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Maps, plates, charta, etc., may be filmed at differant reduction ratioa. Those too large to be entirely included In oito oxpoeura ara filmed beginning in the upper left Itand comer, left to right and top to bottom, aa niany framea as required. The following diagrams illustrate tlie method: Los cartes, pianches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmte i doe taux da rMuction diffArants. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre roproduit en un soul clichA, 11 est filmA A partir do Tangle supArleur gauche, do gauclM A droite, et do haut en bas, en prenant la nombro d'imagas nAcessaira. Los diagrammes suivants iilustrant la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE //.„, (;.,,„.,i ...,i, /'/".' CZ, r A' S/irrwin S.;,/f.' //"■ ^ (Pe A. /i XVI List of Illustrations Pagt Footbridge over Hollow Lane near Norton Farm, now demolished ig In Wolmer Forest 25 Greatham Church 29 From an engraving by Professor Delamotte, by kind permission of Messrs. Macmillan. Selborne and the Hanger, from the North . . . 30 & 3 1 Oakhanger Pond 35 Kingsley Old Church 38 In Alice Holt Forest 39 Gilbert White's House 43 From an engraving made soon after his death. . The room to the left with the two large windows was added by White himself. The White arms 48 From the tomb of Gilbert White's grandfather in Selborne Church, Selborne, the Hanger, and Nore Hill 62 The Wakes (Gilbert White's House) 73 From the garden. The Hanger from Dorton 79 A Dormer Window in Selborne Street .... .84 Gilbert White's Stool go Now in the possession of the Rev. Edmund Field, and drawn by his kind permission. It was one of a set of chairs, one of which is now pre- served, together with a table which also belonged to White, in Oriel College, Oxford; but the back of this one he had removed. Cressy Hall, Lincolnshire 91 Junction of the Alton and Newton roads at the North end of the Village 95 Headley . . . . . . . . . . i\-^ One of the parishes bordering Selborne on the fast. Ltst of I /lustrations XVII • 62 • 73 . 79 • 8+ kind 90 pre- Priory Farm At the end of the Village towards Empshott The Wishing Stone This stone stands en the Hanger, at the top of the Zig-zag. Basingstoke Grammar School .... From an engraving in the possession of F. Lazenby, Esq. Gilbert White went to school here. Old Hop Kilns by the footpath to Alton . The Zig-zag from the street .... The Footstone to White's Gr e . Delves House, Ringmer Here lived Whites aunt, Mrs. Snooke, whom he used to visit every year. It was also the home of Timothy the tortoise, which became White's property after Mrs. Snook^s death. The garden adjoins the churchyard. Fyfield Rectory The home of White's brother Henry. Gilbert White's Sitting-room . Lewes from the Ringmer road . Ringmer Church . The trees behind are in the garden of the house at which White used to visit, and formed part of the rookery Old Cottages at Faringdon White was curate here for many years. Seeding and Beeding Hill The River Adur at Beeding The Wakes froir. the road Bramber Village and Castle Hops .... Old Rushlight-holders and Tinder-box Pag* 119 121 126 »35 145 162 184 192 201 203 205 207 221 232 252 257 259 r i xvni List of Illustrations <\ a ■ . I On Baker's Hill . Between the tVakes and the Hanger. Old Windmill, now demolished Wood Pond, on the Common . Tablet on Cottage in Gracious Street Trotton Church .... Gilbert White's arms From the tablet in the church. Selborne Church from below . View at Rogate .... Hartley Mauditt Church . Tablet in White's garden wall . Dorton Cottage .... White's Sundial .... View from Hawkley Slip . Looking towards Great ham and Wolmer Forest. The Queen's Arms .... The Hermitage .... From an engraving in the first edition after Grimm stood halfway up the Hanger beside the Zig-zag. Gilbert White's Tomb Newton Valence Vicarage The Wakes from the back Newton Valence Vicarage Hollow Lane near Norton Farm Grange Farm ..... Old pair of Iron Snuffers from Selborne In the possession of the Misses Pul linger The Hermitage I'agt 263 265 269 272 277 279 281 289 293 299 3*7 319 337 339 341 3^5 368 378 3«5 i^l 390 !•> List of Illustrations XIX List of Illustrations of Birds, &c. wing Fossil Shell, Ostroea Carinata Idackcock Fly-catcher Water ^'ole . Hoopoe . Hawfinch Long-eared Bat Harvest Mice and Nest German Silk-tail or Wax Hen Chaffinch Wheatear Bullfinch ChiffchafF Sione-curlew . Willow-wren . Grasshopper-warbler Golden-crested Wren Common Snake Wood-wren Ring-ousel Jackdaw Heron Sedge-warbler Whitethroat Fieldfare . Pag* 12 27 45 46 49 51 52 53 55 5« 61 65 67 68 70 71 72 77 »3 «5 88 93 98 103 105 XX List of Illustrations Snow-bunting . Hedgehog Raven Gibraltar Swift Peacock . Great Bat Nightjar or Goat-sucker Osprey . Nightingale Great Titmouse Blue Titmouse Honey-buzzard Rock-pigeon Blackcap Stock-dove Snipe Yellowhammer Cuckoo . Linnet . Reed Sparrow Crossbill . Redwing White Owls House-martin Swallow . Sand-martin Swift . Missel-thrush Pagi )o6 III »'7 123 129 '3» »33 '37 142 »47 150 '53 '55 163 167 169 '73 '75 ^77 181 189 '97 211 215 226 235 241 249 ^ List of Illustrations Viper Common Bat . Redstart . Brown Owl Woodcock Sparrow-hawk . Field-crickets . House-cricket . Mole-cricket . Black-winged Stilt The Shell of White's Tortoise . Now in thi Natural HUtory Museum at Wood-pigeon Landrail or Corncrake Nuthatch Peregrine Falcon .... Hen-harrier White's Thrush nis thrush seems first to have been noticed in Hampshire, in 1828, and for that reason was named IVhite's Thrush by Eyton. It i> first mentioned by him in his work " A History of the Rarer British Birds." Great Northern Diver .... Hybrid Bird South Kensington. XXI *75 284 286 301 309 3«2 323 327 329 331 335 345 349 352 355 359 363 373 381 f"" [;! ,1 ( / THE WAKES 1S*mRY'S CHURCH 3 THEFLESTOR i THE VJCARACTE 5 THE ZIGZAG %W.§^^^^^TAGE 7 THE ALCOVE 8 THECr^EEN'S ARnS "i BAKER'S HILL JOTHEWISHING STONE 1/ GW'SSVnnERHOVSr 2aa\^ h- '. HI i EaSt Worldham CAau/Con WWorlclham M Tcrrm^c/on East Tern/lie SELBORNE Newton Valence .-.^:ri Emnshott \ mwkley <^^^^^ ShorCheaCh Common Ktngsley /%.ySELBORNL anct the neig6iouri7\§ Ht^moor- /nciofure '«»».— fhnJs * - WOLMER Wall Down .^. 7/ead(ep BlacA moor Bramshott Wolmer Pond A^ " FOREST 'Bottom -'-^ Bnmstonf Indoiure ;JV> ..jCiisfii..- OSL. Lin hook 6" reatham Dflwr> 'J' Longmoor _^ lyiciosure JJCl i& h i> ■ I % l INTRODUCTION SOME time about the year 17 5 5, as far as one can judge ^ there went to settle down at Selborne in Hampshire a certain quiet and unobtrusive parson^ the Reverend Gilbert Pf^hite^ Fellow of Oriel CollegCy Oxford^ who has made his out-of-the-way village into a place of pilgrimage for all lovers of nature on both sides of the Atlantic. Re was not, as is commonly though erroneously stated, the vicar of the parish ; he retained his Fellowship at Oriel, and seems to have resided in Selborne for the most part merely in his character as a private gentleman, though he also incident- ally acted as curate there and elsewhere. But that was not Gilbert White's first appearance in the Hampshire parish. He merely settled down to spend his days obscurely but calmly in his native village. So modest was he, indeed, and so careless of fame that no portrait now exists of him, and only a few particulars can with difficulty be gleaned from very brief notices about the man whose Letters have probably been reprinted in a greater number of editions than those of any other English worthy. 7'he Whites had a hereditary connection of two generations with Selborne. Gilbert White the elder, grandfather of the naturalist, was a Fellow of Magdalen, presented by his college in 168 1 to their vicarage of Selborne, then, it would appear, of very small value. 'The tombstone of this elder Gilbert, still remaining in the parish church, is partly answerable for the persistent blunder which describes the naturalist as '■^ the idyllic vicar of Selborne"; and the error is intensified by the memorial slab to the grandson himself, on which occur the words, ^'■formerly Vicar of this Parish," applied to the elder not to the younger Gilbert. The vicar died in 1727, when his famous grandson was just seven years old ; he left one son, John, " Barrister- at-law" who was the father of the more famous Gilbert White of these charming letters. Gilbert the younger was born at Selborne vicarage on July 18, H 'I ' . S/ 1' I' is 1 t XXVlll Introduction 1720. //^ ^/V. almost all his references to countries other than European, or even to :nt' remoter parts of Europe. Yet the charm of the picture never once diminishes. Indeed, it is just these quaint touches of vanished thought that make the book most readable. " / return you thanks for your in; % Introduction XX XIX account of Cressi Hall ; but recollect^ not without regret^ that in June 1746 / was visiting for a week together at Spalding^ without ever being told that such a curiosity was just at hand'' Murray and Baedeker were then unknown. Nowadays we should say^ " / will run down to Lincolnshire and look at it " ; but Lincolnshire to White was further off for all practical purposes than Moscow or Morocco to the modern investigator. 'This steady picture of a calm and contem- plative rural life is worth a thousand times more than much minor science. Finally^ we have always to bear in mind the end which thinkers of White's age proposed to themselves. In our own day, the desire to '■'■advance science'* has been made on the whole a foolish fftish. Almost all scientific education has aimed at this end ; it has striven to produce, not whole and many-sided men and women, but inventors, discoverers, producers of new chemical compounds, investigators of new and petty peculiarities in the economy of the greenfly that affects roses. All that is very excellent in its way ; but it is not the sole, or even {let me be frank) the main object of a scientific education. What the world needs is not so much advancers of science as a vast mass of well- instructed citizens, who can judge of all subjects alike in their proper place, and can assign to ecch its due relative importance. I know few things more instructive in this way than to turn from the " Natural History " to the " Antiquities of Selborne," and see how far White differed in the width and universality of his broader interests from the narrow and specialised man of science of to-day. The truth is, the vast majority of men can never do anything to " advance science " in any noteworthy degree ; and the desire to '■'■fake up " a petty name by pre- tending to advance it lies at the root of much of our current pedantry. But everybody can love and observe nature. Everybody can take lessons from White in such love and observation. The aim we should propose is to build ourselves up in the round ; to make of ourselves full, evenly-balanced, broad-minded human natures. We do not want to be lop-sided. As a preservative against one prevalent form of lop- sidedness in modern life. White's methods and example are of incalcul- able value. Try to look out upon Nature with the same frank, unprejudiced, first-hand view, asking her questions, and letting her ' \\ / ;■ xl Introduction ' ' ? .?■ I 1 I answer them herself^ instead of forcing a hasty answer upon her ; and then^ whether you succeed in '■^^ advancing science^^ or not^ you will at least have advanced our common humanity by the presence in its midst of one more candid and single-hearted lover of truth and beauty. «ff '^ «^ ^ «^ I If f I * I I •,;■. ! \\\ 'V ji )on her ; noty you presence of truth THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE ^1 f ( if t 1» ;■ t. -I fJeM-oTTufi^om c/ie Jia/m^£/r stood within these twenty years a broad- leaved elm,* or wych hazel, ulmus folio latissimo scabro of Ray, which, though it had lost a con- siderable leading bough in the great storm in the year 1703, equal to a moderate tree, yet, when felled, contained eight loads or timber ; and, being too bulky for a carriage, was sawn off at seven feet above the butt, where it ' This letter may possibly be an extract from one or more real letters written to Pennant. — Ed. ^ A wych-elm, IJlmus montana. — Ed. '•■fl 8 The Natural History of Selborne if»- measured near eight feet in the diameter. This elm I mention to show to what a bulk planted elms may attain ; as this tree must certainly have been such from its situation. In the centre of the village, and near the church, is a square piece of ground surrounded by houses, and vulgarly called " The Plestor."* In the midst of this spot stood, in old times, a vast oak, with a short squat body, and huge horizontal arms extending almost to the extremity of the area. This venerable tree, surrounded with stone steps, and seats above them, was the delight of old and young, and a place of much resort in summer evenings ; where the former sat in grave debate, while the latter frolicked and danced before them. Long might it have stood, had not the amazing tempest in 1 703 " overturned it at once, to the infinite regret of the inhabitants, and the vicar, who bestowed several pounds in setting it in its place again : but all his care could not avail ; the tree sprouted for a time, then withered and died. This oak I mention tc show to what a bulk planted oaks also may arrve : and planted this trev^ must certainly have been, as will appear from what will be siid farther concerning this area, when we enter on the antiquities of Seiborne. On the Blackmoor estate there is a small wood called el's, of a few acres, that was lately furnished with a set of oaks o ^^culiar growth and great value ; they were tall and taper like firs, but standing near together had very small heads, only a little brush without any large limbs. About twenty years ago the bridge at the Toy, near Hampton Court, being much decayed, some trees were wanted for the repairs that were fifty feet long without bough, and would measure twelve inches diameter at the little end. Twenty such trees did a purveyor find in this little wood, with this advantage, ' That is to say, the play-stow, or playing-place. — Ed. ■ The great storm of 1703, the only one in Britain which (in historical times) has ever equalled the violence of a tropica] hurricane, produced so deep an impression upon the people of the period that it was familiarly spoken of as " the storm " throughout the whole of the eighteenth century. White, who was not born till seventeen years later, speaks of it as a well-known occurrence, both here and elsewhere. Macaulay gives a graphic description of this famous tempest in his essay on Addison. — Ed. J^i i jT/ie ff^Ce^Orr ■'«' . ' lo The Natural History of Selborne that many of them answered the description at sijity feet. These trees were sold for twenty pounds apiece. In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, though shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into a large excrescence about the middle of the stem. On this a pair of ravens had fixed their residence for such a series of years, that the oak was distin- guished by the title of the Raven Tree. Many were the attempts of the neighbouring youths to get at this eyry : the difficulty whetted their inclmations, and each was ambitious of surmounting the arduous task. But, when they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their way, and was so far beyond their grasp, that the most daring lads were awed, and acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous : so the ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect security, till the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was in the month of February, when these birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the butt, — the wedges were inserted into the opening, — the woods echoed to the heavy blow of the beetle or malle or mallet, — the tree nodded to its fall ; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest ; and, though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the ground. W^dCTiead LETTER III.' to the same. IHE )ssil-shells of this district, and sorts of stont, such as have fallen within my observation, must not be passed over in silence. And first 1 must mention, as a great curiosity, a specimen that was ploughed up in the chalky fields, near the side of the Down, and given to me for the singularity of its appearance, which, to an incurious eye, seems like a petrified fish of about four inches long, the catdo passing for an head and mouth. It is in reality a bivalve of the Linnaean genus of Mytilus, and the species of Crista Galli ; ^ * This letter on the fossils of Sclborne is clearly a later insertion, and is a sufficiently perfunctory performance. — Ed. ^ White was mistaken in referring this fossil, of which he gives an illustration in the first edition, to the (Mytilus crista-galli of Linnxus. It is in reality Ostraa carinata, a characteristic mollusk of the Greensand. — Ed. (H ;,f 4 •I I II-! it! 