
that it was with difficulty removed without
being broken : this undoubtedly was done
by the creature to assist in getting rid of
its incumbrance.

I have great reason to suppose that the
eft or common lizard also casts its skin or
slough, but not entire like the snake ; for
on the 30th of March, 1777, I saw one
with something ragged hanging to it, which
appeared to be part of its old skin.

Markwick.

285

OBSERVATIONS

ON

VEGETABLES.

TREES, ORDER OF LOSING THEIR
LEAVES.

One of the first trees that become naked
is the walnut ; the mulberry, the ash, espe-
cially if it bears many keys, and the horse-
chesnut come next. All lopped trees,
while their heads are young, carry their
leaves a long while. Apple-trees and
peaches remain green very late, often till
the end of November : young beeches
never cast their leaves till Spring, till the
new leaves sprout and push them off : in
the Autumn the beechen-leaves turn of a

286 OBSERVATIONS ON

deep chesnut colour. Tall beeches cast
their leaves about the end of October.

White.

SIZE AND GROWTH.

Mr. Marsham of Stratton, near Norwich,
informs me by letter thus : *' I became a
planter early ; so that an oak which I
planted in 1720 is become now, at 1 foot
from the earth, 12 feet 6 inches in circum-
ference, and at 14 feet (the half of the tim-
ber length) is 8 feet 2 inches. So if the
bark was to be measured as timber, the
tree gives U6-J- feet,^ buyer's measure*
Perhaps you never heard of a larger oak
while, the planter was living. I flatter
myself that I increased the growth by
washing the stem, and digging a circle as
far as I supposed the. roots to extend, and
by spreading sawdust,, &c. as related in
the Phil. Trans. I wish I had begun with
beeches (my fevourite trees as well as
^ youra), I might then have seen very large
trees of my own raising. But I did not

VEGETABLES. 287

begin with beech till 1741, /and then by-
seed ; so that my largest is now at five
feet from the ground, 6 feet 3 inches in
girth, and with its head spreads a circle of
20 yards diameter. This tree was also
dug round, washed, &c,*' Stratton^ 24
Juli/, 1790.

The circumference of trees planted by
myself at 1 foot from the ground (1790).

feet.

inches.

Oak in 1730 -

. - 4

5

Ash 1730 -

- 4

ei

Great fir 1751

. - 5

0

Greatest beech 1751

- . 4

0

Elm 1750 -

. - 5

3

Lime 1756 -

- .. 5

5

The great oak in the Holt, which is
deemed by Mr. Marsham to be the biggest
in this island, at 7 feet from the ground,
measures in circumference 34 feet. It has
in old times lost several of its boughs, and
is tending to decay. Mr. Marsham; comr
putes, that at 14 feet length this oak con-
tains 1 ,000 feet of timber.

288 OBSERVATIONS ON

It has been the received opinion that
'trees grow in height only by their annual
upper shoot. But my neighbour over the
way, whose occupation confines him to one
spot, assures me that trees are expanded
and raised in the lower parts also. The
reason that he gives is this : the point of
one of my firs began for the first time to
peer over an opposite roof at the begin-
ning of Summer ; but before the growing
season was over, the whole shoot of the
year, and three or four joints of the body
beside, became visible to him as he sits on
his form in his shop. According to this
supposition, a tree may advance in height
considerably, though the Summer shoot
should be destroyed every year. White.

FLOWING OF SAP.

If the bough of a vine is cut late in the
Spring, just before the shoots push out, it
will bleed considerably ; but after the leaf
is out, any part may be taken off without

VEGETABLES. 289

the least inconvenience. So oaks may be
barked while the leaf is budding ; but as
soon as they are expanded, the bark will
no longer part from the wood, because the
sap that lubricates the bark and makes it
part, is evaporated off through the leaves.

White.

RENOVATION OF LEAVES.

When oaks are quite stripped of their
leaves by chaffers, they are clothed again
soon after Midsummer with a beautiful
foliage ; but beeches, horse-chesnuts, and
maples, once defaced by those insects,
never recover their beauty again for the
whole season. White.

ASH TREES.

Many ash trees bear loads of keys every
year, others never seem to bear any at all.
The prolific ones are naked of leaves and
unsightly ; those that are steril abound in
foliage, and carry their verdure a long
while, and are pleasing objects. White.^

VOL. II. u

290 OBSERVATIONS ON

BEECH.

Beeches love to grow in crowded situa-
tions, and will insinuate themselves through
the thickest covert, so as to surmount it
all : are therefore proper to mend thin
places in tall hedges. White.

SYCAMORE.

May 12. The sycamore, or great maple,
is in bloom, and at this season makes a
beautiful appearance, and affords much
pabulum for bees, smelling strongly like
honey. The foliage of this tree is very fine,
and very ornamental to outlets. All the
maples have saccharine juices. White.

GALLS OF LOMBARDY POPLAR.

The stalks and ribs of the leaves of the
Lombardy poplar are embossed with large
tumours of an oblong shape, which, by in-
curious observers have been taken for the

VEGETABLES. 291

fruit of the tree. These galls are full of
small insects, some of which are winged,
and some not. The parent insect is of the
genus o^ cynips. Some poplars in the gar-
den are quite loaded with these excres-
cences. White.

CHESNUT TIMBER.

John Carpenter brings home some old
chesnut-trees which are very long ; in se-
veral places the wood-peckers had begun
to bore them. The timber and bark of
these trees are so very like oak, as might
easily deceive an indifferent observer, but
the wood is very shakey, and towards the
heart cup-shnkey (that is to say, apt to se-
parate in round pieces like cups), so that
the inward parts are of no use. They are
bought for the purpose of cooperage, but
must make but ordinary barrels, buckets,
&c. Chesnut sells for half the price of oak ;
but has sometimes been sent into the king's
dock, and passed off instead of oak.

White.
u 9

292 OBSERVATIONS ON

LIME BLOSSOMS.

Dr. Chandler tells, that in the south of
France, an infusion of the blossoms of the
lime tree, tilia, is in much esteem as a
remedy for coughs, hoarsenesses, fevers,
&c. and that at Nismes, he saw an avenue
of limes that was quite ravaged and torn in
pieces by people greedily gathering the
bloom, which they dried and kept for these
purposes.

Upon the strength of this information
we made some tea of lime blossoms, and
found it a very soft, well flavoured, plea-
sant, saccharine julep, in taste much re-
sembling the juice of liquorice. White*

BLACKTHORN.

This tree usually blossoms while cold
N. E. winds blow ; so that the harsh rug-
ged; weather obtaining at this season, is
called by the country-people, blackthorn
winter. White.

VEGETABLES. 293

IVY BERRIES/

Ivy berries afford a noble and providen-
tial supply for birds in Winter and Spring ;
for the first severe frost freezes and spoils
lall the havv^s, sometimes by the middle of
November; ivy berries do not seem to
freeze. WhitS:.

HOPS.

The culture of Virgil's vines corresponded
very exactly with the modern management
of hops. I might instance in the perpetual
diggings and hoeings, in the tying to the
stakes and poles, in pruning the superflu-
ous shoots, &c. but lately I have observed
a new circumstance, w^hich was, a neigh-
bouring farmer's harrowing between the
rows of hops with a small triangular harrow,
-drawn by one horse, and guided by two
handles. This occurrence brought to my
mind the following passage :

ipsa

" Flecterc luctuntcs inter vineta juvencos."

Georgic II.

294 OBSERVATIONS ON

Hops are diecious plants ; hence perhaps
it might be proper, though not practised,
to leave purposely some male plants in
every garden, that their farina might im-
pregnate the blossoms. The female plants
without their male attendants are not in
their natural state : hence we may suppose
the frequent failure of crop so incident to
hop-grounds ; no other growth, cultivated
by man, has such frequent and general
failures as hops.

Two hop-gardens much injured by a
hail-storm, June 5, show now (September
2) a prodigious crop, and larger and fairer
hops than any in the parish. The owners
seem now to be convinced that the hail,
by beating off the tops of the binds, has
increased the side-shoots, and improved
the crop. Query. Therefore should not
the tops of hops be pinched off when the
binds are very gross, and strong?

White.

VEGETABLES. 295

.SEED LYING DORMANT.

The naked part of the Hanger is now
covered with thistles of various kinds.
The seeds of these thistles may have lain
probably under the thick shade of the
beeches for many years, but could not ve-
getate till the sun and air were admitted.
When old beech trees are cleared away,
the naked ground in a year or two becomes
covered with strawberry plants, the seeds
of which must have lain in the ground for
an age at least. One of the slidders or
trenches down the middle , of the Hanger,
close covered over with lofty beeches near
a century old, is still called strawherry-
slidder, though no strawberries have grown
there in the memory of man. That sort of
fruit did once, no doubt, abound there,
and will again when the obstruction is
removed. White.

296 OBSERVATIONS ON

BEANS SOWN BY BIRDS.

Many horse-beans sprang up in my field-
walks in the autumn, and are now grown
to a considerable height. As the Ewel
was in beans last Summer, it is most likely
that these seeds came from thence ; but
then the distance is too considerable for
them to have been conveyed by mice. It
is most probable therefore that they were
brought by birds, and in particular by jays
and pies, who seem to have hid them
among the grass and moss, and then to
have forgotten where they had stowed
them. Some peas are growing also in the
same situation, and probably under the
same circumstances. White.

CUCUMBERS SET BY BEES.

If bees, who are much the best setters of
cucumbers, do not happen to take kindly
to the frames, the best way is to tempt
them by a little honey put on the male and

VEGETABLES. 297

female bloom. When they are once in-
duced to haunt the frames, they set all the
fruit, and will hover with impatience round
the lights in a morning, till the glasses are
opened. Probatum est. White.

WHEAT.

A notion has always obtained, that in
England hot Summers are productive of
fine crops of wheat; yet in the years 1780
and 1781, though the heat was intense, the
wheat was much mildewed, and the crop
light. Does not severe heat, while the
straw is milky, occasion its juices to ex-
ude, which being extravasated, occasion
spots, discolour the stems and blades, and
injure the health of the plants ? White.

TRUFFLES.

' August. A truffle-hunter called on us,
having in his pocket several large truffles
found in this neighbourhood. He says
these roots are not to be found in deep

298 OBSERVATIONS ON

woods, but in narrow-hedge rows and the
skirts of coppices. Some truffles, he in-
formed us, lie two feet within the earth,
and some quite on the surface ; the latter,
he added, have little or no smell, and are
not so easily discovered by the dogs as
those that lie deeper. Half-a-crown a
pound was the price which he asked for
this commodity.

Truffles never abound in wet Winters
and Springs. They are in season, in dif-
ferent situations, at least nine months in
the year. White.

TREMELLA NOSTOC.

Though the weather may have been ever
so dry and burning, yet after two or three
wet days, this jelly-like substance abounds
on the walks. White.

FAIRY RINGS.

The cause, occasion, call it what you
will, of fairy-rings^ subsists in the turf.

VEGETABLES. 299

and is convey able with it ; for the turf of
my garden-walks, brought from the down
above, abounds with those appearances,
which vary their shape, and shift situation
continually, discovering themselves now
in circles, now in segments, and sometimes
in irregular patches and spots. Wherever
they obtain, puff-balls abound ; the seeds
of which were doubtless brought in the
turf. White.

300

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

BAROMETER.

November 22, 1768. A remarkable fall
of the barometer all over the kmgdom. At
Selborne we had' no wind, and not much
rain; only vast, swagging, rock-like clouds,
appeared at a distance. White.

PARTIAL FROST.

The country people, who are abroad in
Winter mornings long before sun-rise, talk
much of hard frost in some spots, and none
in others. The reason of these partial frosts
is obvious, for there are at such times par-
tial fogs about ; where the fog obtains,
little or no frost appears : but where the

METEOROLOOrCAL, &C. 301

air is clear, there it freezes hard. So the
frost takes place either on hill or in dale,
wherever the air happens to be clearest and
freest from vapour. White.

THAW. '

Thaws are sometimes surprisingly quick,
considering the small quantity of rain.
Does not the warmth at such times come
from below ? The cold in still, severe sea-
sons seems to come down from above : for
the coming over of a cloud in severe nights
raises the thermometer abroad at once full
ten degrees. The first notices of thaws
often seem to appear in vaults, cellars, &c.

If a frost happens, even when the ground
is considerably dry, as soon as a thaw takes
place, the paths and fields are all in a bat-
ter. Country people say that the frost
draws moisture. But the true philosophy
is, that the steam and vapours continually
ascending from the earth, are bound in by
the frost, and not suffered to escape till re-
leased by the thaw. No wonder then that

302 METEOROLOGIC AL

the surface is all in a float ; since the quan-
tity of moisture by evaporation that arises
daily from every acre of ground is astonish-
ing. White.

FROZEN SLEET.

January 20. Mr. H.'s man says, that he
caught this day, in a lane near Hackwood-
park, many rooks, which, attempting to
fly, fell from the trees with their wings
frozen together by the sleet, that froze as
it fell. There were, he affirms, many
dozen so disabled. White.

MIST, CALLED LONDON SMOKE.

This is a blue mist which has somewhat
the smell of coal-smoke, and as it always
comes to us with a N. E. wind, is sup-
posed to come from London. It has a
strong smell, and is supposed to occasion
blights. When such mists appear they are
usually followed by dry weather.

White.

OBSERVATIONS. 303

REFLECTION ON FOG.

When people walk in a deep white fog
by night with a Ian thorn, if they will turn
their backs to the light, they will see their
shades impressed on the fog in rude gigan-
tic proportions. This phenomenon seems
not to have been attended to, but implies
the great density of the meteor at that
juncture. White.

HONEY DEW.

June 4, 1783. Vast honey dews this
week. The reason of these seems to be,
that in hot days the effluvia of flowers are
drawn up by a brisk evaporation, and then
in the night fall down with the dews with
which they are entangled.

This clammy substance is very grateful
to bees, who gather it with great assiduity,
but it is injurious to the trees on which it
happens to fall, by stopping the pores of
the leaves. The greatest quantity falls in

304 METEOROLOGICAL

still close weather ; because winds disperse
it, and copious dews dilute it, and prevent
its ill effects. It falls mostly in hazy warm
weather. White.

MORNING CLOUDS.

After a bright night and vast dews, the
sky usually becomes cloudy by eleven or
twelve o'clock in the forenoon, and clear
again towards the decline of the day. The
reason seems to be, that the dew, drawn
up by evaporation, occasions the clouds ;
which, towards evening, being no longer
rendered buoyant by the warmth of the
sun, melt away, and fall down again in
dews. If clouds are watched in a still
warm evening, they will be seen to melt
away, and disappear. White.

DRIPPING WEATHER AFTER
DROUGHT.

No one that has not attended to such
matters, and taken down remarks, can be

OBSERVATIONS. 305

aware how much ten days dripping wea-
ther will influence the growth of grass or
corn after a severe dry season. This pre-
sent summer, 1776, yielded a remarkable
instance ; for till the 30th of May the fields
were burnt up and naked, and the barley
not half out of the ground ; but now, June
10, there is an agreeable prospect of plenty.

White.

AURORA BOREALIS.

November 1, 1787. The N. aurora
made a particular appearance, forming it-
self into a broad, red, fiery belt, which
extended from E. to W. across the welkin :
but the moon rising at about ten o'clock,
in unclouded majesty, in the E. put an
end to this grand, but awful meteorous
phenomenon. White.

BLACK SPRING, 1771.

Dr. Johnson says, that '* in 1771 the
season was so severe in the island of Sky^

VOL. II. X

306 METEOROLOGICAL, &C.

that it is remembered by the name of the
black spring. The snow, which seldom lies
at all, covered the ground for eight weeks,
many cattle died, and those that survived
were so emaciated that they did not re-
quire the male at the usual season." The
case was just the same with us here in the
south ; never was so many barren cows
known as in the spring following that
dreadful period. Whole dairies missed
being in calf together.

At the end of March the face of the earth
was naked to a surprising degree. Wheat
hardly to be seen, and no signs of any
grass; turnips all gone, and sheep in a
starving way. All provisions rising in
price. Farmers cannot sow for want of
rain. White.

307

OBSERVATIONS

ON SOME PASSAGES IN

MR, WHITE'S NATURAL HISTORY

S E L B O R N E.

VOL. I.

Page 14. There is a village in the west of England
remarkable for the quantity it possesses of the " Comu
Aramonis." The name of it is Keynsham, between
Bath and Bristol, ' This has given rise to a fabulous
legend, which says that St. Keyna, from whom the
place takes its name, resided here in a solitary wood
full of venomous serpents, and her prayers converted
them into stones, which still retain their shape.' See
Espriella's Letters from England, v. iii. p. 362.

P. S5. The description of the conflagration arising

from the heath-Jircs here mentioned, reminds the scholar

of the ■ stubble-burning' described in Virgil's Georgics,

i. 84, and the commentary on the passage, by the ele-

x2

308 OBSERVATIONS.

gant and learned Mr. Holdsworth, p. 52. Compare
Virgilii ^n ii. 304. Ovid. Epist. xv. 9. Sil. Ital. vii. 365.
P. 46. German Boars and Sows were also turned
out by Charles the First in the New Forest, which bred
and increased. Their stock is supposed to exist now,
remarkable for the smallness of their hind quarters. See
an engraving of one in Gilpin's Forest Scenery, ii. 118.

P. 50. The " Black-cap" which Mr. White calls a
delicate songster, is classed very highly by Mr. D. Bar-
rington, in his scale of singing birds. See also Pennant's
Brit. Zoology, v. i. p. 374.

P. 54. The most curious account of the " Cross-bill"
(Loxia Curvirostra) was published by Dr. Townson, who
kept them tame. See his tracts on Natural History,
p. 116.

P. 58. The ' Falco Peregrinus,' sent by Mr. White
to Mr. Pennant, is a rare bird. One of them was caught
some years ago in Norfolk, in a trap baited with a wood-
cock. Another was killed in January 1812 (this present
month) in Sussex, while fighting with a raven. This
falcon breeds on Glenmore, and other rocks in the
Highlands. See Pennant's Scotland, v. i. p. 277.