'I 'I i 12 7^/^^ Natural History of Selborne O^rcea cartnata called by Lister, Rastellum ; by Rumphius, Ostreum plkatum minus; by D'Argenville, Auris Porci, s. Cr/V/ ' w i I Bi- 1; '^^aJ'^c^on vAicAuTcA 'i^ •^y- >'.',K. i'l I .■ I- Cmfts, Acftt C^ui/rcyfi LETTER IV.' 7*0 the same. ]S in a former letter the freestone of this place has been only mentioned incidentally, I shall here become more particular. This stone is in great request for hearth-stones, and the beds of ovens : and in lining of lime-kilns it turns to good account ; for the workmen use sandy loam instead of mortar ; the sand of which fluxes,* and runs by the intense heat, and so cases over the whole • There may probably be also in the chalk itself that is burnt for lime a pro- portion of sand : for few chalks are so pure as to have none. ' Obviously an added letter. — Ed. ^'! r>- ■ '^'i ! t.l I ? If; ii .-/i 1 6 7>&^ Natural History of Selhorne face of the kiln with a strong vitrified coat like glass, that it is well preserved from injuries of weather, and endures thirty or forty years. When chiseled smooth, it makes elegant fronts for houses, equal in colour and grain to the Bath stone ; and superior in one respect, that, when seasoned, it does not scale. Decent chimney- pieces are worked from it of much closer and finer grain than Portland ; and rooms are floored with it ; but it proves rather too soft for this purpose. It is a freestone cutting in all directions ; yet has something of a grain parallel with the horizon, and therefore should not be surbedded, but laid in the same position that it grows in the quarry.* On the ground abroad this firestone will not succeed for pavements, because, probably some degree of saltness prevailing within it, the rain tears the slabs to pieces.t Though this stone is too hard to be acted on by vinegar, yet both the white part, and even the blue rag, ferments strongly in mineral acids. Though the white stone will not bear wet, yet in every quarry at intervals there are thin strata of blue rag, which resists rain and frost ; and are excellent for pitching of stables, paths and courts, and for building of dry walls against banks, a valuable species of fencing much in use in this village, and for mending of roads. This rag is rugged and stubborn, and will not hew to a smooth face, but is very durable ; yet, as these strata are shallow and lie deep, large quantities cannot be procured but at considerable expense. Among the blue rags turn up some blocks tinged with a stain of yellow or rust colour, which seem to be nearly as lasting as the blue ; and every now and then balls of a friable substance, like rust of iron, called rust balls. In Wolmer Forest I see but one sort of stone, called by the workmen sand, or forest-stone. This is generally of the colour of rusty iron, and might probably be worked as iron ore ; is very hard and heavy, and of a firm, compact texture, and composed of a small • To surbed stone is to set it edgewise, contrary to the posture it had in the quarry, says Dr. Plot, "Oxfordshire," p. 1"]. But surbtdding docs not succeed in our dry walls ; neither do we use it so in ovens, though he says it is best for Teynton stone. t "Firestone is full of salts, and has no sulphur: must be close-grained, and have no interstices. Nothing supports fire like salts ; saltstone perishes exposed to wet and frost." — Plot's "Staff.," p. 152. the ur of hard small ^ arni£/r ^ Tll//uXl6 kotJi^^ ! ( 1 8 The Natural History of Selborne roundish crystalline grit, cemented together by a brown, terrene, ferruginous matter ; will not cut without difficulty, nor easily strike fire with steel. Being often found in broad flat pieces, it makes good pavement for paths about houses, never becoming slippery in frost or rain ; is excellent for dry walls, and is sometimes used in buildings. In many parts of that waste it lies scattered on the surface of the ground ; but is dug on Weaver's Down, a vast hill on the eastern verge of that forest, where the pits are shallow and the stratum thin. This stone is imperishable. From a notion of rendering their work the more elegant, and giving it a finish, masons chip this stone into small fragments about the size of the head of a large nail, and then stick the pieces into the wet mortar along the joints of their freestone walls ; this embellish- ment carries an odd appearance, and has occasioned strangers some- times to ask us pleasantly, *' whether we fastened our walls together with tenpenny nails." ' ' Walls of this sort still occur at Selborne : there arc many close to the church. They arc also common at Dorking and in other places on the Greensand area. For an example, see illustration on p. 14. — Ed. f , t..' jHodowLame ?i£cur A/ortan LETTER V.^ jMONG the singularities of this place the two rocky hollow lanes, the one to Alton, and the other to the forest, deserve our attention. These roads, running through the malm lands, are, by the traffic of ages, and the fretting of water, worn down through the first stratum of our freestone, and partly through the second ; so that they look more like water-courses than roads ; and are bedded with naked rag ' A made-up letter on the roads and human aspects of Selborne. — Ed. 20 The Natural History of Selborne for furlongs together. In many places they are reduced sixteen or eighteen feet beneath the level of the fields ; and after floods, and in frosts, exhibit very grotesque and wild appearances, from the tangled roots that are twisted among the strata, and from the torrents rushing down their broken sides ; and especially when those cascades are frozen into icicles, hanging in all the fanciful shapes of frost- work. These rugged gloomy scenes aflright the ladies when they peep down into them from the paths above, and make timid horse- men shudder while they ride along them ; but delight the naturalist with their various botany, and particularly with their curious Alices, with which they abound. The manor of Selborne, was it strictly looked after, with all its kindly aspects, and all its sloping coverts, would swarm with game ; even now hares, partridges, and pheasants abound ; and in old days woodcocks ,yere as plentiful. There are few quails, because they more affect open fields than enclosures ; after harvest some few landrails are seen. The parish of Selborne, by taking in so much of the forest, is a vast district. Those who tread the bounds are employed part of three days in the business, and are of opinion that the outline, in all its curves and indentings, does not comprise less than thirty miles. The village stands in a sheltered spot, secured by the Hanger from the strong westerly winds. The air is soft, but rather moist from the effluvia of so many trees ; yet perfectly healthy and free from agues. The quantity of rain that falls on it is very considerable, as may be supposed in so woody and mountainous a district. As my experience in measuring the water is but of short date, I am not qualified to give the mean quantity.* I only know that • A very intelligent gentleman assures me (and he speaks from upwards of forty years' experience), that the mean rain of any place cannot be ascertained till a person has measured it for a very long period. " If I had only measured the rain," says he, "for the four first years, from 1740 to 1743, 1 should have said the mean rain at Lyndon was 16J inches for the year; if from 1740 to 1750, i8i inches. The mean rain before 1763 was 20J inches, from 1763 and since 25I inches, from 1770 to 1780, 26 inches. If only 1773, 1774, and 1775, had been measured, Lyndon mean rain would have been called 32 inches." i\ 2 2 The Natural History of Selborne Inch. Hund. 28 37! *7 3» 30 7> 50 26! 33 7« 33 80 3> 55 39 57 From May i, 1779, to the end of the year there fell Jan. I, 1780, to Jan. i, 1781 Jan. I, 1781, to Jan. i, 1782 Jan. I, 1782, to Jan. i, 1783 Jan. I, 1783, to Jan. i, 1784 Jan. I, 1784, to Jan. i, 1785 Jan. I, 1785, to Jan. i, 1786 Jan. I, 1786, to Jan. i, 1787 The village of Selborne, a.-'d large hamlet of Oakhanger, with the single farms, and many scattered houses along the verge of the forest, contain upwards of six hundred and seventy inhabitants.* * A STATE OF THE PARISH OF SELBORNE, TAKEN OCTOBER 4, 1783. The number of tenements or families, 136. The number of inhabitants in the street is 313 ) Total 676 ; near five inhabit- In the rest of the parish . . . 363 / ants to each tenement, in the time of the Rev. Gilbert White, vicar, who died in 1727-8, the number of inhabitants was computed at about 500. Average of baptisms for 60 years. From 1750 to 1759 ) Males 7, 6} inclusive J Fem. 8, i) '»/ From 1720 to 1729,) Males 6, 9) Fem. 6, o|"'9 both years inclusive From 1730 to 1739, both years inclusive Ma Fem ^'6,9) I. 8,4! '5. 3 From 1740 to 1749 | Males 9, 2 15,8 From 1760 to 1769 | Males 9, i ) „ inclusive j Fem. 8,9) '' inclusive jFem. 6, 6 Total of baptisms of Males „ „ Females Froir ji 770 to 1779 ) Males i o, 5 ) ■ - • ^- 9.81"' 3 inclusive jFem. 5'5l98u Tota' of baptisms from 1720 f ^1']'^, 00th inclusive, 60 years Average of biiriah for 60 years. 980 From 1720 to 1729,) Males 4., %\ both years inclusive j Fem. 5, i j °' ' From 1730 to 1732,) Males 4, 8) , both years inclusive (Fem. 5, 8) * From 1740 to 1749 ) Males 4, 6| „ inclusive j Fem. 3, 8) ' "^ Frcr. 1750 to 1759 | Males 4. 91 ,0, From 1760 to 1769 ) Males 6, 9 inclusive ) Fem. 5, es 6, 9) inclusive I Fem. 6,5) 3' 4- From 1770 to 1779 | Males 5, 5) inclusive jFem. 6, 2)"'7 Total of burials of Males . . 3 „ „ Females . . 32 Total of burials from 1720 to 1779, both inclusive, 60 years . . 640 I'h" The Natural History of Selborne 2 3 We abound with poor ; many of whom are sober and industrious, and live comfortably in good stone or brick cottages, which are glazed, and have chambers above stairs : mud buildings we have none. Besides the employment from husbandry, the men work in hop-gardens, of which we have many ; and fell and bark timber. In the spring and summer the women weed the corn ; and enjoy a second harvest in September by hop-picking. Formerly, in the dead months they availed themselves greatly by spinning wool, for making of barragons, a genteel corded stuff, much in vogue at that time for summer wear ; and chiefly manufactured at Alton, a neighbouring Baptisms exceed burials by more than one-third. Baptisms of Males exceed Females by one-tenth, or one in ten. Burials of Females exceed Males by one in thirty. It appears that a child, born and bred in this parish, has an equal chance to live above forty years. Twins thirteen times, many of whom dying young have lessened the chance for life. Chances for life in men and women appear to be equal. A Table of the Baptisms, Burials, and Marriages, from January 2, 1 761, TO December 25, 1780, in the Parish of Selborne. baptisms, burials. MAR. M. F. Total. M. F. Total. I76I . . 8 10 18 2 4 6 3 1762 7 8 •5 10 '4 24 6 •763 8 10 18 3 4 7 5 1764 1 1 9 20 10 8 18 6 1765 12 6 18 9 7 16 6 1766 9 13 22 10 6 16 4 1767 ' + 5 19 6 5 II 2 1768 7 6 '3 2 5 7 6 1769 9 > + 23 6 5 II 2 1770 10 >3 23 4 7 II 3 Carried forward 95 94 189 62 65 127 43 f. 24 TJbe Natural History of Selborne town, by some of the people called Quakers : but from circum- stances this trade is at an end.* The inhabitants enjoy a good share of health and longevity ; and the parish swarms with children. A Table of the Baptisms, Burials, and Marriages from January 2, 1761, TO December 25, 1780, in the Parish of Selborne — Continued. BAPTISMS • burials mar. M. F. Total. M. F. Total. Brought forward 95 94 189 62 65 127 43 1771 10 6 16 3 4 7 4 1772 II 10 21 6 10 16 3 1773 8 5 >3 / 5 12 3 1774 6 13 19 2 8 10 I 1775 20 7 27 •3 8 21 6 1776 II 10 21 6 10 6 •777 8 13 21 3 10 4 1778 n 1 13 20 4 7 5 1779 14 8 22 6 II 5 1780 8 9 «7 II 4 '5 3 198 188 386 123 123 246 83 During this period of twenty years the births of males exceeded those of females . . . . . .10 The burials of each sex were equal. And the births exceeded the deaths . , , 140 • Since the passage above was written, I am happy in being able to say that the spinning employment is a little revived, to the no small comfort of the indus- triou'j housc-vvifc. 1 I "■ ••" ••••-«»**, .. ..•«-• - . ■ ■ ^ • ■ • •*• - - ..•».- • •^•« a- ■^*»»-»w— ^,^ .»._. ,.'»