P. 65. There certainly does exist a difficulty in con-
ceiving how some of the Birds of Passage, such feeble
and bad fliers, should be able to migrate to such a vast
distance ; but some of our wonder will perhaps diminish
when we read the account of the manner in which the
Quail crosses the Mediterranean, for the coast of Africa.
* Towards the end of September, the Quails avail them-
£plves of a northerly wind to take their departure from

OBSERVATIONS. 309

Europe, and flapping one wing, while they present the
other to the gale, half sail, half oar, they graze the
billows of the Mediterranean with their fattened rumps,
and bury themselves in the sands of Africa, that they
may serve as food to the famished inhabitants of Zara.'
St. Pierre's Studies of Nature, v. i. p. 91*

P. 73. Mr. White mentions a notion among the
country people in Hampshire, that there exists a species
of the ' Genus Mustelinum,* reddish, not much bigger
than a field-mouse, called a ' CaneJ and distinct from
the weasel, stoat, &c. This I believe to be a pretty
general error among the country people also in other
counties. This imaginary animal in Suffolk is called the
' Mouse-huntj from its being supposed to live on mice.
To discover the truth of this report, I managed to have
several of these animals brought to me ; all of which I
found to be the common tveazel. The error I conceive
partly to have arisen from this animal, like most others,
appearing less than its real size, when running and at-
tempting to escape, a circumstance well known to the
hunters in India, with respect to larger animals, as the
tiger, &c.

P. 74. Mr. White has justly remarked, ' that food
has great influence on the colour of animals/ The dark
colour in wild birds is a great safeguard to them against
their enemies ; and this is the reason, that among birds
of bright plumage, the young do not assume their gay
colours till the second or third year, as the cygnet, the
gold and silver pheasants, &c. The remarkable change of
plumage among the gull tribe, is a curious and intricate

310 OBSERVATIONS-

subject. Is the circumstance mentioned by Mr. Pegge
true, ' that butterflies partake the colour of the flowers
they feed on ?' I think not. See Anonymiana, p. 469.

P. 84. Concerning the reason of frogs coming out
in rainy weather, the reader will be amply gratified, by
referring to the experiments made by Dr. Townson on
his two frogs, Damon and Musidora. See his Tracts,
p. 50. The general result of which has proved the fol-
lowing curious fact : — " that frogs take in their supply
of liquid through the skin alone, all the aqueous fluid
which they take in being absorbed by the skin, and all
they reject being transpired through it. One frog in
an hour and half absorbed nearly its own weight of water.

P. ISQ. The very beautiful, one may almost say
poetical way, in which the male bird procures a mate by
the power of his song, may be seen in the preface to
Mr. Montagu's Ornithological Dictionary, p. xxx ; from
which this corollary may be inferred, that if a confined
bird had learned the song of another, without retaining
any part of its natural notes, and was set at liberty, it is
probable, it would never find a mate of its own.

P. 152. The ^bustard,' is extinct in Scotland; and
as it is now so scarce in England, owing to population
and enclosures, it becomes interesting to remark, that
two birds of this kind (male and female), have been
kept in the garden ground belonging to Norwich Infir-
mary, and have but lately been sold by the owner of
them. The male bird was very beautiful and courageous,
apparently afraid of nothing, seizing any one that came
near him by the coat ; yet on the appearance of any smaU

OBSERV'ATIONS. 311

hawk high in the air, he would squat close to the ground,
expressing strong marks of fear. The female was very
shy. A tolei-ably good resemblance of the male is in
Pennant's British Zoology, v. i. p. 284.

P. 167 ' Concerning swallows, the reader will see,
that Mr. White appears to incline more and more in
favour of their ior-pidity, and against their migration.
Mr. D. Harrington is still more positive on the same side
of the question. See his Miscellanies, p. 225. The
ancients generally mention this bird, as wintering in
Africa. See Anacreon, Xy. ed. Brunk. p. 38. The
lihodians had a festival called yiXitovix, when the boys
brought about young swallows; the song which they
sang, may be seen in the works of Meursius. v. iii.
p. 974. fol.

"HX^i, "HXfie, ^iX/So/f xaXa?,
'Clfotq ayovo^a, xa< xotKovi "Eviaivrov^
"ett* ya-arifx Kivnot, K<x,'ni jtura (jLsXxivx.

** He comes ! He comes ! who loves to bear
" Soft sunny hours, and seasons fair ; —
" The swallow hither comes to rest
" His sable wing, and snowy breast."

And alluding to this custom, Avienus, (who may be
considered only as a very bad translator of an excellent
poem, the Periegesis of Dionysius), thus says, v. 705,

" Nam cum vere novo, tellus se dura relaxat,
Culminibusq. cavis, blandum strepit ales hirundo
Gens devota choros agitat !"

312 OBSERVATIONS.

From a passage in the ' Birds* of Aristophanes, we learn
that among the Greeks, the crane pointed out the time
oi sowing; the arrival of the kite, the time of sheep-
shearing ; and the swallow, the time to put on summer-
clothes. According to the Greek Calendar of Flora,
kept by Theophrastus at Athens, the Omithian winds
blow, and the swallow comes between the 28th of
February, and the 12th of March; the kite and nightin-
gale appear between the 11th and 26th of March ; the
cuckoo appears at the same time the young figs come out,
thence his name. See Stillingfleet's Tracts on Natural
History, p. 324.

P. 210. Since this letter of Mr. White's, much has
been added to our knowledge of the cuckoo, by the
patient attention of Dr. Jenner. Concerning the singing
of the cuckoo, mentioned by Mr. White at p. 242, I will
add the following curious memoranda from the 7th
Volume of the Transactions of the Linnsean Society.
" The cuckoo begins early in the season with the in-
terval of a minor third, the bird then proceeds to a major
third, next to a fourth, then a Jifih, after which his
voice breaks without attaining a minor sixth.*' This
curious circumstance was however observed very long
ago ; and it forms the subject of an Epigram in that
scarce black-letter volume, the ' Epigrams of John Hey-
wood, 1587.*

OF USE. 95.

" Use maketh maistry, this hath been said alway,
" But all is not alway, as all men do say.

OBSERVATIONS. 313

" In Aprill, the koocoo can sing her song by rote,

" In June, of tune, she cannot sing a note :

'^ At first, koo coo, koo coo sing still can she do,

*^^ At last kooke, kooke, kooke ; six kookes to one koo !"

P. 247, Mr. White says, it is strange that rooks and
starlings accompany each other: but this is the case
with other birds ; the short-eared owl often accompanies
flights of woodcocks in this country. See Pennant's
Scotland, i. p. 11. In Greece, the cuckoo migrates with
the <Mr^/e-flocks, thence they call him trigonokracti, or
turtle-leader.

P. 251. The motion of the tortoise's legs being, as
Mr. White remarks, ridiculously slow, is taken notice of
in Homer's hymn to Hermes, v. 28.

2>ecv\oi iroa-tv ^xiwvaa,,

'* Feeding far oiF from man, the flowery herb.
Slow-moving with his feet."

P. 259- Mr. White has observed, that the owl returns
to its young with food once in Jive minutes. Mr. Mon-
tagu has observed, that the wren returns once in two
minutes, or upon an average thirty-six times in an hour ;
and this continued full sixteen hours in a day, which if
equally divided between eight young ones, each would
receive seventy- two feeds in the day, the whole amount-
ing to five hundred and seventy-six. See Omitholog.
Diet. p. S5. To this, I will add, that the swallow never
fails to return to its nest at the expiration of every second
or third minute.

314 • OBSERVATIONS.

P. 281. Mr. White says, that no wheat-ears are taken
to the westward of Houghton-bridge, on the river A run ;
it appears, however, that is not the case. See the note
to Mrs. Charlotte Smith's Poems, 1807,. p. l68.

VOL. II.

P. 26. As our Saxon ancestors called the month of
February ' Sprout-Cale,' so the names of many other
months were equally significant ; viz. March, Stormy
month; Mai/, Trimilki, the cows then being milked
three times a day ; June, dig and weed month ; Sep-
, tember, barley month, &c.

P. 105. What Mr. White has remarked of the Jlshes
of Japan thriving in our climate, is true also of the
plants ; the trees and shrubs brought from the Japonese
islands bearing our winters, and growing freely : as for
instance, that beautiful tree, the ' Gingko,' now called
by Dr. Smith, the Salisburia ; and the no less beautiful
and scarce ' Sophora Japonica,' the finest specimens of
which trees now in England, are probably in the curious
garden of John Orde, Esq. at Fulham. As I am on this
subject, I will mention that the garden belonging to the
palace of the Bishop of London at Fulham, the earliest
receptacle of scarce and foreign trees in this country, is
now almost worn out. Not above twelve of the original

OBSERVATIONS. 315

trees could be found in the survey made in 1 793. 1 re-
marked in 1811, that some of these were gone, but the
pinaster and the ilex remain.

P. 154. To this most awful summer of 1783, Cowper
also alludes, in his Task, Book ii. p. 41.

" A world that seems

To toll the death-bell of its own decease ;
And by the voice of all the elements
To preach the general doom."

P. 202. Mr. White observes, that birds of prey, as
hawks, feed on insects. There is reason to believe, that
insects form also part of the food even of the large?' heasts
of prey. *' Beetles, flies, worms, form part of tlie lion
and tigers food, as they do that of t\\cfox" See Jarrold's
Dissert, on Man.

P. 212. Concerning the " hybrid pheasant," see the
account by John Hunter, in the Philosophical Transact.
Art. XXX. 1760. "The subject of the account is a
hen pheasant with the feathers of the cock. The author
concludes that it is most probable that all those hen
pheasants which are found wild, and have the feathers
of the cock J were formerly perfect hens, but that now
they are changed with age, and perhaps by certain
constitutional circumstances." It appears also, that
the hen taking the plumage of the cock, is not confine^
to the pheasant alone, it takes place also with the pea-
her, as may be seen in the specimen belonging to Lady
Tynte, which was in the Leverian Museum. After many
broods, this hen took much of the plumage of the cock.

316 OBSERVATIONS.

and also the fine train belonging to that bird. See also
Montagu's Ornitholog. Diet. Art. Pheasant.

P. 251. The squirrel's nest is not only called a drey
in Hampshire, but also in other counties ; in Suffolk it
is called a bay. The word ' drey,' though now provin-
cial, I have met with in some of our old writers.

P. 303. It will hardly be deemed a discredit to an
observer so patient, so accurate, and so faithful, as Mr.
White, to mention, that his conjecture concerning the
origin of honey-dew is erroneous; the subject has been
elucidated by the observations of Mr. WiUiam Curtis,
who has discovered it to be the '^ excrement of the
aphides." See Transact, of the Linnaean Society,
vol. vi. No. 4.

J. M.

Benhally Suffolk,
Wth January, 1812.

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319

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER

1768. Begins with a fortnight's frost
and snow ; rainy during February. Cold
and wet spring ; wet season from the be-
ginning of June to the end of harvest.
Latter end of September foggy, without
rain. All October and the first part of
November rainy ; and thence to the end
of the year alternate rains and frosts.

1 769. January and February, frosty and
rainy, with gleams of fine weather in the
intervals. To the middle of March, wind
and rain. To the end of March dry and
windy. To the middle of April, stormy,
with rain. To the end of June, fine wea-
ther, with rain. To the beginning of
August, warm, dry weather. To the end
of September, rainy, with short intervals
of fine weather. To the latter end of Oc-
tober, frosty mornings, with fine days.

320 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

The next fortnight rainy ; thence to the
end of November dry and frosty. De-
cember, windy, with rain and intervals of
frost, and the first fortnight very foggy.

1770. Frost for the first fortnight:
during the 14th and 15th all the snow
melted. To the end of February, mild,
hazy weather. The whole of March frosty,
with bright weather. April cloudy, with
rain and snow. May began with summer
showers, and ended with dark cold rains.
June, rainy, checquered with gleams of
sunshine. The first fortnight in July, dark
and sultry ; the latter part of the month,
heavy rain. August, September, and the
first fortnight in October, in general fine
weather, though with frequent interrup-
tions of rain : from the middle of October
to the end of the year almost incessant
rains.

1771. Severe frosts till the last week
in January. To the first week in February,
rain and snow : to the end of February,
spring weather. To the end of the third
week in April, frosty weather. To the

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 321

end of the first fortnight in May, spring-
weather, with copious showers. To the end
of June, dry, warm weather. The first fort-
night in July, warm, rainy weather. To
the end of September, warm weather, but
in general cloudy, with showers. October,
rainy. November, frost, with intervals of
fog and rain. December, in general bright,
mild weather, with hoar frosts.

1772. To the end of the first week in
February, frost and snow. To the end of
the first fortnight in March, frost, sleet,
rain and snow. To the middle of April, cold
rains. To the middle of May, dry weather,
with cold piercing winds. To the end oi
the first week in June, cool showers. To
the middle of August, hot, dry summer
weather. To the end of September, rain
with storms and thunder. To December 22,
rain with mild weather. December 23, the
first ice. To the end of the month, cold,
foggy weather.

1773. The first week in January, frost ,
thence to the end of the month, dark, rainy
weather. The first fortnight in February,

VOL. II. Y

322 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

hard frost. To the end of the first week in
March, misty, showery weather. Bright
spring days to the close of the month. Fre-
quent showers to the latter end of April.
To the end of June, warm shoM^ers, with
intervals of sunshine. To the end of Au-
gust, dry weather, with a few days of rain
To the end of the first fortnight in Novem-
ber, rainy. The next four weeks, frost;
and thence to the end of the year, rainy.

1774. Frost and rain to the end of the
first fortnight in March : thence to the end
of the month, dry weather. To the 15tli
of April, showers : thence to the end of
April, fine spring days. During May,
showers and sunshine in about an equal
proportion. Dark, rainy weather to the
end of the 3rd week in July : thence to the
24th of August, sultry, with thunder- and
occasional showers. To the end of the 3rd
week in November, rain, with frequent
intervals of sunny weather. To the end of
December, dark, dripping fogs.

1775. To the end of the first fortnight
in March, rain almost every day. To the

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 323

first week in April, cold winds, with
showers of rain and snow. To the end of
June, warm, bright weather, with frequent
showers. The first fortnight in July, almost
incessant rain§. To the 26th August, sul-
try weather, with frequent showers. To the
end of the 3rd week in September, rain,
with a few intervals of fine weather. To
the end of the year, rain, with intervals of
hoar-frost and sunshine.

1776. To January 24, dark, frosty wea-
ther, with much snow. March 24, to the
end of the month, foggy, with hoar-frost.
To the 30th of May, dark, dry, harsh wea^
ther, with cold winds. To the end of the
first fortnight in July, warm, with much
rain. To the end of the first week in Au-
gust, hot and dry, with intervals of thunder
showers. To the end of October, in general
fine seasonable weather, with a consider-
able proportion of rain. To the end of the
year, dry, frosty weather, with some days
of hard rain.

1777. To the lOth of January, hard
fi^t. To the 20th of January, foggy,
y 2

324 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

with frequent showers. To the I8th of
February, hard, dry frost with snow. To
the end of May, heavy showers, with in-
tervals of warm, dry spring days. To the
8th July, dark, with heavy rain. To the
18th July, dry, warm weather. To the end
of July, very heavy rains. To the 12th
October, remarkably fine warm weather.
To the end of the year, grey mild weather,
with but little rain, and still less frost.

1778. To the l3th of January, frost,
with a little snow : to the 24th January
rain : to the 30th, hard frost. To the 23rd
February, dark, harsh, foggy weather, with
rain : to the end of the month, hard frost
with snow. To the end of the first fort-
night in March, dark, harsh weather.
From the first, to the end of the first fort-
night in April, spring weather. To the
end of the month, snow and ice. To the
11th of June, cool, with heavy showers.
To the 19th July, hot, sultry, parching
weather. To the end of the month heavy
showers. To the end of September, dry
warm weather. To the end of the year.

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 325

wet, with considerable intervals of sun-
shine.

1779. Frost and showers to the end of
January. To 21st April, warm dry wea-
ther. To 8th May, rainy. To the 7th
June, dry and warm. To the 6th July,
hot weather, with frequent rain. To the
1 8th July, dry, hot weather. To August 8,
hot weather, with frequent rains. To the
end of August, fine dry harvest weather.
To the end of November, fine autumnal
weather, with intervals of rain. To the end
of the year, rain with frost and snow.

1780. To the end of January, frost.
To the end of February, dark, harsh wea-
ther, with frequent intervals of frost. To
the end of March, warm, showery, spring
weather. To the end of April, dark, harsh
weather, with rain and frost. To the end
of the first fortnight in May, mild, with
rain. To the end of August, rain and fair
weather in pretty equal proportions. To
the end of October, fine autumnal weather,
with intervals of rain. To the 24th No-

396 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

vember, frost. To December 16, mild,
dry, foggy weather. To the end of the
year frost and snow.

1781. To January 25, frost and snow.
To the end of February, harsh and windy,
with rain and snow. To April 5, cold,
drying winds. To the end of May, mild
spring weather, with a few light showers.
June began with heavy rain, but thence to
the end of October, dry weather, with a few
flying showers. To the end of the year,
open weather, with frequent rains.

1782. To February 4, open, mild wea-
ther. To February 22, hard frost. To the
end of March, cold, blowing weather, with
frost and snow and rain. To May 7, cold,
dark rains. To the end of May, mild, with
incessant rains. To the end of June, warm,
and dry. To the end of August, warm,
with almost perpetual rains. The first
fortnight in September, mild and dry ;
thence to the end of the month, rain. To
the end of October, mild, with frequent
showers. November began with hard frost.

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 3^7

and continued throughout, with alternate
frost and thaw. The first part of Decem-
ber frosty : the latter part mild.

1783. To January 16, rainy, with heavy
winds. To the 24th, hard frost. To the
end of the first fortnight in February, blow-
ing, with much rain. To the end of
February, stormy, dripping weather. To
the 9th of May, cold, harsh winds (thick ice
on 5th of May). To the end of August,
hot weather, with frequent showers. To
the 23rd September, mild, with heavy
driving rains. To November 12, dry, mild
weather. To the 18th December, grey,
soft weather, with a few showers. To the
end of the year, hard frost.

1784. To February 19, hard frost, with
two thaws ; one the I4th January, the other
5th February. To February 28, mild, wet,
fogs. To the 3rd March, frost, with ice.
To March 10, sleet and snow. To April 2,
snow and hard frost. To April 27, mild
weather, with much rain. To May 12,
cold, drying winds. To May 20, hot.

328 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

cloudless weather. To June 27, warm, with
frequent showers. To July 18, hot and
dry. To the end of August, warm, with
heavy rains. To November 6, clear, mild,
autumnal weather, except a few days of
rain at the latter end of September. To
the end of the year, fog, rain, and hard
frost (on December 10, the therm. 1 deg.
below 0.)