^ "■•»•- . .V ■ <-^ ZC^o^mer^yrcisT LETTER VI. T(^ the same. HOULD I omit to describe with some exactness the forest of Wolmer, of which three-fifths per- haps lie in this parish, my account of Selborne would be very imperfect, as it is a district abound- ing with many curious productions, both animal and vegetable; and has often afforded me much enter- tainment both as a sportsman and as a naturalist. The royal forest of Wolmer is a tract of land of about seven miles in length, by two and a half in breadth, running nearly from north to south, and is abutted on, to begin to the south, and so to proceed eastward, by the parishes of Greatham, Lysse [Liss], Rogate, and Trotton, in the county of Sussex ; by Bramshot, Hedleigh [Headley], and Kingsley. This royalty consists entirely of sand covered with heath and fern ; but it is somewhat diversified with 26 The Natural History of Selborne hills and dales, without having one standing tree in the whole extent. In the bottoms, where the waters stagnate, are many bogs, which foi merly abounded with subterraneous trees ; though Dr. Plot says positively,* that " there never were any fallen trees hidden in the mosses of the southern counties." But he was mistaken : for I myself have seen cottages on the verge of this wild district, whose timbers consisted of a black hard wood, looking like oak, which the owners assured me they procured from the bogs by probing the soil with spits, or some such instruments : but the peat is so much cut out, and the moors have been so well examined, that none has been found of late.f Besides the oak, I have also been shown pieces of fossil wood of a paler colour, and softer nature, which the inhabitants called fir : but, upon a nice examination, and trial by fire, I could discover nothing resinous in them ; and therefore rather suppose that they were parts of a willow or alder, or some such aquatic tree.' * See his " History of Staffordshire." t Old people have assured me, that on a winter's morning they have discovered these fees, in the bogs, by the hoar frost, which lay longer over the space where they were concealed than in the sur- rounding morass. Nor docs this seem to be a fanciful notion, but consistent with fue philosophy. Dr. Hales saith, "That the warmth of the earth, at some depth underground, has an influence in promoting a thaw, as well as the change of the weather from a freezing to a thawing state, is manifest, from this observation, viz., Nov. 29, 1 73 1, a little snow having fallen in the night, it was, by eleven the next morning, mostly melted away on the surface of the earth, except in several places in Bushy Park, where there were drains dug and covered with earth, on which the snow continued to lie, whether those drains were full of water or dry ; as also where elm-pipes lay underground : a plain proof this, that those drains intercepted the warmth of the earth from ascending from greater depths below them ; for the snow lay where the drain had more than four feet depth of earth over it. It continued also to lie on thatch, tiles, and the tops of walls," — Sec Hales's "Hsma- statics," p. 360. QuERE, Might not such observations be reduced to domestic use, by promoting the discovery of old obliterated drains and wells about houses ; and in Roman stations and camps lead to the finding of pavements, baths, and graves, and other hidden relics of curious antiquity ? ' Many errors still occur even among "educated" people from a misconcep- tion of the meaning of the word Jorest. In early times, it did not necessarily or even usually imply the presence of trees. A forest is not a wooded district but one rcbcrvcd for hunting and sport — what we now call a moor or heath. Wolmer Forest was never wooded at ancient dates, though a small part of it has lately been !: •m The Natural History of Selborne 27 Sibtackcock This lonely domain is a very agreeable haunt for many sorts of wild fowls, which not only frequent it in the winter, but breed there in the summer ; such as lapwings, snipes, wild-ducks, and, as I have discovered within these few years, teals. Partridges in vast plenty are bred in good seasons on the verge of this forest, into which they love to make e?Lcursions : and in particular, in the dry summer of 1740 and 1 74 1, and some years after, they swarmed to such a degree that parties of unreasonable sportsmen killed twenty and sometimes thirty brace in a day. But there was a nobler species of game in this forest, now extinct, which I have heard old people say abounded much before shooting flying became so common, and that was the heath-cock, black game, or grouse. When I was a little boy I recollect one coming now and then to my father's table. The last pack remembered was killed about thirty-five years ago ; and within these ten years one solitary greyhen was sprung by some beagles in beating for a hare. The sportsmen cried oat, " A hen pheasant ; " but a gentleman present, planted with Scotch firs. Legends of trees having once existed on bare tracts have often grown up through a misapprehension of the mei"ning of the word forest. Deer-forests cannot, of course, be thickly wooded : the word is used in this case in its original and proper meaning. — Ed. 28 The Natural History of Selborne who had often seen grouse in the north of England, assured me that it was a greyhen. Nor does the loss of our black game prove the only gap in the Fauna Selborniensis ; for another beautiful link in the chain of beings is wanting, I mean the red deer, which toward the beginning of this century amounted to about five hundred head, and made a stately appearance. There is an old keeper, now alive, named Adams, whose great-grandfather (mentioned in a perambulation taken in 1635), grandfather, father, and self, enjoyed the head keepership of Wolmer Forest in succession for more than an hundred years. This person assures me, that his father has often told him, that Queen Anne, as she was journeying on the Portsmouth road, did not think the forest of Wolmer beneath her royal regard. For she came out of the great road * at Lippock [Liphook], which is just by, and reposing herself on a bank smoothed for that purpose, lying about half a mile to the east of Wolmer Pond, and still called Queen's Bank, saw with great complacency and satisfaction the whole herd of red deer brought by the keepers along the vale before her, consisting then of about five hundred head. A sight this, worthy the attention of the greatest sovereign ! But he farther adds that, by means of the Waltham blacks,^ or, to use his own expression, as soon as they began blacking, they were reduced to about fifty head, and so continued decreasing till the time of the late Duke of Cumberland. It is now more than thirty years ago that his High- ness sent down an huntsman, and six yeoman-prickers, in scarlet jackets laced with gold, attended by the stag-hounds ; ordering them to take every deer in this forest alive, and to convey them in carts to Windsor. In the course of the summer they caught every stag-, some of which showed extraordinary diversion : but in the following winter, when the hinds were also carried off, such fine chases were exhibited as served the country people for matter of talk and wonder for years afterwards. I saw myself one of the yeoman-prickers single out a stag from the herd, and must confess that it was the most curious feat of activity I ever beheld, superior to anything in ' The Portsmouth Road. — Eu. '^ A body of local dccr-stcalcrs or poachers, for details as to whom, see the next letter. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 29 Mr. Astley's riding-school. The exertions made by the horse and deer much exceeded all my expectations ; though the former greatly excelled the latter in speed. When the devoted deer was separated from his companions, they gave him, by their watches, law, as they called it, for twenty minutes ; when, sounding their horns, the stop- dogs were permitted to pursue, and a most gallant scene ensued. " m t '• ~^Uci/ ^Jti&trme LETTER VII/ To the same. ^^^PHOUGH large herds of deer do much harm to the neighbourhood, yet the injury to the morals of the people is of more moment than the loss of their crops. The temptation is irresistible ; for most men are sportsmen by constitution : and there is such an inherent spirit for hunting in human nature, as scarce any inhibitions can restrain. Hence, towards the beginning of this century all this country was wild about deer-stealing. Unless he was a hunter, as they affected to call themselves, no young person was allowed to be possessed of manhood or gallantry. The Waltham blacks at length ^ Also an added letter, suggested by the need for explanation of the last. — Ed. 'f The Natural History of Selborne 3 1 ^' trm tfu^Jy&rcA committed such enormities, that government was forced to interfere with that severe and sanguinary act called the " Black Act," * which now comprehends more felonies than any law that ever was framed before. And, therefore, a late Bishop of Winchester, when urged to re-stock Waltham Chase,t refused, from a motive worthy of a prelate, replying " that it had done mischief enough already." Our old race of deer-stealers are hardly extinct yet : it was but a little while ago that, over their ale, they used to recount the exploits of their youth ; such as watching the pregnant hind to her lair, and, when the calf was dropped, paring its feet with a penknife to the quick to prevent its escape, till it was large and fat enough to be killed ; the shooting at one of their neighbours with a bullet in a turnip-field by moonshine, mistaking him for a deer ; and the losing a dog in the following extraordinary manner : — Some fellows, sus- pecting that a calf new-fallen was deposited in a certain spot of thick fern, went, with a lurcher, to surprise it ; when the parent- • Statute 9 Geo. I. cap. 22. the bishop was Dr. Hoadly. t This chase remains unstockcd to this day ; 3 2 The Natural History of Selborne hind rushed out of the brake, and, taking a vast spring with all her feet close together, pitched upon the neck of the dog, and broke it short in two. Another temptation to idleness and sporting was a number of rabbits, which possessed all the hillocks and dry places : but these being inconvenient to the huntsmen, on account of their burrows, when they came to take away the deer, they permitted the country- people to destroy them all. Such forests and wastes, when their allurements to irregularities are removed, are of considerable service to the neighbourhoods that verge upon them, by furnishing them with peat and turf for their firing ; with fuel for the burning their lime ; and with ashes for their grasses ; and by maintaining their geese and their stock of young cattle at little or no expense. The manor-farm of the parish of Greatham has an admitted claim, I see (by an old record taken from the Tower of London), of turning all live stock on the forest, at proper seasons, " bidentibus exceptis."* The reaso i, I presume, why sheep f are excluded, is, because, being such close grazers, they would pick out all the finest grasses, and hinder the deer from thriving. Though (by statute 4 and 5 W. and Mary, c. 23) " to burn on any waste, between Candlemas and Midsummer, any grig, ling, heath and furze, goss or fern, is punishable with whipping and confine- ment in the house of correction ; " yet, in this forest, about March or April, according to the dryness of the season, such vast heath- fires are lighted up, that they often get to a masterless head, and, catching the hedges, have sometimes been communicated to the underwoods, woods, and coppices, where great damage has ensued. The plea for these burnings is, that, when the old coat of heath, &c., is consumed, young will sprout up, and afford much tender brouze for cattle ; but, where there is large old furze, the fire, following the roots, consumes the very ground ; so that for hundreds of acres nothing is to be seen but smother and desolation, the • For this privilege the owners of that estate used to pay to the king annually seven bushels of oats. t In the Holt, where a full stock of fallow-deer has been kept up till lately, no sheep are admitted to this day. The Natural History of Selborne 3 3 whole circuit round looking like the cinders of a volcano ; and, the soil being quite exhausted, no traces of vegetation are to be found for years. These conflagrations, as they take place usually with a north-east or east wind, much annoy this village with their smoke, and often alarm the country ; and, once in particular, I remember that a gentleman, who lives beyond Andover, coming to my house, when he got on the downs between that town and Winchester, at twenty-five miles distance, was surprised much with smoke and a hot smell of fire ; and concluded that Alresford was in flames ; but, when he came to that town, he then had apprehensions for the next village, and so on to the end of his journey. On two of the most conspicuous eminences of this forest stand two arbours or bowers, made of the boughs of oaks ; the one called Waldon Lodge, the other Brimstone Lodge : these the keepers renew annually on the feast of St. Barnabas, taking the old materials for a perquisite. The farm called Blackmoor, in this parish, is obliged to find the posts and brush-wood for the former ; while the farms at Greatham, in rotation, furnish for the latter ; and are all enjoined to cut and deliver the materials at the spot. This custom I mention, because I look upon it to be of very remote antiquity. T 'IL I i-i OaAAan^er !Jo7icl LETTER VIII. To the same. IN the verge of the forest, as it is now circum- scribed, are three considerable lakes, two in Oakhanger, of which I have nothing particular to say ; and one called Bin's, or Bean's Pond, which is worthy the attention of a naturalist or a sportsman. For being crowded at the upper end with willows, and with the carex cespitosa,* it affords such a safe and pleasing shelter to wild ducks, teals, * I mean that sort which, rising into tall hassocks, is called by the foresters torrets ; a corruption, I suppose, of turrets. Note. In the beginning of the summer 1787, the royal forests of Wolmer and Holt were measured by persons sent down by government. I « ■ i k ( i. 36 The Natural History of Selborne snipes, &c., that they breed there. In the winter this covert is also frequented by foxes, and sometimes by pheasants ; and the bogs produce many curious plants. By a perambulation of Wolmer Forest and the Holt, made in 1635, and the eleventh year of Charles the First (which now lies before me), it appears that the limits of the former are much cir- cumscribed. For, to say nothing of the farther side, with which I am not so well acquainted, the bounds on this side, in old times, c?me into Binswood ; and extended to the ditch of Ward le Ham Park, in which stands the curious mount called King John's Hill, and Lodge Hill ; and to the verge of Hartley Mauduit, called Mauduit Hatch ; comprehending also Short Heath, Oakhanger, and Oakwoods ; a large district, now private property, though once belonging to the royal domain. It is remarkable that the term purlieu is never once mentioned in this long roll of parchment. It contains, besides the perambulation, a rough estimate of the value of the timbers, which were consider- able, growing at that time in the district of the Holt ; and enumer- ates the officers, superior and inferior, of those joint forests, for the time being, and their ostensible fees and perquisites. In those days, as at present, there were hardly any trees in Wolmer Forest. Within the present limits of the forest are three considerable lakes, Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer ; all of which are stocked with carp, tench, eels, and perch : but the fish do not thrive well because the water is hungry, and the bottoms are a naked sand. A circumstance respecting these ponds, though by no means peculiar to them, I cannot pass over in silence ; and that is, that instinct by which in summer all the kine, whether oxen, cows> calves, or heifers, retire constantly to the water during the hotter hours ; where, being more exempt from flies, and inhaling the coolness of that element, some belly deep, and some only to mid- leg, they ruminate and solace themselves from about ten in the morning till four in the afternoon, and then return to their feeding. During this great proportion of the day they drop much dung, m which insects nestle ; and so supply food for the fish, which would be poorly subsisted but from this contingency, Thus Nature, who % The Natural History of Selborne 3 7 is a great economist, converts the recreation of one animal to the support of another ! Thomson, who was a nice observer of natural occurrences, did not let this pleasing circumstance escape him. He savs, in his Summer, " J various group the herds and flocks compose ; on the grassy bank Some ruminating lie; white others stand Half in the flood, and, ojlen bending, sip The circling surface." Wolmer Pond, so called, I suppose, for eminence sake,' is a vast lake for this part of the world, containing, in its whole circumfer- ence, 2646 yards, or very near a mile and a half. The length of the north-west and opposite side is about 704 yards, and the breadth of the south-west end about 456 yards. This measurement, which I caused to be made with good exactness, gives an area of about sixty-six acres, exclusive of a large irregular arm at the north-east corner, which we did not take into the reckoning. On the face of this expanse of waters, and perfectly secure from fowlers, lie all day long, in the winter season, vast flocks of ducks, teals, and widgeons, of various denominations ; where they preen and solace, and rest themselves, till towards sunset, when they issue forth in little parties (for in their natural state they are all birds of the night) to feed in the brooks and meadows ; returning again with the dawn of the morning. Had this lake an arm or two more, and were it planted round with thick covert (for now it is perfectly naked), it might make a valuable decoy. Yet neither its extent, nor the clearness of its water, nor the resort of various and curious fowls, nor its picturesque groups of cattle, can render this meer \\ markable as the great quantity of coins ' White is mil, ■ vcn. 1 nci. ' hardly say, in supposing the pond to be called after the forest : i^ i. -faily n . forest which is called after the pond. The wild tract betweti. Pcfc.sti '!d, Hi- ere, and Selborne contained three mere«, Hogmere, Cranmere, a i -' ohi.' 'c, i v Liogmcr, Cranmcr, and Wolmer. From ihe largest of these three, WoUiicr, t'r iorcst took its usual name. Wolmer Pond was once much larger than in White's time, and has now been still more extensively drained, till it is quite insignificant. — Ed. ■ 't a* 1 h 38 T/ie N mural History of Selborne that were found in its bed about forty years ago. But, as such discoveries more properly belong to the antiquities of this place, I shall suppress all particulars for the present, till I enter professedly on my series of letters respecting the more remote history of this village and district.* • These letters, though included in the first edition, form a separate work, under the title c*" " The Antiquities of Selborne." — Ed. 53 /'- - -^ ^^^^^g?\ o^ cAu/rcJi -■y I J ^ni^^iceT^^o^trJore^ LETTER IX. 'To the same. lY way of supplement, I shall trouble you once more on this subject, to inform you that Wolmer, with her sister forest, Ayles Holt, alias Alice Holt,* as it is called in old records, is held by grant from the crown for a term of years. The grantees that the author remembers are Brigadier-General Emanuel Scroope Howe, and his lady, Rupertp., who was a natural daughter of Prince Rupert by • " In Rot. Inquisit. dc statu forest, in Scaccar, 36 Edw. III., it is called Aisholt." In the same, " Tit. Woolmer and Aisholt Hantisc. Dominus Rex habet unam capellam in haia sua de Kingcsle." " Haia, scpes, sepimentum, parcus ; a Gall, haie and haye." — Spelman's Glossary. ii'. 40 7'/)e Natural History of Selborne Margaret Hughes ; a Mr. Mordaunt, of the Peterborough family, who married a dowager Lady Pembroke ; Henry Bilson Legge and lady ; and now Lord Stawell, their son. The lady of General Howe lived to an advanced age, long sur- viving her husband ; and, at her death, left behind her many curious pieces of mechanism of her father's constructing, who was a distinguished mechanic and artist,* as well as warrior ; and among the rest, a very complicated clock, lately in possession of Mr. Elmer, the celebrated game painter at Farnham, in the county of Surrey. Though these two forests are only parted by a narrow range of enclosures, yet no two soils can be more different ; for the Holt consists of a strong loam, of a miry nature, carrying a good turf, and abounding with oaks that grow to be large timber ; while Wolmer is nothing but a hungry, sandy, barren waste. The former being all in the parish of Binsted, is about two miles in extent from north to south, and near as much from east to west ; and contains within it many woodlands and lawns, and the great lodge where the grantees reside, and a smaller lodge called Goose Green ; and is abutted on by the parishes of Kingsley, P'rinsham, Farnham, and Bentley ; all of which have right of common. One thing is remarkable, that though the Holt has been of old well stocked with fallow-deer, unrestrained by any pales or fences more than a common hedge, yet they were never seen within the limits of Wolmer ; nor were the red deer of Wolmer ever known to haunt the thickets or glades of the Holt. At present the deer of the Holt are much thinned and reduced by the night hunters, who perpetually haras^j them in spite of the efforts of numerous keepers, and the severe penalties that have been put in force against them as often as thev have been detected, and rendered liable to the lash of the iaw. Neither fines nor imprison- ments can deter them ; so impossible is it to extinguish the spirit of sporting which seems to be inherent in human nature. General Howe turned out some German wild boars and sows in his forests, to the great terror of the neighbourhood, and, at one • This prince was the inventor of niezzotinto. LI of .1 ') i m i. \ 4.2 The Natural History of Selborne time, a wild buJl or buffalo ; but the country rose upon them and destroyed them. A very large fall of timber, consisting of about one thousand oaks, has been cut this spring (viz., 1784) in the Holt forest : one fifth of which, it is said, belongs to the grantee. Lord Stawell. He lays claim also to the lop and top ; but the poor of the parishes of Binsted and Frinsham [Frensham], Bentley and Kingsley, assert that it belongs to tnem, and assembling in a riotous manner, have actually taken it all away. One man, who keeps a team, has carried home for his share forty sacks of wood. Forty-five of these people his lordship has served with actions. These trees, which were very sound and in high perfection, were winter-cut, viz., in February and March, before the bark would run. In old times the Holt was estimated to be eighteen miles, computed measure from water- carriage, viz., from the town of Chertsey, on the Thames ; but now it is not half that distance, since the Wey is made navigable up to the town of Godalming in the county of Surrey. I' f \ !'•■ K f I! ^."^^ ■.rffq/iMtiuKat/".^,. . ■•'5J^iiB^»K«i«jv/«i5<>,.. . ■•■■■"/Utif.l/ 9i£6cTt W/uWs fuyti^e LETTER X.i 'To the same. August \th, 1767. r has been my misfortune never to have had any ">-:s>* neighbours whose studies have led them towards '^•U bb-^ the pursuit of natural knowledge ; so that, for Z'^J J <1^ want of a companion to quicken my industry vT — I — I >fc. and sharpen my attention, I have made but slender progress in a kind of information to which I have been attached from my childhood. As to swallow^ {Jiir undine 5 rustics) being found in a torpid state during the winter in the Isle of Wight or any part of this country, ' With this letter, the first bearing a date, we begin the real scries of White's interesting and valuable correspondence with Pennant. See Introduction. The style of the true letters is far superior to that of the artificial additions. — Ed. I'. >i ! 'I ■1 ^ a ''if Ji ■" I' iM i\ H. u\\ ! ki ■ - r ^11 44 The Natural History of Selborne I never heard any such account worth attending to. But a clergy- man, of an inquisitive turn, assures me, that whi he was a great boy, some workmen, in pulling down the battlem nts of a church tower early in the spring, found two or three swifts {hirundines apodes) among the rubbish, which were at first appearance dead, but on being carried towards the fire revived. He told me, that out of his great care to preserve them, he put them in a paper bag, and hung them by the kitchen fire, where they were suffocated.' Another intelligent person has informed me, that while he was a schoolboy at Brighthelmstone [Brighton], in Sussex, a great frag- ment of the chalk cliff" fell down one stormy winter on the beach, and that many people found swallows among the rubbish ; but on my questioning him whether he saw any of those birds himself, to my no small disappointment, he answered me in the negative ; but that others assured him they did. Young broods of swallows began to appear this year on July the I ith, and young martins {hirundines urbicte) were then fledged in their nests. Both species will breed again once. For I see by my fauna of last year, that young broods came forth so late as September the 1 8th. Are not these late hatchings more in favour of hiding than migration ^ Nay, some young martins remamed in their nests last year so late as September the 29th ; and yet they totally dis- appeared with us by the 5th of October, How strange it is that the swift, which seems to live exactly the same life with the swallow and house-martin, should leave us before the middle of August invariably ! while the latter stay often till the middle of October ; and once I saw numbers of house- martins on the 7th of November. The martins and red-wing fieldfares were ' This question whether swallows and their like were to be found hibernating in Enf'md seems to be the one about which Pennant first put himself in com- munication with the Selborne naturalist. It was commonly believed at the time that swallows were often found torpid in England, and even that they passed the winter under water in the mud of ponds. It is now known, of course, that such stories arc quite untrue, and that swallows and swifts migrate southward in winter. The swift, again, is not related to the swallow, but is a Cypsclus, belonging to an entirely different family. But White could never quite get over the belief in hibernation, a point to which he recurs again and again throughout these letters. — Ei>. The Natural History of Selborne 45 Fiy-caUher flying in sight together, an uncommon assemblage of summer and winter birds ! A little yellow bird (it is either a species of the alauda trivialis^ or rather perhaps of the motacilla trochiius) still continues to make a sibilous shivering noise in the tops of tall woods/ The stoparola of Ray (for which we have as yet no name in these parts) is called in your zoology the fly-catcher." There is one circumstance charac- teristic of this bird which seems to have escaped observation, and that is, its takes its stand on the top of some stake or post, from whence it springs forth on its prey, catching a fly in the air, and hardly ever touching the ground, but returning still to the same stand for many times together. I perceive there are more than one species of the motacilla trochiius. Mr. Derham supposes, in " Ray's Philos. Letters," that he has discovered three. In these there is again an instance of some very common birds that have as yet no English name. Mr. Stillingfleet makes a question whether the black-cap {motacilla atricapilla) be a bird of passage or not : I think there is no doubt of it : for, in April, in the first fine weather, they come trooping, ' The yellow willow-wren, Sylvia sil/ilatrix {Phylloscopus sibilatrix). — Ed. - The spotted fly-catcher, CMuscicapa grisola. — Ed. h \\.\ t M 46 The Natural History of Selborne i 1 % 111 ' m J ^'LM< ,v iB 1 V I r Water VoU all at once, into these parts, but are never seen in the winter. They are delicate songsters. Numbers of snipes breed every summer in some moory [marshy] ground on the verge of this parish. It is very amusing to see the cock bird on wing at that time, and to hear his piping and humming notes. I have had no opportunity yet of procuring any of those mice ' which I mentioned to you in town. The person that brought me the last says they are plenty in harvest, at which time I will take care to get more ; and will endeavour to put the matter out of doubt whether it be a nondescript species or not. 1 suspect much there may be two species of water-rats. Ray says, and Linnxus after him, that the water-rat is web-footed behind. Now I have discovered a rat on the banks of our little stream that is not web-footed, and yet is an excellent swimmer and diver : it answers exactly to the mus amphibius of Linnasus (see Syst. Nat.) which he says " natat in fossis et urinatur.'' I should be glad to procure one "'' plantis palmatis.'' Linnasus seems to be in a puzzle about his mus amphibius, and to doubt whether it differs from his mus terrestris ; which if it be, as he allows, the " mus agrestis capite grandi brachyuros,'' of Ray, is widely different from the water-rat, both in size, make, and manner of life.^ ' Harvest-mice. — Ed. - We have only one so-called water-rat in Britain, •better described as the water-vole, ^rvicola ampkibiui ; it is not web-footed. — Ed. of 'yhecAu/rcA^Ti 'om t/u SE 48 The Natural History of Selborne As to the falco^ which I mentioned in town, I shall take the liberty to send it down to you into Wales ; presuming on your candour that you will excuse me if it should appear as familiar to you as it is strange to me. Though mutilated " qualem dices . . . antehac fiiisse, tales cum sint reliquia ! " It haunted a marshy piece of ground in quest of wild-ducks and snipes ; but, when it was shot, had just knocked down a rook, which it was tearing in pieces. I cannot make it answer to any of our English hawks ; neither could I find any like it at the curious exhi- bition of stuffed birds in Spring Gardens. I found it nailed up at the end of a barn, which is the countryman's museum. The parish I live in is a very abrupt, uneven country, full of hills and woods, and therefore full of birds. I ll i I IM^r |f i 'JAc WhmArTru I ) ^fi, .'^loopoL' LETTER XI. To the same. Selborne, September f)th, 1767. JT will not be without impatience that I shall wait for your thoughts with regard to the falco ; as to its weight, breadth, &c., I wish I had set them down at the time ; but, to the best of my remem- brance, it weighed two pounds and eight ounces, and measured, from wing to wing, thirty-eight inches. Its cere and feet were yellow, and the circle of its eyelids a bright yellow. As it had been killed some days, and the eyes were sunk, I could make no good observation on the colour of the pupils and the irides.' The most unusual birds I ever observed in these parts were a pair of hoopoes (upupa)y which came several years ago in the summer, and frequented an ornamented piece of ground, which joins to my garden, for some weeks. They used to march about in a stately ' It was a peregrine falcon, Fn/co peregrinus. — Ed. ^, ^f^f" IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I bilM 12.5 Ui l&i 12.2 2? lift ■" L£ 12.0 ut I 6" Photographic Sdences Corpoi^lon \ 23 WUT MAIN STillT WIISTII.N.Y. 14SM (716) 172-4303 ip c ^ * \ I ill n ! i' /' 50 TJ[)e Natural History of Selborne manner, feeding in the walks, many times in the day ; and seemed disposed to breed in my outlet ; but were frighted and persecuted by idle boys, who would never let them be at rest. Three grossbeaks {loxia coccothraustes) appeared some years ago in my fields, in the winter ; one of which I shot. Since that, now and then, one is occasionally seen in the same dead season. A crossbill {loxia curvirostra) was killed last year in this neigh- bourhood. Our streams, which are small, and rise only at the end of the village, yield nothing but the bull's head or miller's thumb {gobius fluviatilis capifalus), the trout {truttafluviatilis)^ the eel {anguilla)^ the lampern (lamp^etra parva et fluviatilis)^ and the stickle-back {pisciculus aculeatus)} We are twenty miles from the sea, and almost as many from a great river, and therefore see but little of sea birds. As to wild fowls, we have a few teams of ducks bred in the moors [marshes] where the snipes breed ; and multitudes of widgeons and teals in hard weather frequent our lakes in the forest. Having some acquaintance with a tame brown owV I find that it casts up the fur of mice and the feathers of birds in pellets, after the manner of hawks ; when full, like a dog, it hides what it can not eat. The young of the barn-owl are not easily raised, as they want a constant supply of fresh mice ; whereas the young of the brown owl will eat indiscriminately all that is brought ; snails, rats, kittens, puppies, magpies, and any kind of carrion or offal. The house-martins have eggs still, and squab young. The last swift I observed was about the 21st of August : it was a straggler. Red-starts, fly-catchers, white-throats, and reguli non cristati, still appear : but I have seen no blackcaps lately. I forgot to mention that I once saw, in Christ Church College quadrangle in Oxford, on a very sunny warm morning, a house- martin flying about, and settling on the parapet, so late as the 20th of November. • I do not attempt to identify the particular species here intended, in the absence of any sufficient description. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 5 1 S^aw/}nc^ At present I know only two species of bats, the common vespertilio murinus and the vespertilio aurihus} I was much entertained last summer with a tame bat, which would take flies out of a person's hand. If you gave it anything to eat, it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering and hiding its head in the manner of birds of prey when they feed. The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings of the flies, which were always rejected, was worthy of observation, and pleased me much. Insects seemed to be most acceptable, though it did not refuse raw flesh when offered ; so that the notion, that bats go down chimneys and gnaw men's bacon, seems no improbable story. While I amused myself with this wonderful quadruped, I saw it several times confute the vulgar opinion, that bats when down upon a flat surface cannot get on the wing again, by rising with great ease from the floor. It ran, I observed, with more dispatch than I was aware of; but in a most ridiculous and grotesque manner. Bats drink on the wing, like swallows, by sipping the surface, as they play over pools and streams. They love to frequent waters, ' It is not probable that White had seen the true Vespertilio murinus, which is a very rare bat ; what he mistook for it must have been the Pipistrelle. His other species was doubtless the long-eared bat, Plecotus auritus. — Ed. 11 ( -fl I h II |l * I 5 2 T/)e Natural History of Selborne not only for the sake of drinking, but on account of insects, which are found over them in the greatest plenty. As I was going some years ago, pretty late, in a boat from Richmond to Sunbury, on a warm summer's evening, I think I saw myriads of bats between the two places ; the air swarmed with them all along the Thames, so that hundreds were in sight at a time. I am, &c. Long-eared (/at ■ h'¥ ■ Ti 11 1 ¥• LETTER XII. To the same. November \th, 1767. |IR, — It gave me no small satisfaction to hear that the falco* turned out an uncommon one. I must confess I should have been better pleased to have heard that I had sent you a bird that you had never seen before ; but that, I find, would be a difficult task. I have procured some of the mice ^ mentioned in my former letters, a young one and a female with young, both of which I have preserved in brandy. From the colour, shape, size, • This hawk proved to be the falco peregrinus ; a variety. ' Harvest-mice, which White was the first tc discover and describe in England. — Ed. I f; f it I ??i \' I n ' f \ i . :l ' ¥ 54 T/^^ Natural History of Selborne and manner of nesting, I make no doubt but that the species is nondescript. They are much smaller, and more slender, than the mus domesticus medius of Ray ; and have more of the squirrel or dormouse colour ; their belly is white, a straight line along their sides divides the shades of their back and belly. They never enter into houses ; are carried into ricks and barns with the sheaves ; abound in harvest ; and build their ncF's amidst the straws of the corn above the ground, and sometimes ni thistles. They breed as many as eight at a litter, in a little round nest composed of the blades of grass or wheat. One of these nests I procured this autumn, most artificially platted, and composed of the blades of wheat, perfectly round, and about the size of a cricket-ball ; with the aperture so ingeniously closed, that there was no discovering to what part it belonged. It was so compact and well filled, that it would roll across the table without being discomposed, though it contained eight little mice that were naked and blind. As this nest was perfectly full, how could the dam come at her litter respectively so as to administer a teat to each .'' Perhaps she opens different places for that purpose, adjusting them again when the business is over ; but she could not possibly be contained herself in the ball with her young, which moreover would be daily increasing in bulk. This wonderful pro- creant cradle, an elegant instance of the efforts of instinct, was found in a wheat-field suspended in the head of a thistle. A gentleman, curious in birds, wrote me word that his servant had shot one last January, in that severe weather, which he believed would puzzle me. I called to see it this summer, not knowing what to expect, but the moment I took it in hand, I pronounced it the male garrulus bohemicus or German silk-tail, from the five peculiar crimson tags or points which it carries at the ends of five of the short remiges. It cannot, I suppose, with any propriety, be called an English bird ; and yet I see, by Ray's " Philosophical Letters," that great Hocks of them, feeding on haws, appeared in this kingdom in the winter of 1685.* ' The Bohemian wax-wing, an occasional visitor to England, appears i.x. long intervals in considerable numbers. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 5 5 \'*k SilkCail The mention of haws puts me in mind that there is a total failure of that wild fruit, so conducive to the support of many of the winged nation. For the same severe weather, late in the spring, which cut ofF all the produce of the more tender and curious trees, destroyed also that of the more hardy and common. Some birds, haunting with the missel-thrushes, and feeding on the berries of the yew tree, which answered to the description of the merula torquata^ or ring-ouzel, were lately seen in this neigh- bourhood. I employed some people to procure me a specimen, but without success. (See Letter XX.) Query. — Might not canary birds be naturalised to this climate, provided their eggs were put, in the spring, into the nests of some of their congeners, as goldfinches, greenfinches, &c. ? Before winter perhaps they might be hardened, and able to shift for themselves. About ten years ago I used to spend some weeks yearly at Sunbury, which is one of those pleasant villages lying on the Thames, near Hampton Court. In the autumn, I could not help being much amused with those myriads of the swallow kind which assemble in those parts. But what struck me most was, that, from the time they began to congregate, forsaking the chimneys and houses, they roosted every night in the osier-beds of the aits [eyots] of that river. Now this resorting towards that element, at that '; fl ',1 !■< 56 The Natural History of Selborne season of the year, seems to give some countenance to the northern opinion (strange as it is) of their retiring under water. A Swedish naturalist is so much persuaded of that fact, that he talks, in his calendar of Flora, as familiarly of the swallow's going under water in the beginning of September, as he would of his poultry going to roost a little before sunset. An observing gentleman in London writes me word that he saw an house-martin, on the twenty-third of last October, flying in and out of its nest in the Borough. And I myself, on the twenty-ninth of last October (as I was travelling through Oxford), saw four or five swallows hovering round and settling on the roof of the county hospital. Now is it likely that these poor little birds (which perhaps had not been hatched but a few weeks) should, at that late season of the year, and from so midland a county, attempt a voyage to Goree or Senegal, almost as far as the equator .? * I acquiesce entirely in your opinion — that, though most of the swallow kind may migrate, yet that some do stay behind and hide with us during the winter.* As to the short-winged soft-billed birds, which come trooping in such numbers in the spring, I am at a loss even what to suspect about them. I watched them narrowly this year, and saw them abound till about Michaelmas, when they appeared no longer. Subsist they cannot openly among us, and yet elude the eyes of the inquisitive : and, as to their hiding, no man pretends to have found any of them in a torpid state in the winter. But with regard to their migration, what difficulties attend that supposition ! that such feeble bad fliers (who the summer long never flit but from hedge to hedge) should be able to traverse vast seas and con- tinents in order to enjoy milder seasons amidst the regions of Africa ! • See Adanson's " Voyage to Senegal." ' This opinion is now known to be quite erroneous. — Ed. i ' I c 1: I ir V'-' I ■ LHN J^WaAe^ 'H^n \ t Chaffinch LETTER XIII. To the same. Selborne, January imJ, 1768. IR, — As in one of your former letters you expressed 1^ w ''I, ^^ the more satisfaction from my correspondence on <^Ji*\ account of my living in the most southerly county ; so now I may return the compliment, and expect to have my curiosity gratified by your living much more to the north. For many years past I have observed that towards Christmas vast flocks of chaffinches have appeared in the fields ; many more, I used to think, than could be hatched in any one neighbourhood. But when I came to observe them more narrowly, I was amazed to find that they seemed to me to be almost all hens. I communicated my suspicions to some intelligent neighbours, who, after taking pains about the matter, declared that they also thought them all mostly females, — at least fifty to one. This extraordinary occurrence brought to my mind the remark of Linnxus; that "before The Natural History of Selborne . 59 winter all their hen chaffinches migrate through Holland into Italy." Now I want to know, from some curious person in the north, whether there are any large flocks of these finches with them in the winter, and of which sex they mostly consist ? For, from such intelligence, one might be able to judge whether our female flocks migrate from the other end of the island, or whether they come over to us from the continent. We have, in the winter, vast flocks of the common linnets : more, I think, than can be bred in any one district. These, I observe, when the spring advances, assemble on some tree in the sunshine, and join all in a gentle sort of chirping, as if they were about to break up their winter quarters and betake themselves to their proper summer homes. It is well known, at least, that the swallows and the fieldfares do congregate with a gentle twittering before they make their respective departure. You may depend on it that the bunting, Emberiza miliaria, does not leave this county [Hampshire] in the winter. In January 1767, I saw several dozen of them, in the midst of a severe frost, among the bushes on the downs near Andover : in our woodland enclosed district it is a rare bird. Wagtails, both white and yellow, are with us all the winter. Quails crowd to our southern coast, and are often killed in numbers by people that go on purpose. Mr. Stillingfleet, in his Tracts, says that " if the wheatear {cenanthe) does not quit England, it certainly shifts places ; for about harvest they are not to be found, where there was before great plenty of them." This well accounts for the vast quantities that are caught about that time on the south downs near Lewes, where they are esteemed a delicacy. There have been shepherds, I have been credibly informed, that have made many pounds in a season by catching them in traps. And though such multitudes are taken, I never saw (and I am well acquainted with those parts) above two or three at a time, for they are never gregarious. They may perhaps migrate in general ; and, for that purpose, draw towards the coast of Sussex in autumn : but that they do not all withdraw I am sure ; because I see a few stragglers in many t I ? 4 I h ' \ ! 60 The Natural History of Selborne counties, at all times of the year, especially about warrens and stone quarries. I have no acquaintance, at present, among the gentlemen of the navy ; but have written to a friend, who was a sea-chaplain in the late war, desiring him to look into his minutes, with respect to birds that settled on their rigging during their voyage up or down the channel. What Hasselquist says on that subject is remarkable ; there were little short-wmged birds frequently coming on board his ship all the way from our channel quite up to the Levant, especially before squally weather. What you suggest, with regard to Spain, is highly probable. The winters of Andalusia are so mild, that, in all Rkelihood, the soft-billed birds that leave us at that season may find insects sufficient to support them there. Some young man, possessed of fortune, health, and leisure, should make an autumnal voyage into that kingdom ; and should spend a year there, investigatmg the natural history of that vast country. Mr. Willughby * passed through that kingdom on such an errand ; but he seems to have skirted along in a superficial manner and an ill- humour, being much disgusted at the rude, dissolute manners of the people. 1 have no friend left now at Sunbury to apply to about the swallows roosting on the aits of the Thames : nor can I hear any more about those birds which I suspected were Merula torquaU. As to the small mice [harvest-mice], I have farther to remark, that though they hang their nests for breeding up amidst the straws of the standing corn, above the ground ; yet I find that, in Llie winter, they burrow deep in the earth, and make warm beds of grass : but their grand rendezvous seems to be in corn-ricks, into which they are carried at harvest. A neighbour housed an oat-rick lately, under the thatch o^i which were assembled near an hundred, most of which were taken, and some I saw. I measured them ; and found that, from nose to tail, they were just two inches and a quarter, and their tails just two inches long. Two of them, in a scale, weighed down just one copper half-penny, which is about the third of an • See " Ray's Travels," p. 466. ! f :!i (■ If . The Natural History 0/ Selborne 6 1 ounce avoirdupois : so that I suppose they are the smallest quadrupeds in this island. A full-grown Mus medius domesticus weighs, I find, one ounce lumping weight, which is more than six times as much as the mouse above ; and measures from nose to rump four inches and a quarter, r.id the same in its tail. We have had a very severe frost and deep snow this month. My thermometer was one day fourteen degrees and a half below the freezing-point, within doors. The tender evergreens were injured pretty much. It was very providential that the air was still, and the ground well covered with snow, else vegetation in general must have suffered prodigiously. There is reason to believe that some days were more severe than any since the year 1739-40. I am, &c. &c. 