1 785. A thaw began on the 2nd January,
and rainy weather with wind continued to
January 28. To 15th March, very hard
frost. To 21st March, mild, with sprinkling
showers. To April 7, hard frost. To May
17, mild, windy weather, without a drop
of rain. To the end of May, cold, with a
few showers. To June 9, mild weather,
with frequent soft showers. To July 13,
hot dry weather, with a few showery in-
tervals. To July 22, heavy rain. To the
end of September, warm, with frequent
showers. To the end of October, frequent
rain. To 18th of November, dry, mild
weather. (Hay-making finished Novem-

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 329

ber 9, and the wheat harvest November
14.) To December 23, rain. To the end
of the year, hard frost.

1786. To the 7th January, frost and
snow. To January 13, mild, with much
rain. To the 21st January, deep snow. To
February 11, mild, with frequent rains.
21st February, dry, with high winds. To
10th March, hard frost. To I3th April,
wet, with intervals of frost. To the end
of April, dry, mild weather. On the 1st
and 2nd May, thick ice. To 10th May,
heavy rain. To June 14, fine, warm, dry
weather. From the 8th to the 1 1th July
heavy showers. To October 13, warm,
with frequent showers. To October J 9,
ice. To Octob'^r 24, mild, pleasant weather.
To November 3, frost. To December 16,
rain, with a few detached days of frost.
To the end of the year, frost and snow.

1787. To January 24, dark, moist, mild
weather. To January 28, frost and snow.
To February 16, mild, showery weather.
To February .28, dry, cool weather. To
March 10 stormy, with driving rain. To

330 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

March 24, bright, frosty weather. To the
end of April, mild, with frequent rain. To
May 22, fine bright weather. To the end
of June, mostly warm, with frequent
showers (on June 7, ice as thick as a crown
piece). To the end of July, hot and sultry,
with copious rain. To the end of Septem-
ber, hot, dry weather, with occasional
showers. To November 23, mild, with
light frosts and rain. To the end of No-
vember, hard frost. To December 21, still
and mild, with rain. To the end of the
year, frost.

1788. To January 13, mild and wet.
To January 1 8, frost. To the end of the
month dry, windy weather. To the end of
February, frosty, with frequent showers.
To March 14, hard frost. To the end of
March, dark, harsh weather, with frequent
showers. To April 4, windy, with showers.
To the end of May, bright, dry, warm
weather, with a few occasional showers.
From June 28 to July 17, heavy rains. To
August ]2, hot, dry weather. To the end
of September, alternate showers and sun-

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 331

shine. To November 22, dry, cool weather.
To the end of the year, hard frost.

1789. To January 13, hard frost. To
the end of the month, mild, with showers.
To the end of February, frequent rain, with
snow-showers and heavy gales of wind. To
13th March, hard frost, with snow. To
April 18, heavy rain, with frost and snow
and sleet. To the end of April, dark, cold
weather, with frequent rains. To June 9,
warm spring weather, with brisk winds
and frequent showers. From June 4 to the
end of July, warm, with much rain. To
August 29, hot, dry, sultry weather. To
September 1 1, mild, with frequent showers.
To the end of September, fine autumnal
weather, with occasional showers. To
November 17, heavy rain, with violent
gales of wind. To December 18, mild, dry
weather, with a few showers. To the end
of the year, rain and wind.

1790. To January 16, mild, foggy wea-
ther, with occasional rains. To January 21,
frost. To January 28, dark, with driving

332 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

rains. To February 14, mild, dry weather.
To February 22, hard frost. To April 5,
bright, cold weather, with a few showers.
To April 15, dark and harsh, with a deep
snow. To April 21, cold, cloudy weather,
with ice. To June 6, mild spring w^eather,
with much rain. From July 3' to July 14,
cool, with heavy rain. To the end of July,
warm, dry weather. To August 6, cold,
with wind and rain. To August 24, fine
harvest weather. To September 5, strong
gales, with driving showers. To Novem-
ber 26, mild autumnal weather, with fre-
quent showers. To December 1, hard frost
and snow. To the end of the year, rain
and snow, and a few days of frost.

1791. To the end of January, mild,
with heavy rains. To the end of February,
windy, with much rain and snow. From
March to the end of June, mostly dry,
especially June. March and April, rather
cold and frosty. May and June, hot. July,
rainy. Fine harvest weather, and pretty
dry, to the end of September. Wet Octo-

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 333

ber, and cold towards the end. Very wet
and stormy in November. Much frost in
December.

1792. Some hard frost in January, but
mostly wet and mild. February, some
hard frost and a little snow. March, wet
and cold. April, great storms on the 13th,
then some very warm weather. May and
June, cold and dry, July, wet and cool ;
indifferent harvest, rather late and wet.
September, windy and wet. October,
showery and mild. November, dry and
fine. December, mild.

POEMS.

THE

INVITATION TO SELBORNE.

&EE Selborne spreads her boldest beauties round
The varied valley, and the mountain ground.
Wildly majestic ! what is all the pride
Of flats, with loads of ornament supply'd ?
Unpleasing, tasteless, impotent expense.
Compared with Nature's rude magnificence.

Arise, my stranger, to these wild scenes haste ;
The unfinished farm awaits your forming taste :
Plan the pavillion, airy, light, and true ;
Thro' the high arch call in the length'ning view ;
Expand the forest sloping up the hiU ;
Swell to a lake the scant, penurious rill ;
Extend the vista, raise the castle mound
In antique taste with turrets ivy-crown'd ;
O'er the gay lawn the ftow'ry shrub dispread.
Or with the blending garden mix the mead ;
Bid China's pale, fantastic fence, delight ;
Or with the mimic statue trap the sight.

Oft on some evening, sunny, soft and still.
The Muse shall lead thee to the beech-grown hill,

VOL. II. Z

338 POEMS

To spend in tea the eool, refreshing hour,
^ Where nods in air the pensile, nest-like bower ;■
Or where the Hermit hangs the straw-clad cell,'*
Emerging gently from the leafy dell ;
By Fancy plann'd ; as once th' inventive maid
Met the hoar sage amid the secret shade ;
Romantic spot ! from whence in prospect lies
Whatever of landscape charms our feasting eyes ;
The pointed spire, the hall, the pasture-plain.
The russet fallow, or the golden grain.
The breezy lake that sheds a gleaming light,
'Till all the fading picture fail the sight.

Each to his task ; all different ways retire ;
Cull the dry stick ; call forth the seeds of fire ;
Deep fix the kettle's props, a forky row.
Or give with fanning hat the breeze to blow.

Whence is this taste, the fumish'd hall forgot.
To feast in gardens, or th' unhandy grot ?
Or novelty with some new charms surprises.
Or from our very shifts some joy arises.
Hark, while below the village-bells ring round.
Echo, sweet nymph, returns the soften'd sound ;
But if gusts rise, the rushing forests roar.
Like the tide tumbling on the pebbly shore.

Adown the vale, in lone, sequester'd nook.
Where skirting woods imbrown the dimpling brook,

. A kind of an arbour on the side of a hill.
I, A grotesque building, contrived by a young gentleman, who
used on occasion to appear in the character of an hermit.

POEMS. 339

The ruin'd Convent lies ; here wont to dwell
The lazy canon midst his cloister'd cell ;"
While papal darkness brooded o'er the land.
Ere Reformation made her glorious stand :
Still oft at eve belated shepherd-swains
See the cowl'd spectre skim the folded plains.

To the high temple would my stranger go/
The mountain-brow commands the woods below ;
In Jewry first this order found a name,
When madding Croisades set the world in flame ;
When western climes, urg'd on by Pope and priest,
Pour'd forth their millions o'er the delug'd east :
Luxurious knights, ill-suited to defy
To mortal fight Turcestan chivalry.

Nor be the Parsonage by the muse forgot ;
The partial bard admires his native spot ;
Smit with its beauties, loved, as yet a child,
(Unconscious why) its scapes grotesque, and wild.
High on a mound th' exalted gardens stand.
Beneath, deep valleys scoop'd by Nature's hand.
A Cobham here, exulting in his art.
Might blend the General's with the Gardener's part ;
Might fortify with all the martial trade
Of rampart, bastion, fosse, and palisade ;

« The ruins of a priory, founded by Peter de Rupibus,
Bishop of Winchester.

The remains of a preceptory of the Knights Templars ;
at least it was a farm dependant upon some preceptory of that
order. I find it was a preceptory, called the preceptory of Suditig-
ton ; now called Southington.

z 2

340 POEMS.

Might plant the mortar with wide threat'ning bore.
Or bid the mimic cannon seem to roar.

Now climb the steep, drop now your eye below.
Where round the blooming village orchards grow ;
There, like a picture, lies my lowly seat,
A rural, sheltered, unobserv'd retreat.

Me far above the rest Selbornian scenes.
The pendent forests, and the mountain-greens
Strike with delight; there spreads the distant view.
That gradual fades till sunk in misty blue :
Here Nature hangs her slopy woods to sight.
Rills purl between and dart a quivering light.

SELBORNE HANGER.

A WINTER PIECE.

TO THE MISS B*****S.

The Bard, who sang so late in blithest strain
S&lbomian prospects, and the rural reign.
Now suits his plaintive pipe to sadden'd tone.
While the blank swains the changeful year bemoan.

POEMS. 341

How fall'n the glories of these fading scenes !
The dusky beech resigns his vernal greens ;
The yellow maple mourns in sickly hue.
And russet woodlands croud the dark'ning view.