'WheaCear . :1 i i • f ■ I i *\ <* 4 .K." ■■ '>i... LETTER XIV. 'To the same. Selborne, March izth, 1768. EAR SIR, — If some curious gentleman would procure the head of a fallow-deer, and have it dissected, he would find it furnished with two spiracula, or breathing-places, besides the nostrils; probably analogous to the puncta lachrymalia in the human head. When deer are thirsty, they plunge their noses, like some horses, very deep under water, while in the act of drinking, and continue them in that situation for a considerable time : but, to obviate any inconveniency, they can open two vents, one at the inner corner of each eye, having a communication with the nose.* Here seems to be an extraordinary provision of nature worthy our attention ; and which has not, that I ' The glands to which White here alludes are not breathing-places, and have no connection with respiration. They are secretive organs, found also in all deer and antelopes, as well as in the common sheep : they exude an odorous body, which is probably important as adding to the attractiveness of its possessor, like musk and civet. It belongs to a group of special allurements the origin of which is fully worked up by Darwin in "The Descent of Man." — Ed. ave eer dy. ike lich yiic cAu/rcAJrtmi tAe NW ll I I , I I I f ( i ! i 1 ' 64 The Natural History of Selborne know of, been noticed by any naturalist. For it looks as if these creatures would not be suffocated, though both their mouths and nostrils were stopped. This curious formation of the head may be of singular service to beasts of chase, by affording them free respira- tion : and no doubt these additional nostrils are thrown open when they are hard run.* Mr. Ray observed that at Malta the owners slit up the nostrils of such asses as were hard worked : for they, being naturally straight or small, did not admit air sufficient to serve them when they travelled, or laboured, in that hot climate. And we know that grooms, and gentlemen of the turf, think large nostrils necessary, and a perfection, in hunters and running horses. Oppian, the Greek poet, by the following line, seems to have had some notion that stags have four spiracula : " Ttrpabviioi pivts, nla-vpts TiToi^o-t dlavXoi." , "Quadrifids nares, quadruplices ad respirationcm canalcs." Opp. Cyn, Lib. ii. 1. 181. Writers, copying from one another, make Aristotle say that goats breathe at their ears : whereas he asserts just the contrary : — " AXk- Haiwv yap ovk aXtidrj Xiyn, ^a/uevoc avanvtiv raq atyag Kara to wra." " Alcmason does not advance what is true, when he avers that goats breathe through their ears." — " History of Animals." Book I. chap. xi. * In answer to this account, Mr. Pennant sent me the following curious and pertinent reply : " I was much surprised to find in the antelope something analogous to what you mention as so remarkable in deer. This animal also has a long slit beneath each eye, whiciA can be opened and shut at pleasure. On holding an orange to one, the creature made as much use of those orifices as of his nostrils, applying them to the fruit, and seeming to smell it through them." , LETTER XV. To the same. Selborne, March $ot6, 1768. EAR SIR,— Some intelligent country people have a notion that we have, in these parts, a species of the genus mustelinuftty besides the weasel, stoat, ferret, and polecat ; a little reddish beast, not much bigger than a field-mouse, but much longer, which they call a cane. This piece of intelligence can be little depended on ; but farther inquiry may be made.^ A gentleman in this neighbourhood had two milk-white rooks in one nest. A booby of a carter, finding them before they were able to fly, threw them down and destroyed them, to the regret of the owner, who would have been glad to have preserved such a curiosity in his rookery. I saw the birds myself nailed against the end of a * There is no such animal known to science in Britain, though gamekeepers and others still stoutly assert its existence in many places. Female weasels and the young, when attempting to escape, have a habit of shrinking into themselves, so as to look very small — a peculiarity which doubtless has given rise to the persistent delusion. — Ed. I u \ ' 't " w 66 The Natural History of Selborne barn, and was surprised to find that their bills, legs, feet, and claws were milk-white. A shepherd saw, as he thought, some white larks on a down above my house this wmter : were not these the Emberiza nivalis^ the snow- flake of the Brit. Zool. .? No doubt they were. A few years ago I saw a cock bullfinch in a cage which had been caught in the fields after it was come to its full colours. In about a year it began to look dingy ; and, blackening every succeeding year, It became coal black at the end of four. Its chief food was hemp- seed. Such influence has food on the colour of animals ! The pied and mottled colours of domesticated animals are supposed to be owing to high, various, and unusual food. I had remarked, for years, that the root of the cuckoo-pint (^arum) was frequently scratched out of the dry banks of hedges, and eaten in severe snowy weather. After observing, with some exactness, myself, and getting others to do the same, we found it was the thrush kind that searched it out. The root of the arum is remarkably warm and pungent. Our flocks of female chaflinches have not yet forsaken us. The blackbirds and thrushes are very much thinned down by that fierce weather in January. In the middle of February I discovered, in my tall hedges, a little bird that raised my curiosity : it was of that yellow-green colour that belongs to the salicaria kind, and, I think, was soft-billed. It was no parus ; and was too long and too big for the golden-crowned wren, appearing most like the largest willow-wren. It hung some- times with its back downwards, but never continuing one moment in the same place. I shot at it, but it was so desultory that I missed my aim. I wonder that the stone-curlew, Charadrius cedicnemuSy should be mentioned by the writers as a rare bird : it abounds in all the cham- paign parts of Hampshire and Sussex, and breeds, I think, all the summer, having young ones, I ki:.ow, very late in the autumn. Already they begin clamouring in the evening. They cannot, I think, with any propriety, be called, as they are by Mr. Ray, " circa aquas versantes ; " for with us, by day at least, they haunt only the ri The Natural History of Selborne 67 most dry, open, upland fields and sheep-walks, far removed from water : what they may do in the night I cannot say. Worms are their usual food, but they also eat toads and frogs.^ I can show you some good specimens of my new mice. Linnaus perhaps would call the species Mus minimus. ' White was mistaken in supposing that the stone-curlew does not frequent water. He knew it only in its summer breeding-time. In winter it habitually haunts wet and marshy places. — Ed. Chgchc^ f (jtomc'Cu/rCejiir LETTER XVI. To the same. Selborne, April i%th, 1768. EAR SIR, — The history of the stone-curlew, Charadrius cedicnemuSy is as follows.* It lays its eggs, usually two, never more than three, on the bare ground, without any nest, in the field ; so that the countryman, in stirring his fallows, often destroys them. The young run immediately from the egg, like partridges, &c., and are withdrawn to some flinty field by the dam, where they scullc among the stones, which are their best security ; for their feathers are so exactly of the colour of our grey spotted flints, that the most exact observer, unless ^ These remarks are obviously called out by a question from Pennant respecting the stone-curlew mentioned in the last letter. — Ed. The Natural History of Seiborne 69 he catches the eye of the young bird, may be eluded. The eggs are short and round ; of a dirty white, spotted with dark bloody blotches. Though I might not be able, just when I pleased, to procure you a bird, yet I could show you them almost any day ; and any evening you may hear them round the village, for they make a clamour which may be heard a mile. OEdicnemus is a most apt and expressive name for them, since their legs seem swollen like those of a gouty man. After harvest I have shot them before the pointers in turnip- fields. I make no doubt but there are three species of the willow-wrens ; * two I know perfectly, but have not been able yet to procure the third. No two birds can differ more in their notes, and that constantly, than those two that I am acquainted with ; for the one has a joyous, easy, laughing note, the other a harsh, loud chirp. The former is every way larger, and three-quarters of an inch longer, and weighs two drams and a half, while the latter weighs but two ; so the songster is one-fifth heavier than the chirper. The chirper (being the first summer-bird of passage that is heard, the wryneck sometimes excepted) begins his two notes in the middle of March, and con- tinues them through the spring and summer till the end of August, as appears by my journals. The legs of the larger of these two are flesh-coloured ; of the less black. The grasshopper-lark'' began his sibilous note in my fields last Saturday. Nothing can be more amusing than the whisper of thi& little bird, which seems to be close by though at a hundred yards distance ; and, when close at your ear, is scarce any louder than when a great way off. Had I not been a little acquainted with insects, and known that the grasshopper kind is not yet hatched, I should have hardly believed but that it had been a locusta whispering in the bushes. The country people laugh when you tell them that it is the note of a bird. It is a most artful creature, skulking in the thickest part of a bush ; and will sing at a yard distance, provided it be con- ' These arc doubtless the wood-wren, Sylvia {Phylloscopus) sibilatrix, called by White the songster ; the willow-wren, Sylvia {Phylloscopus) trochilus ; and the chiff- chaff, Sylvia hippolais (or Phylloscopus ru/us), called by White the chirper. — Ed. * Now called the grasshopper-warbler, Salicaria locustella {Locuitella navia). — Ed. ■^ U' T" 70 The Natural History of Selborne ^XVillow^'wren V \ K f > cealed. I was obliged to get a person to go on the other side of the hedge where it haunted, and then it would run, creeping like a mouse, before us for a hundred yards together, through the bottom of the thorns ; yet it would not come into fair sight ; but in a morning, early, and when undisturbed, it sings on the top of a twig, gaping and shivering with its wings. Mr. Ray himself had no knowledge of this bird, but received his account from Mr. Johnson, who apparently confounds it with the reguli mn cristaii, from which it is very distinct. See Ray's "Philos. Letters," p. 108. A List of the Summer Birds of Passage discovered in this Neighbourhood, RANGED somewhat IN THE OrDER IN WHICH THEY APPEAR. I r i iiU Smallest willow-wrcn Wryneck, House-swallow, Martin, Sand-martin, Cuckoo, Nightingale, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Middle willow-wren. Swift, Stone-curlew (?) Turtle-dove (?) Grasshopper-lark, LINNAI NOMINA. MotaciHa trochilus. Jynx torquilla, Hirundo rustica. Hirundo urbica, Hirundo riparia. Cuculus canorus. Motacilla luscinia. Motacilla atricapilla, Motacilla salvia. Motacilla trockilus. Hirundo apus. Charadrius adicnemus {?") Turtur aldrovandi {F) Alauda trivialis. ■ '■■ I. \ r i;- f The Natural History of Selborne 71 i^rasshopper-warhle) Landrail, Largest willow-wren. Redstart, Goat-sucker, or fern-owl, Fly-catcher, Rallus erex. Motacilla trochilus. Motaeilla phanicurus. Caprimulgus europaus. MuscUapa grisola. The fly-catcher {stoparola) has not yet appeared ; it usually breeds in my vine. The redstart begins to sing ; its note is short and im- perfect, but is continued till about the middle of June. The willow- wrens (the smaller sort) are horrid pests in a garden, destroying the peas, cherries, currants, &c. ; and are so tame that a gun will not scare them. My countrymen talk much of a bird that makes a clatter with its bill against a dead bough, or some old pales, calling it a jarbird. I procured one to be shot in the very fact ; it proved to be the Sitta europoea (the nuthatch). Mr. Ray says that the less spotted wood- pecker does the same. This noise may be heard a furlong or more. Now is the only time to ascertain the short-winged summer birds ; for, when the leaf is out, there is no making any remarks on such a restless tribe ; and, when once the young begin to appear, it is all confusion : there is no distinction of genus, species, or sex. In breeding-time snipes play over the moors, piping and humming : they always hum as they are descending. Is not their hum ventri- loquous like that of the turkey } Some suspect it is made by their wings. i 72 T6e Natural History of Selborne This morning I saw the golden-crowned wren, whose crown tters like burnii ack downwards. slitters like burnished gold. It often hangs like a titmouse, with its Di " " Yours, &c. &c. golden-crested jvren 'y^WaAjii^ LETTER XVII. /f. To the same. Selborne, June iSti, 1768. EAR SIR, — On Wednesday last arrived your agreeable letter of June the loth. It gives me great satisfaction to find that you pursue these studies still with such vigour, and are in such forwardness with regard to reptiles and fishes. The reptiles, few as they are, I am not ac- quainted with, so well as I could wish, with regard to their natural history. There is a degree of dubiousness and obscurity attending the propagation of this class of animals, some- I ! I 4 I 'i I, ^ Ml > ^^ Natural History of Selborne thing analogous to that of the cryptogam'ta in the sexual system of plants : and the case is the same with regard to some of the Ashes ; as the eel, &c. The method in which toads procreate and bring forth seems to be very much in the dark. Some authors say that they are viviparous : and yet Ray classes them among his oviparous animals ; and is silent with regard to the mannner of their bringing forth. Perhaps they may be iaia \x\v t% ^woru/coi, as is known to be the case with the viper. The copulation of frogs (or at least the appearance of it ; for Swammerdam proves that the male has no penis intrans) is notorious to everybody : because we see them sticking upon each other's backs for a month together in the spring : and yet I never saw or read of toads being observed in the same situation. It is strange that the matter with regard to the venom of toads has not been yet settled. That they are not noxious to some animals is plain : for ducks, buzzards, owls, stone-curlews, and snakes, eat them, to my know- ledge, with impunity. And I well remember the time, but was not eye-witness to the fact (though numbers of persons were), when a quack, at this village, ate a toad to make the country-people stare ; afterwards he drank oil.' I have been informed also, from undoubted authority, that some ladies (ladies you will say of peculiar taste) took a fancy to a toad, which they nourished summer after summer, for many years, till he grew to a monstrous size, with the maggots which turn to flesh-flies. The reptile used to come forth every evening from a hole under the garden-steps ; and was taken up, after supper, on the table to be fed. But at last a tame raven, kenning him as he put forth his head, gave him such a severe stroke with his horny beak as put out one eye. After this accident the creature languished for some time and died. I need not remind a gentleman of your extensive reading of the ' There is no venom in toads, though they have a nasty taste which makes dogs and fish reject them. The almost universal notion that they are poisonous or dangerous is a pure superstition, which originated, no doubt, in their repulsive appearance. — Ed. I \\ f I t I i «'l :i Norton Go tCagc ' 76 The Natural History of Selborne excellent account there is from Mr. Derham, in Ray's " Wisdom of God in the Creation " (p. 365), concerning the migration of frogs from their breeding ponds. In this account he at once subverts that foolish opinion of their dropping from the clouds in rain ; showing that it is from the grateful coolness and moisture of those showers that they are tempted to set out on their travels, which they defer till those fall. Frogs are as yet in their tadpole state ; but, in a few weeks, our lanes, paths, fields, will swarm for a few days with myriads of those emigrants, no larger than my little finger nail. Swammerdam gives a most accurate account of the method and situation in which the male impregnates the spawn of the female. How wonderful is the economy of Providence with regard to the limbs of so vile a reptile ! While it is an aquatic it has a fish-like tail, and no legs : so soon as the legs sprout, the tail drops oflF * as useless, and the animal betakes itself to the land ! Merret, I trust, is widely mistaken when he advances that the Rana arborea is an English reptile ; it abounds in Germany anc Switzerland. It is to be remembered that the Salamandra aquatica of Ray (the water-newt or eft) will frequently bite at the angler's bait, and is often caught on his hook. I used to take it for granted that the Salamandra aquaiica v/as hatched, lived, and died, in the water. But John Ellis, Esq., F.R.S. (the coralline Ellis), asserts, in a letter to the Royal Society, dated June the 5th, 1766, in his account of the mud inguana^ an amphibious bipes from South Carolina, that the water-eft, or XMt^t^ is onl/ the larva of the land-eft, as tadpoles are of frogs. Lest I should be suspected to misunderstand his meaning, I shall give it in hi3 own words. Speaking of the opercula or coverings to the gills of the mud inguafta, he proceeds to say that, " The form of these pennated coverings approaches very near to what I have some time ago observed in the larva or aquatic state of our English lacerta, known by the name of eft, or newt ; which serve them for coverings to their gills, and for fins to swim with while in this state ; and which they lose, as well as the fins of their tails, when they change their state and become land ' Or, rather, is absorbed. — Eo. The Natural History of Selborne 77 Common snake animals, as I have observed, by keeping them alive for some time myself." * Linnaeus, in his "Systema Naturae," hints at what Mr. Ellis advances more than once. Providence has been so indulgent to us as to allow of but one venomous reptile of the serpent kind in these kingdoms, and that is the viper. As you propose the good of mankind to be an object of your publications, you will not omit to mention common salad oil as a sovereign remedy against the bite of the viper. As to the blind worm {Anguis fragilis^ so called because it snaps in sunder with a small blow), I have found, on examination, that it is perfectly innocuous. A neighbouring yeoman (to whom I am indebted for some good hints) killed and opened a female viper about the 27th of May : he found her filled with a chain of eleven eggs, about the size of those of a blackbird ; but none of them were advanced so far towards a state of maturity as to contain any rudiments of young. Though they are oviparous, yet they are viviparous also, hatching their young within their bellies, and then bringing them ' The newt is not the larva of the lizard, but is an amphibian belonging to a distinct order. It passes, however, through a tadpole state, during which it is provided with fish-like gills. In White's time, the relations of the two were ill understood. For particulars, see any good modern work on natural history. — Ed. ;if< ' 1 ■\W it. i< 78 The Natural History of Selborne forth. "Whereas snakes* lay chains of eggs every summer in my melon beds, in spite of all that my people can do to prevent them ; which eggs do not hatch till the spring following, as I have often experienced. Several intelligent folks assure me that they have seen the viper open her mouth, and admit her helpless young down her throat on sudden surprises, just as the female opossum does her brood into the pouch under her belly, upon the like emergencies ; and yet the London viper-catchers insist on it, to Mr. Barrington, that no such thing ever happens.^ The serpent kind eat, I believe, but once in a year ; or rather, but only just at one season of the year. Country people talk much of a water-snake, but, I am pretty sure, without any reason ; for the common snake {Coluber natrix) delights much to sport in the water, perhaps with a view to procure frogs and other food. I cannot well guess how you are to make out your twelve species of reptiles, unless it be by the various species, or rather varieties, of our lacerti^ of which Ray enumerates five. I have not had opportunity of ascertaining these ; but remember well to have seen, formerly, several beautiful green lacerti on the sunny sand-banks near Farnham, in Surrey ; and Ray admits there are such in Ireland. ' That is to say, ring-snakes, as opposed to vipers. — Ed. - This question is not even now absolutely settled, though I do not doubt the story is a pure mcdixval superstition. — Ed. 'f'l Z^ke. 7£amct£-rJro7n JDortom LETTER XVIII. To the same, Selborne, July z^th, 1768. EAR SIR, — I received your obliging and commu- nicative letter of June the 28th, while I was on a visit at a gentleman's house, where I had neither books to turn to, nor leisure to sit down, to return you an answer to many queries, which I wanted to resolve in the best manner that I am able. A person, by my order, has searched our brooks, but could find no such fish as the Gasterosteus pungitius : he found the Gasterosteus aculeatus in plenty. This morning, in a basket, I packed a little earthen pot full of wet moss, and m it some sticklebacks, male and I /I H "1 I f r^ i 80 T&e Natural History of Selborne female ; the females big with spawn : some lamperns ; some bull's heads ; but T could procure no minnows. This basket will be in Fleet Street by eight this evening ; so I hope Mazel ^ will have them fresh and fair to-morrrow morning. I gave some directions, in a letter, to what particulars the engraver should be attentive. Finding, while I was on a visit, that I was within a reasonable disiince of Ambresbury [Amesbury], I sent a servant over to that towti, and procured several living specimens of loaches, which he brought, safe and brisk, in a glass decanter. They were taken in the gullies that were cut for watering the meadows. From these fishes (which measured from two to four inches in length) I took the following description : " The loach, in its general aspect, has a pellucid appearance ; its back is mottled with irregular collections of small black dots, not reaching much below the linea lateralis^ as are the back and tail fins ; a black line runs from each eye down to the nose ; its belly is of a silvery white ; the upper jaw projects beyond the lower, and is surrounded with six feelers, three on each side ; its pectoral fins are large, its ventral much smaller ; the fin behind its anus small ; its dorsal fin large, containing eight spines ; its tail where it joins to the tail-fin, remarkably broad, without any taper- ness, so as to be characteristic of this genus ; the tail-fin is broad, and square at the end. From the breadth and muscular strength of the tail it appears to be an active, nimble fish." In my visit I was not very far from Hungerford, and did not forget to make some inquiries concerning the wonderful method of curing cancers by means of toads. Several intelligent persons, both gentry and clergy, do, I find, give a great deal of credit to what is asserted in the papers, and I myself dined with a clergyman who seemed to be persuaded that what is related is matter of fact ; but, when I came to attend to his account, I thought I discerned circum- stances which did not a little invalidate the woman's story of the manner in which she came by her skill. She says of herself " that, labouring under a virulent cancer, she went to some church where there was a vast crowd ; on going into a pew, she was accosted by a strange clergyman, who, after expressing compassion for her ' Pennant's engraver. — Ed. e bull's 1 be in ill have •ections, ve. isonable • to that rhich he :aketi in im these .) I took ct, has a ctions of isy as are vn to the s beyond side ; its )ehind its ; its tail ny taper- is broad, rength of I did not nethod of sons, both to what is yrman who fact ; but, ;d circum- )ry of the self " that, irch where ,s accosted an for her * ' mi n.! ^ i 82 T/>e Natural History of Selborne situation, told her that if she would make such an application of living toads as is mentioned she would be well." Now is it likely that this unknown gentleman should express so much tenderness for this single sufferer, and not feel any for the many thousands that daily languish under this terrible disorder ? Would he not have made use of this invaluable nostrum for his own emolument ; or at least, by some means of publication or other, have found a method of making it public for the good of mankind ? In short, this woman (as it appears to me), having set up for a cancer-doctress, finds it expedient to amuse the country with this dark and mysterious relation. The water-eft has not, that I can discern, the least appearance of any gills ; for want of which it is continually rising to the surface of the water to take in fresh air.* i opened a big-bellied one indeed, and found it full of spawn. Not that this circumstance at all in- validates the assertion that they are larva ; for the larva of insects are full of eggs, which they exclude the instant they enter their last state. The water-eft is continually climbing over the brims of the vessel, within which we keep it in water, and wandering away ; and people every summer see numbers crawling out of the pools where they are hatched up the dry banks. There are varieties of them differing in colour ; and some have fins up their tail and back, and some have not.^ ' White is quite right as to the newt in its developed adult state : but in its larval form, Ellis was correct in saying that it possesses gills. — Ed. " The male newts develop an ornamental jagged crest or membrane up the tail and back in the breeding season only, doubtless as an attraction to add to their beauty. — Ed. I rr \ I i !^l Wood- wren LETTER XIX. To the same. Selborne, August \']th, 1768. AR SIR, — I have now, past dispute, made out three distinct species of the willow-wrens {mota- cilla trochilt) which constantly and invariably use distinct notes. But at the same time I am obliged to confess that I know nothing of your willow- lark.* In my letter of April the 1 8th, I had told you peremptorily that I knew your willow-lark, but had not seen it then ; but when I came to procure it, it proved in all respects a very motac'tlla trochilus^ only that it is a size larger than the two other, and the yellow-green of the whole upper part of the body is more vivid, and the belly of a clearer white. I have specimens of the three sorts now lying before me, and can discern that there are three gradations of sizes, and that the least has black legs, and the other two flesh-coloured ones. The yellowest bird is considerably the largest, and has its quill-feathers and secondary feathers tipped with white, which the others have not. This last haunts only the tops of trees in high beechen woods, and makes a sibilous, grasshopper-like noise, now and then, at short intervals, • "Brit. Zool.," edit. 1776, 8vo, p. 381. rtt i; ■i I IS 84 The Natural History of Selborne shivering a little with its wings when it sings ; and is, I make no doubt now, the rtgulus non cristatus of Ray, which he says, '* cantat voce striduld locusta." Yet this great ornithologist never suspected that there were three species. you observe, that a bird so common with us should never straggle \.o you. And here will be the properest place to mention, while I think of it, an anecdote which the above-mentioned gentleman told mc when The Natural History of Selborne 89 I was last at his house ; which was that, in a warren joining to his outlet, many daws {corvi monedula) build every year in the rabbit- burrows under-ground. The way he and his brothers used to take ^heir nests, while they were boys, was by listening at the moi. hs of ihe holes ; and, if they heard the young ones cry, they twisted the nest out with a forked stick. Some water-fowls (viz., the puffins) breed, I know, in that manner ; but I should never have suspected the daws of building in holes on the flat ground. Another very unlikely spot is made use of by daws as a place to breed in, and that is Stonehenge. These birds deposit their nests in the interstices between the upright and the impost stones of that amazing work of antiquity : which circumstance alone speaks the prodigious height of the upright stones, that they should be tall enough to secure those nests from the annoyance of shepherd-boys, who are always idling round that place. One of my neighbours last Saturday, November the 26th, saw a martin in a sheltered bottom : the sun shone warm, and the bird was hawking briskly after flies. I am now perfectly satisfied that they do not all leave this island in the winter.