Dim, clust'ring fogs involve the country round.
The valley, and the blended mountain-ground
Sink in confusion ; but with tempest- wing
Should Boreas from his northern barrier spring.
The rushing woods with deafening clamour roar.
Like the sea tumbling on the pebbly shore.
When spouting rains descend in torrent tides.
See the torn zigzag weep its channel'd sides:
Winter exerts its rage ; heavy and slow.
From the keen east rolls on the treasur'd snow ;
Sunk with its w^eight the bending boughs are seen.
And one bright deluge whelms the works of men.
Amidst this savage landscape, bleak and bare.
Hangs the chill hermitage in middle air ;
Its haunts forsaken, and its feasts forgot,
A leaf-strown, lonely desolated cot !

Is this the scene that late with rapture rang,
Where*Delphy danc*d, and gentle Anna sang ;
With fairy-step where Harriet tripp'd so late.
And on her stump reclined the musing Kitty sate ?

Return, dear Nymphs ; prevent the purple spring.
Ere the soft nightingale essays to sing ;
Ere the first swallow sweeps the freshening plain.
Ere love-sick turtles breathe their amorous pain ;
Let festive glee th* enliven'd village raise.
Pan's blameless reign, and patriarchal days ;

342 poKMs.

With pastoral dance the smitten swain surprise.
And bring all Arcady before our eyes.

Return, blithe maidens ; with you bring along
Free, native humour, all the charms of song ;
The feeling heart, and unaffected ease.
Each nameless grace, and ev'ry power to please.

Nov. 1, 1763.

ON THE RAINBOW.

" Look upon the Rainbow, and praise him that made it :
very beautiful is it in the brightness thereof." Eccles.
xliii. 11.

On morning or on evening cloud impress'd,
Bent in vast curve, the wat'ry meteor shines
Delightfully, to th' levell'd sun oppos'd ;
Lovely refraction ! while the vivid brede
In listed colours glows, th' unconscious swain
With vacant eye gazes on the divine
Phsenomenon, gleaming o'er the illumin'd fields,
"Or runs to catch the treasures which it sheds.

Not so the sage, inspir'd with pious awe ;
He hails the federal arch ; ' and looking up
Adores that God, whose fingers form'd this bow
Magnificent, compassing heav'n about
» Gen. ix. 12—17.

POEMS. 343

With a resplendent verge, " Thou mad'st the cloud,
" Maker Omnipotent, and thou the bow ;
" And by that covenant graciously hast sworn
" Never to drown the world again -^ henceforth,
'' Till time shall be no more, in ceaseless round,
" Season shall follow season : day to night.
" Summer to winter, harvest to seed time,
" Heat shall to cold in regular array
" Succeed." — Heav'n taught, so sang the Hebrew
bard.'^

A HARVEST SCENE.

YV ak'd by the gentle gleamings of the morn.
Soon clad, the reaper, provident of want.
Hies cheerful-hearted to the ripen 'd field ;
Nor hastes alone ; attendant by his side
His faithful wife, sole partner of his cares.
Bears on her breast the sleeping babe ; behind.
With steps unequal, trips her infant train :
Thrice happy pair, in love and labour join'd !

All day they ply their task ; with mutual chat.
Beguiling each the sultry, tedious hours. ^
Around them falls in rows the sever'd com.
Or the shocks rise in regular array.

But when high noon invites to short repast,

•» Geu. viii. 22. ' Moses.

344 POEMS.

Beneath the shade of shelt'ring thorn they sit.
Divide the simple meal, and drain the cask :
The swinging cradle lulls the whimp'ring hahe
Meantime ; while growling round, if at the tread
Of hasty passenger alarm' d, as of their store
Protective, stalks the cur with bristling back.
To guard the scanty scrip and russet frock.

ON THE EARLY AND LATE BLOWING OF

THE VERNAL AND AUTUMNAL

CROCUS.

Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow
Congeal'd, the Crocus* flamy bud to grow ;
Say, what retards amidst the summer's blaze
The autumnal bulb, till pale declining days ?
The God of Seasons ! whose pervading power
Controls the sun. or sheds the fleecy shower ;
He bids each flower his quick'ning word obey,
Ot to each lingering bloom enjoins delay.

POEMS. 345

ON THE DARK, STILL, DRY, WARM
WEATHER,

OCCASIONALLY HAPPENING IN THE WINTER MONTHS.

X h' imprisoned winds slumber within their caves
Fast bound : the fickle vane, emblem of change.
Wavers no more, long-settling to a point.

All Nature nodding seems compos'd : thick steams
From land, from flood up-drawn, dimming the day,
" Like a dark ceiling stand :" s]owr thro* the air
Gossamer floats, or stretch'd from blade to blade
The wavy net- work whitens all the field.

Pushed by the weightier atmosphere, up springs
The ponderous Mercury, from scale to scale
Mounting, amidst the Torricellian tube/

While high in air, and pois'd upon his wings.
Unseen, the soft, enamour'd wood-lark runs
Thro' all his maze of melody ; — the brake
Loud with the blackbird's bolder note resounds.

Sooth'd by the genial warmth, the cawing rook
Anticipates the Spring, selects her mate.
Haunts her tall nest-trees, and with sedulous care
Repairs her wicker eyrie, tempest torn.

The ploughman inly smiles to see upturn
His mellow glebe, best pledge of future crop.

* The Barometer,

346 POEMS.

With glee the gardener eyes his smoking beds :
E'en pining sickness feels a short relief.

The happy school-boy brings transported forth
His long-forgotten scourge, and giddy gig :
O'er the white paths he whirls the rolling hoop.
Or triumphs in the dusty fields of taw.

Not so the museful sage : — abroad he walks
Contemplative, if haply he may find
What cause controls the tempest's rage, or whence
Amidst the savage season Winter smiles.

For days, for weeks, prevails the placid calm.
At length some drops prelude a change : the sun
With ray refracted bursts the parting glooln ;
When all the chequer'd sky is one bright glare.

Mutters the wind at eve ; th' horizon round
With angry aspect scowls : down rush the showers.
And float the delug'd paths, and miry fields.

INDEX.

A.

Page
JINNE, ([ueen, came to Wolmer-foresty to see

the red deer « i. 30

Ants, particulars respecting t . . ii. 277

Aphides J great shower of, in August ii. 276

April, 1770, the remarkable inclemency of its

weather i. 219

Arum, the cuckoo-pint, eaten in the hard weather

by the thrush i. 74

Ash-tree, a rupture one, what i. 343

........ a shrew one, what i. 344

• particulars of. ... • ii. 289

August, the most mute month respecting the sing-
ing of birds • i> 1 73

Aurora Borealis, singular appearance of, Novem-
ber 1, 1787 ii. 305

Ayles Holt, alias Alice Holt, the forest of i. 43

• its grantees i. 45

B.

Barometer, remarkable fall of, November 22,

1768 ii. 300

Barometers, Selborne and Newton compared . . . . ii. 127
South Lambeth ii. 129

S4a INDEX.

Page
Barragon, a genteel corded stuff';, where manufac-
tured i. 24

Bat, a tame one, some particulars about i. 56

«... drink on the wing like swallows i. 57

.... the large sort, some particulars about ...... i. 130

.... nondescript in 1169, i. 130. Further ac-
count of i. 158

Beans, sown by birds ii. 296

Bee, wild, account of « • ii. 267

Beech-trees, love to grow in crowded situa-
tions . ii. 290

Beech, loveliest of forest trees i. 2

Beetles buz, at the time that partridges call . . . . ii. 214
Bin's, ox Beati's pond J for wh'dt TLemarkable . . . . i. 38
Birds, common in England, that have no English

name ,....» * i. 50

.... influenced m food by colour i. 159

.... that fly by night, obliged to be noisi/ . . . . ii. 82

.... summer, of passage, a list of i. 80, 97

.... living ones shown here, when from dis-
tant regions, why usually of the thick-billed

genera > i. 143

.... of summer passage — seen spring and au-
tumn at Gibraltar / • • i. 149

.... soft-billed, that winter with us, how sup-
ported i. 179

.... of winter passage, a list of • i. 199

«... that continue in full song till after Mid-
summer i. 202

. . . . why fatten in moderate frosts i. 214

. • . . what sorts are pulveratrices ..... • i. 22 4

INDEX. S49

Page
Birds, what occasion their congregating. . . . i. 246, 247

. . in the season of nidification, tame i. 32 1

, . various manner of motion of ii. 49

. . notes and language of • . . . ii. 53

. . in general, observations on ii. 209

. . of prey, boldness and rapacity of when

urged by hunger ^ • ii. 221

Black-cap, an elegant songster i. 177

Black-game seen at Selbome i. 28

Black-thorn, usually blossoms while cold winds

blow ii. 292

Black spring, 1771^ account of the remarkable

severity of ii. 305

Bohemian chatterer i. 60

Bomhylius medius, description of • . ii. 273

Boy, an idiot, his strange propensity i. 340

.... eats bees, &c c .»...,... i. 340

Brimstone Lodge, some account of i. 37

Brooks at Selborne, what fishes they produce . . i. 54

Bug, harvest, some account of i. 1 53

Bullfinch, turns black « i. 74

Bunting, a very rare bird at Selborne i. 66

Butcher-bird, red-backed i. Q6

Buzzards, honey, some account of i. 186

C.

Cane, a species of weasel i. 73

Caprimulgiis, or fern-owl, some new observations

about i. 107, 160

Castration its strange effects * ii. 7

350 INDEX.

Page
Cats, house, strange that they should be so fond

of fish i. 140

Chaffinches, vast flocks of hens i. 64

hens, more account of i. 221

Chalk-hills, why peculiarly beautiful i. 277

Charadrius himantopus, described ii. 43

Chesnut timber, very like oak ii. 291

Chiff-chaff, or willow wren ii. 190

Chinese dog and bitch ii. 77

Cimex Linearis account of ii. 263

Clouds, morning, occasion of ii. 304

Cobwebs, shower of i. 324

Coccus vitis vinifercB, strange and rare insect in

England ii. 9^, 99

Cock-chaffers, particulars relative to .......... ii. 257

Cock-roach, monography of ,...,. ii. 259

Cornua Ammonis, where found » i. 14

Cold descends ii. 93

Colymhus Glacialis, description of ii. 223

Cricket, field, a monography of ii. 75

hearth, a monography of • ii. 77

more particulars respecting ii. 262

mole, a monography of ii. ^0

Crista Galli, a fossil shell i. 13

Crocus, the spring, and saffron, their different

seasons of blossoming wonderful, why ii. 46

Cuckoo, particulars about i. 210, 215

sing in different keys i. 241

a young one in the nest of a titlark . . . « i. 224

several skimming over a pond, why • . . • i. 225

Cucumbers set by bees ii, 296

INDEX. 351

Rigc
Cumberland, WiUiam, Duke of, takes away the

red-deer from Wdmer-foresl i. 30

Curkw, stone, some account of i. 75, 76

more particulars of i. 100, 151

• . . • o . farther remarks on ii. 209

D.
Daws breed in unlikely places, i. 101 ; reason of

their doing so i. 104

weer, red, in Wohner-forestj some account

of i. 29, 30

- . . . fallow, in Holt-forest i. 45

their spiracula, or breathing

places * i. 70

Derham, Mr. mistaken i. 155

Dew, honey, remarks on ii. 3^03

Dispersion of birds, pretty equal, why ii. 37

Diving birds, how their feet and wings placed . . ii. 184

Dogs, Chinese, from Canton ii. 77

Dove, stock, or wild winter-pigeon i. l66

.... stock, many particulars of ... . i. from 188 to 195

.... ring, food of the •> ii. 218

Downs, Sussex, a lovely range i. 276

Ducks, foreign, roost on trees ....»• ii. 170

betake themselves to the water in the

night time, and why ii. 208

Echo, a pollysyllabical one * * ii. 29

.... why since mute ii. 34

.... several remarks on echoes i. 28, 34

352 INDEX.

Page
Echoes. A charming description of echoes from

Lucretius ii. 35

occasioned by the discharge of swivel

guns ii. 127

Elm, Wych, size of a transplanted one i. 8

Empedes or Tipnlce, vast swarms of in May .... ii. 275

Fairy rings, occasion of ii. 298

Falcon, peregrine, particulars about ii. 11 6

Fieldfares, strange that they do not breed in

England, nor in Scotland *..... i. 126

, . roost on the ground i. 1 33

Fishes, gold and silver, why very amusing in a

glass bowl ii. 102

Flies, many species of, retire into houses in the

decline of the year ii. 274

Fly, bacon, injurious to the housewife i. 154

, , , . Whame, or burrel, oestrus curvicauda

i. 155. ii. 270

.... May, great swarms of, June 1771 ii* 265

. . • • Nose, very tormenting to horses ii. 270

, • . . Ichneumon, destroys spiders ii. 271

Fly-catcher, some particulars of i. 1 77

Fogs, reflection of, a singular phenomenon .... ii. 303

Freestone, analogous to chalk •• i. 3

makes the wood of trees growing on it

shakey • • • • i. 7

Frogs, particulars relating to i. 83, 84

Frost, that in January 1768, described .... ii. 130, 133
.... that in January 1776. ii. 137^ 144

INDEX. 353

Page

Frost, that in December, 1784 »• • ii. 144, 149

• . . . partial, reason of • . • •'• « • •'•'«'• .^ •••.'••• ii. 300
.... gentle, fattens animals, &C{ : . .• .- •• • • . .' .- . . •• ii 214
dependent on tvet • . < .' '. . . . , . , .... . .^'i i V ii. 96

. .

G.

Galls of Lombardy poplar . . . « « ii. 29O

Gassendus, curious quotation fronj ............ i^. 113

German silk^tail, garrulus bohemicus, ^liot . . • . • i. 60

Boar, turned out in Wolm6r • , * . . ♦ .;. , .' i. 46

Gossamer, a wonderful shower of • • • i.' 323, 826

Greathaniy the manor farm of,, its privilege in

Wolmer-forest i. , 34

Grosbeak, account of .....•.•.•.•....... .;• * ii, 247

Glow-worm, when it ceases to shinp » . . . ii. 279

Gypsies, some particulars abou,t ...••••••••• i. 331

H,

Hail-storm at Selbbrne in summer 1784. .. '.liJ 156, 157
Hafiger, the. ..;•••••••.••.......•••...... i. 2

Hasel Wych ; . . i i. 8

Hawkley-hangeVj the amazing fall thereof. ...'.. ii. 65

Hawk, sparrow, the dread of housewives ...... i. 187

.... blue, or henharrier, boldness of when

urged by hunger ii. 220

Haze, or smoky fog, the peculiar one which pre-
vailed in summer 1783 ii. 154, 155

Heath-fires, why lightied up .........' i. S5

Hedgehog, some account of .V . . . .* \> 131

VOL. II. 2 A

354 INDEX.

Page

Hedgehog cannot contract when young i. 132

Heliotropes, summer and winter, how to make

them •• • ii. 60

Hellehores, order of blowing « , ii. 43

Herissant, Monsieur, mistaken in his reason why

cuckoos do not use incubation ii. 1,4

Hirundines, British, when they arrived in three

very distant counties i. 320

Hogs, would live, if suffered, to a considerable

age i . . i. S59

Holt Ayles, a royal forest ; some account of • . . . i. 43

Hoopoes, seen at Selborne •••• i. 54

Hops, observations on .•••.••• ii. 293

• • • • soil suited to • •••• i. 6

Hounds, the royal, do not draw the coverts with

address, and why ii. 252

Howe, General, turns out wild boars in Holt-
forest « . • • i. 46

Horns, room containing many, at Lord Pem-
broke's t..« i. 143

Hornets* nests, how made ii. 269

Horse and hen, curious instance of affection be-
tween . • • i. S$0

Humming in the air • . • . ii. 256

Huxham, Dr., his account of rain at Pli/moutk ii. 125

I.
Jar-bird, what • . . • • i. 181

Insects in general, observations on ii. 254

INDEX. 355

Page

Insects have no organs of hearing • • • • i. 383

Instinct, sometimes varies and conforms to cir-
cumstances ii. 110

often perfectly uniform •••••• ii. Ill

Ireland, why worthy the attention of a naturalist i. 183
Ivy-berries do not seem to freeze .r ii. 293

L.

Lanes, hollow, rocky, their peculiarities • i. 20

• • . • abound with silices i. 21

Land-rail, an insectivorous bird i. 1 78

geherally deemed birds of passage, but

appear to be ill qualified for migration ii. 216

Larks, white, probably snow-flakes i. 74

grass-hopper, some curious circumstances

about i. 78

Leper, a miserable one in this village. i. 20

Leprosy, why probably less common than of *

old ../. ii. 23, 25

Leveret, suckled by a cat ii. 11

Lime blossoms, infusion of, a remedy for coughs,

&c .' ii. 292

Linnets, congregate and chirp i. 65

Loaches from Amhresbury i. 90

Loon, or diver, described ii. 223

M.

Malm, black, what sort of soil i. 4

Ditto, white i. 6

March, the month of, two wonderful hot days iu

March, 1 777 ; the effects of that heat ii. 17

356 INDEX.

Page
Mare, singular incident relating to an old hunting

one ^ ii* 252

Martin, house, seen very late i. 1 02

...... house, a monography of • i. 265, 274

...... sand, or bank, a monography of . . . . i. 296, 304!

house, builds her nest only in the morn-
ing i. 267

house, farther circumstances about . . . . ii. 92

'. house, more particulars' concerning . . . ."ii. 106

additional remarks on ii. 237

..... .and fieldfares, seen together i. 79

Mice, small red, nondescript i. 58

.... one of their nests described i. 59, 60

.... some farther account of i. 68

Migration, actual, somewhat like it i. Ill

at Gibraltar, ocular demonstration of i. 234

Missel-bird, the largest singing bird i. 203

pugnacious i, 321

Mist, called London smoke, usually followed by

dry weather ii. 302

Moose-deer, a female, some account of i. 134

a male, where killed i. 142

Motion of birds • . • • ii. 48

Museum, countryman's, where , i. 53

Music, its powerful effect on some men's minds ii. 1 12

of birds depends on incubation i. 207

Mylilus crista galli, a curious fossil-shell , i. 13

N.
Naturalist's Calendar ii. from l6l to 195

INDEX. 357,

Page
Newt, or eft, water, some account, of *....., .i. 85, 93

Norekill • • i. 5

Northern birds seen in the south i. 9^

O

Oak, a vast one planted on the Plestm^ i. 9

Oestrus Curvicauda, account of .i. 155, ii. 270

Osprey, or sea-eagle, where shot i. l65

Otter, one, where killed i. 141

Owl, brown, a tame one i. 55

.... white, or barn-owl, the young not easily

bred up c • • . • ' i- 55

Owls, white, do not hoot i. 260

.... brown, live without water ^ i. 262

.... hoot in different keys i. 241

.... white, several particulars of i. 259

.... fern, superstitious notions of the country

people respecting ii. 231

• some account of ii. 233, 236

P

Partridges, hen, instances of their remarkable

solicitude to save their brood * ii. 21 1

Passeres, order of, contains all the singing birds i. 204

Peacocks, their train not a tail i. 1 5/)

Pettichaps, a very rare bird at Selhorne - ii* 114

Phalcena Quercus, devour the leaves of oak trees ii. 264

Pheasant, Hybrid, description of ii- 21^

Pheasants, reason of their* cowring and squatting ii. 221
Pigeons, drink like quadrupeds .' , , i. 1 75

r>5H INDEX.

Page

Plants, the more rare, in Selborne ii. 42, 47

Plestor, the, in the midst of the village, what . . i. 9

Plover, the stilt, a rare and curious bird ii. 84

Poems ii. SS5

Pond, Wolmer, its measurement, fov^rls, &c i. 41

Ponds on elevations, why seldom dry i. 349

Poultry, endowed with great discernment to see

what will turn to their own advantage ii. 207

reason of their propensity to roosting

on high ii. 207

Ptinus Pectinicornis, account of ii. 259

Puffins, breed in holes on the flat ground i. 101

Queen's bank, why so called i. 30

R.

Rabbits make the finest turf, and why , » ii. 250

Rain, the mean of, not to be ascertained at any

place till after many years i. 22

• • • • what has fallen at Selborne of late years . . i. 22
.... that of Selborne compared with that of

Plymouth , . ^ ii. 125

.... measure of, in inches and hundreds,

from 1782 to 1793 ii. 317

Rat, whether two kinds of i. 51

.... water, a curious anecdote concerning one . i. 129

Raven, nest of, account of i. 11

Ray, Mr. why a superior writer i. 244

Red-breasts, why supposed to sing in autumn

only , i. 174

INDEX. 359^

Page

Red-start, moves its tail horizontally • • • • i. 172

its singularities « i. 177:

Red-wings, the first birds that suffer by frost .... i. 243

Ring-ousel, where fonnd i. 61

more particulars of i. 97

farther account of i. 114

more of ditto i. 121

breed in Dartmore and the Peak of

Derby . - i. 1 45-

further remarks concerning i. 163^

Rooks, perfectly white , , i. 73

an amusing anecdote about i. 124»

are continually fighting ii. 203

have their wings frozen by the sleet . . ii. 302

Ruperta, whose daughter and wife i. 43

Rupert Prince, a great Mechanic • i. 44

Rushes instead of candles, matter of much

utility in humble life i. SS4t

Rutland, county of, what rain fell there i. 233

S.

Sand-martin, seen before any of its congeners . . ii. 239

Scallops, or pectines, where found i. 15

Scopoli, account of his works i. 222'

Scotland, in what its maps are defective i. 1 84

Sedge-bird, some particulars about i. 123

........ more account of • • . . i. 1 70

a delicate polyglot .••«.... i. 208

Seed lying dormant ii. 295

Selborne parish, its situation and abuttals i. 1

360 INDEX.

Page

Selbor?ie, village, how circumstanced » . . . i. 3

the manor of, abounds with game. . . • i. 21

...... parish of, of vast extent, why • i. 21

population of i. 23

...... rain, quantity of, considerable, why . . . . i. 22

...... produces near half the birds of Gr^at

Britain < • . . i. 178

Serpent kind, eat but once a year - . . . i. 88

Sexes, of birds and beasts, when they se-
parate i. 229

Sheep, Sussex, horned and hornless i. 278

...... observations on ;> ii. 249

Slugs,* very injurious to wheat just come out
of the ground, by eating off the blade ; and
by their infinite numbers occasioning incredi-
ble havock ii. l6, 281

Snails, remarks on * . • ii. 281

...... water, vulgar error i. 88

Snake, stinks se defendendo i. 1 24

. . . .'s slough, curious particulars concerning. . . . ii. 282

Snipes, their piping and humming i. 81

Snow-fleck, sometimes seen at Selborne i. 127

Sociality in the brute creation, instances of. .i. 328, 330
Softbilled birds, how many stay the winter. ... i. 199
Sow,' prodigious fecundity of one , ii. 9

• For the amazing ravages committed on turnips, wheat,
clover, field-cabbage seeds, &c. by slugs, and a rational and
easy method of destroying them, see a sensible letter by Mr.
Henry Vagg, of CJdlcompton, in the county of Somerset, lately
made public at the request of the gentlemen of that neigh-
bourhood.

INDEX. '361

Page

Sphytix Ocellata, account of . . <• t ii. 266

Squirrels, three young ones suckled by a cat ... * ii. 251

Stock-dove, bird of passage i. l66

• • • • often confounded with the ring-
dove i. 190

Stone, free, its uses and advantages i. 15

rag, its qualities and uses , . . . i. 17

sand or forest i. 18

.••••• yellow or rust colour i. 18

Stone curlew, some account of i. 75

farther account of i. 76, 151

additional particulars concern-
ing ii. 229

"Lrofyn of animals, several instances of • i. 253

Summer birds of passage, list of i. SO, I97

Summers, 1781 and 1783, unusually sultry.... ii. 150
Swallow, the house or chimney, a monography

of i. 283, 292

• more particulars about ii. 115

• congregating and disappearance of . -, ii. 241

Sweden produces two hundred and twenty-one

birds i. 1 78

Swift, or black-martin, a monography of . . i. 305, 318
.... the same number usually seems to return

to the same place • . ii. S6

.... more circumstances about ii. 94

Swift, and large bat, feed in the same high

region of air • • i. 130

Sycamore tree, forms a beautiful appearance in

May. • * • ii. 290

362 I N D E X.

T.

Page

Teals, where bred i. 258

Tender plants, in what aspect to be placed. ... ii. 132
Thaws, why sometimes surprisingly quick .... ii. 301
Thrush, missel, very fierce and pugnacious..., i. 321

Thrushes are very serviceable in gardens ii. 205

reason of their building near houses .... ii. 205

Timber, a large fall of, in the Holt-Forest . . . . i. 46

Tit-mice, their mode of life and support i. 181

Tortoise, a family one i. 227

more particulars of i. 250

farther circumstances about ii. 87

, more remarks respecting • ii. QO

Trees, subterraneous, how discovered i. 26

.... why perfect alembics, how , i. S4<6

.... order of losing their leaves ii. 285

.... size and growth of , ii. 286

«... flovdng of sap from ii. 288

.... renovation of leaves of ii. 289

Tremella 7iostoc, remark concerning ii. 298

Truffles, observations on ii. 298

V.

Vine, disease of ii. Q(]

Viper, blind-worm, and snake, some account

of i. 87

pregnant one, some circumstances about . ii. 5

W.

Wagtails, run round the cows when feeding in

moist pastures, and why ii. 245

INDEX. S63

Page

Wagtails, steers, larks, walk i. 199

Waldori'lodge, what, and by whom kept up » • . . i. 37
Waltham blacks, much infested Wolmer-forest . . i. 32

by their enormities occasioned the

black act i. 32

Wasps, observations on ii. 2G8

Water-eft, has no gills i. Q3

Weather, dripping after drought, influence of . . ii. 304

summary of, from I768 to 1 792 . . . . ii. 319

Well-head, a fine perennial spring i. 4

Wells, their usual depth in Selborne village . . . . i. 6

Wheat, mistaken notion concerning ii. 297

Wheatear, the bird so called, some account of . . i. QQ

Sussex bird, so called, more particulars

of i. 280

White-throat, some particulars about. i. I76

Winchester^ Hoadlyy bishop of, his humane
objection to restocking Waltham chace with

deer , . . i. S3

Wolmer, forest of, some account of i. 25, 43

• • how abutted upon » i. 25

has abounded with fossil trees i. 27

• • • haunted by many sorts of wild fowl . . i. 28

» once abounded with heath cocks, or

black game i. 28

with red deer i. 29

Woodcocks, sometimes sluggish and sleepy . . i. 238, 245

Scopoli's assertion about i. 146

hen, with egg, before she leaves

England i. 230

Wood-fossil, where found ..•....•••••. ii. 122

S64 INDEX.

Page

Woodi'Losel'Sj its taper oaks ...«.•.... i. 10

its raven tree ^ i. 1 1

Worms, earth, no inconsiderable link in the chain

of nature, some account of ..... * ii. 14

farther particulars of • •.....• ii. 279

glow, put out their lamps between eleven

and twelve « • • . • ii. 279

Wrens, willow, three species o i. 94

Wren, smallest uncrested willow, the second

early summer birds . • < « ii. 230

Wryneck, walks a little ii. 246

account of •..«.••••.• • ii. 246

Y.

Yellow-hammer, sings later in the year than any •
other bird i. 213

Yeoman-prickers, their agility as horsemen .... i. 31

THE END.

T. C. Hansard, Pater-noster-row Press.

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QH White, Gilbert

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