* You judge very right, 1 think, in speaking with reserve and caution concerning the cures done by toads : for, let people advance what they will on such subjects, yet there is such a propensity in mankind towards deceiving and being deceived, that one cannot safely relate anything from common report, especially in print, with- out expressing some degree of doubt and suspicion. Your approbation, with regard to my new discovery of the migra- tion of the ring-ousel, gives me satisfaction ; and I find you concur with me in suspecting that they are foreign birds which visit us. You will be sure, I hope, not to omit to make inquiry whether your ring-ousels leave your rocks in the autumn. What puzzles me most, is the very short stay they make with us ; for in about three weeks they are all gone. I shall be very curious to remark whether they will call on us at their return in the spring, as they did last year. I want to be better informed with regard to ichthyology. If fortune had settled me near the sea-side, or near some great river, ' In this our author was, of course, mistaken. — Ed. If. I Mi t I i tI, ii:i \ • r' \:ii 90 T6e Natural History of Selhorne my natural propensity would soon have urged me to have made myself acquainted with their productions : but as I have lived mostly in inland parts, and in an upland district, my knowledge of fishes extends little farther than to those common sorts which our brooks and lakes produce. I am, &c. Wfiia's stbt>e \l\ LETTER XXII. To the same. Selborne, yan. md, 1769. JEAR SIR, — As to the peculiarity of jackdaws building with us under the ground in rabbit- burrows, you have, in part, hit upon the reason ; for, in reality, there are hardly any towers or steeples in all this country. And perhaps, Norfolk excepted, Hampshire and Sussex are as meanly furnished with churches as almost any counties in the kingdom. We have many livings of two or three hundred pounds a year, whose houses of worship make little better appearance than dovecots. When I first saw Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, and the fens of Lincolnshire, 92 The Natural History of Seiborne I was amazed at the number of spires which presented themselves in every point of view. As an admirer of prospects, I have reason to lament this want in my own country ; for such objects are very necessary ingredients in an elegant landscape. What you mention with respect to reclaimed . toads raises my curiosity. An ancient author, though no naturalist, has wel! re- marked that " every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, of man- kind." • It is a satisfaction to me to find that a green lizard has actually been procured for you in Devonshire ; because it corroborates my discovery, which I made many years ago, of the same sort, on a sunny sandbank near Farnham, in Surrey. I am well acquainted with the South Hams of Devonshire ; and can suppose that district, from its southerly situation, to be a proper habitation for such animals in their best colours. Since the ring-ousels of your vast mountains do certainly not for- sake them against winter, our suspicions that those which visit this neighbourhood about Michaelmas are not English birds, but driven from the more northern parts of Europe by the frosts, are still more reasonable ; and it will be worth your pains to endeavour to trace from whence they come, and to inquire why they make so very short a stay. In your account of your error with regard to the two species of herons, you incidentally gave me great entertainment in your description of the heronry at Cressi Hall ; which is a curiosity I never could manage to see. Fourscore nests of such a bird on one tree is a rarity which I would ride half as many miles to have a sight of. Pray be sure to tell me in your next whose seat Cressi Hall is, and near what town it lies.t I have often thought that those vast extents of fens have never been sufficiently explored. If half a dozen gentlemen, furnished with a good strength of water-spaniels, were to beat them over a week, they would certainly find more species. Th^re is no bird, I believe, whose manners I have studied more • James, chap. iii. 7. f Cressi Hall is near Spalding, in Lincolnshire. The Natural History of Selborne 93 \- 'i U' '•I V- . \- Jieron than that of the caprimulgus (the goat-suckers)/ as it is a wonderful and curious creature ; but I have always found that though some- times it may chatter as it flies, as I know it does, yet in general it utters its jarring note sitting on a bough ; and I have for many a half-hour watched it as it sat with its under mandible quivering, and particularly this summer. It perches usually on a bare twig, with its head lower than its tail, in an attitude well expressed by your draughtsman in the folio " British Zoology." This bird is most punctual in beginning its song exactly at the close of day ; so exactly that I have known it strike up more than once or twice just at the report of the Portsmouth evening gun, which we can hear when the weather is still. It appears to me past all doubt that its notes are formed by organic impulse, by the powers of the parts of its windpipe, formed for sound, just as cats purr. You will credit me, I hope, when I assure you that, as my neighbours were assembled in an hermitage on the side of a steep hill where we drink tea, one ' More commonly known nowadays as the night-jar. — Ed. % • I, -I ^ I- i K' K I 94 TAe Natural History of Selhorne of these churn-owls came and settled on the cross of that little straw edifice and began to chatter, and continued his note for many minutes ; and we were all struck with wonder to find that the organs of that little animal, when put in motion, gave a sensible vibration to the whole building ! This bird also sometimes makes a small squeak, repeated four or five times ; and I have observed that to happen when the cock has been pursuing the hen in a toying way through the boughs of a tree. It would not be at all strange if your bat, which you have pro- cured, should prove a new one, since five species have been found in a neighbouring kingdom. The great sort that I mentioned is certainly a nondescript ; I saw but one this summer, and that I had no opportunity of taking. Your account of the Indian grass was entertaining. I am no angler myself ; but inquiring of those that are, what they supposed that part of their tackle to be made of } — they replied, " Of the intestines of a silkworm." Though I must not pretend to great skill in entomology, yet I cannot say that I am ignorant of that kind of knowledge ; i may now and then perhaps be able to furnish you with a little informa- tion. The vast rains ceased with us much about the same time as with you, and since we have had delicate weather. Mr. Barker, who has measured the rain for more than thirty years, says, in a late letter, that more has fallen this year than in any he ever attended to ; though from July 1763 to January 1764 more fell than in any seven months of this year. . i?/i ►•TP ^Se£Sxrm£ LETTER XXIII. To the same. Selborne, Feb. z%th, 1769. 8EAR SIR, — It is not improbable that the Guernsey lizard and our green lizards may be specifically 1p''^||^ the same ; all that I know is, that, when some ^ ^r\i years ago many Guernsey lizards were turned -^^^^ loose in Pembroke College garden, in the Uni- versity of Oxford, they lived a great while, and seemed to enjoy themselves very well, but never bred. ' Whether this circumstance will prove anything either way I shall not pretend to say. I return you thanks for your account of Cressi Hall ; but recol- lect, not without regret, that in June 1 746 I was visiting for a week together at Spalding, without ever being told that such a curiosity i mm i 'hi J 'i 96 7^^ Natural History of Selborne was just at hand. Pray send me word in your next what sort of tree it is that contains such a quantity of herons* nests ; and whether the heronry consists of a whole grove of wood, or only of a few trees. It gave me satisfaction to find we accorded so well about the caprimulgus ; all I contended for was to prove that it often chatters sitting as well as flying ; and therefore the noise was voluntary, and from organic impulse, and not from the resistance of the air against the hollow of its mouth and throat.' If ever I saw anything like actual migration, it was last Michael- mas Day. I was travelling, and out early in the morning ; at first there was a vast fog ; but, by the time that I was got seven or eight miles from home towards the coast, the sun broke out into a delicate warm day. We were then on a large heath or common, and I could discern, as the mist began to break away, great numbers of swallows (Jiirundines rustica) clustering on the stunted shrubs and bushes, as if they had roosted there all night. As soon as the air became clear and pleasant they all were on the wing at once ; and, by a placid and easy flight, proceeded on southward towards the sea ; after this I did not see any more flocks, only now and then a straggler. I cannot agree with those persons that assert that the swallow kind disappear some and some, gradually, as they come, for the bulk of them seem to withdraw at once ; only some stragglers stay behind a long while, and do never, there is the greatest reason to believe, leave this island.'' Swallows seem to lay themselves up, and to come forth in a warm day, as bats do continually of a warm evening, after they have disappeared for weeks. For a very respect- able gentleman assured me that, as he was walking with some friends under Merton Wall ' on a remarkably hot noon, either in the last week in December or the first week in January, he espied three or ^ The night-jar usually churrs when seated (lengthwise) on a bough ; the trilled noise is undoubtedly voluntary, and is a love-call to its mate.— Ed. ' No swallows winter in England, though a few stragglers may be seen on warm days in late autumn or early spring. — Ed. ' The wall between Morton College, Oxford, and Christ Church Meadows, familiar both to White and his corre- spondent.— Ed. f: i I . The Natural History of Selborne 97 four swallows huddled together on the moulding of one of the windows of that college. I have frequently remarked that swallows are seen later at Oxmrd than elsewhere ; is it owing to the vast massy buildings of that place, to the many waters round it, or to what else ? When I used to rise in a morning last autumn, and see the swal- lows and martins clustering on the chimneys and thatch of the neighbouring cottages, I could not help being touched with a secret delight, mixed with some degree of mortification ; with delight, to observe with how much ardour and punctuality those poor little birds obeyed the strong impulse towards migration, or hiding,^ im- printed on their minds by their great Creator ; and with some degree of mortification, when I reflected that, after all our pains and inquiries, we are yet not quite certain to what regions they do migrate ; and are still farther embarrassed to find that some do not actually migrate at all. These reflections made so strong an impression on my imagina- tion, that they became productive of a composition that may perhaps amuse you for a quarter of an hour when next I have the honour of writing to you. ' The idea of hiding is, of course, erroneous. — Ed. 4 .'/^^ .l! '^ ~ Sec/ge-'wariU) LETTER XXIV. I i To the same. Selborne, May i<)tk, 1769. |EAR SIR, — The scarabaus fullo I know very well, having seen it in collections ; but have never been able to discover one wild in its natural state. Mr. Banks told me he thought it might be found on the sea-coast. On the thirteenth of April I went to the sheep- down, where the ring-ousels have been observed to make their appearance at spring and fall, in their way perhaps to the north or south ; and was much pleased to see these birds about the usual spot. We shot a cock and a hen ; they were plump and in high condition. The hen had but very small rudiments of eggs within her, which proves they are 'ate breeders ; whereas those species of the thrush kind that remain with us the whole year have fledged young before that time. In their crops was nothing very distinguishable, but somewhat that seemed like blades of vegetables nearly digested. In autumn they feed on haws and yew-berries, and in the spring on ivy-berries. I dressed one of these birds, and found it juicy and well flavoured. It is remarkable that they make but a few days' stay in their spring visit, but rest near a fortnight at f i 3se ive pry [les nd nd at m: ^ "hi I 1 ii » T 1l ;i! ] a 14 ■1 1^ it r loo T6e Natural History of Selborne Michaelmas. These birds, from the observations of three springs and two autumns, are most punctual in their return ; and exhibit a new migration unnoticed by the writers, who supposed they never were to be seen in any southern countries. One of my neighbours lately brought me a new salicaria, which at first I suspected might have proved your willow-lark,* but, on a nicer examination, it answered much better to the description of that species which you shot at Revesby,* in Lincolnshire. My bird I describe thus : " It is a size less than the grasshopper-lark ; the head> back, and coverts of the wings, of a dusky brown, without those dark spots of the grasshopper-lark ; over each eye is a milk-white stroke ; the chin and throat are white, and the under parts of a yellowish white ; the rump is tawny, and the feathers of the tail sharp-pointed ; the bill is dusky and sharp, and the legs are dusky ; the hinder claw long and crooked." The person that shot it says that it sung so like a reed-sparrow that he took it for one ; and that it sings all night : but this account merits farther inquiry. For my part, I suspect it is a second sort of locus/ela, hinted at by Dr. Derham in Ray's Letters : see p. io8. He also procured me a grasshopper-lark. The question that you put with regard to those genera of animals that are peculiar to America, viz., how they came there, and whence ? is too puzzling for me to answer ; and yet so obvious as often to have struck me with wonder. If one looks into the writers on that subject little satisfaction is to be found. Ingenious men will readily advance plausible arguments to support whatever theory they shall choose to maintain ; but then the misfortune is, every one's hypo- thesis is each as good as another's, since they are all founded on conjecture. The late writers of this sort, in whom may be seen all the arguments of those that have gone before, as I remember, stock America from the western coast of Africa and the south of Europe ; and then break down the Isthmus that bridged over the Atlantic. But this is making use of a violent piece of machinery ; it is a difficulty worthy of the interposition of a god ! " Incredulus odi." • For this Salicaria, see letter, August 30th, 1769. * The seat of Sir Joseph Banks. — Ed. j«^ The Natural History of Selborne i o i TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE. THE NATURALIST'S SUMMER-EVENING WALK. equidem credo, quia lit divinitui illii Ingenium. Vino. Gtorg. When day dedining shedi a milder gleam, IVhat time the may-fly * haunts the pool or stream ,• IVhen the still owl skims round the grassy mead. What time the timorous hare limps forth to feed ; Then be the time to steal adovin the vale. And listen to the vagrant ^ cuckoo's tale : To hear the clamorous % curlew call his mate. Or the soft quail his tender pain relate ; To see the swallow sweep the darkening plain Belated, to support her infant train; To mark the swift in rapid giddy ring Dash round the steeple, unsubdued of wing : Amusive birds ! — say where your hid retreat When the frost rages and the tempests beat ; Whence your return, by such nice instinct led, When spring, sofi season, lifts her bloomy head? Such baffled searches mock man's prying pride. The God of Nature is your secret guide ! While deepening shades obscure the face of day To yonder bench leaf-sheltered let us stray, ' Till blended objects fail t>- oimming sight, And all the fading la ' - sinks in night ; To hear the drowsy dor come brushing by With buzzing wing, or the shrilly cricket cry i To see the feeaing bat glance through the wood ; To catch the distant falling of the flood ; • The angler's may-fly, the ephemera vulgata, Linn., comes forth from its aurelia state, and emerges oi-t of the water about six in the evening, and dies about eleven at night, determining the date of its fly state in about five or six hours. They usually begin to appear about the 4th of June, and continue in succession for near a fortnight. Sec Swammerdam, Derham, Scopoli, See. t Vagrant cuckoo ; so called because, being tied down by no incubation or attendance about the nutri- tion of its young, it wanders without control. I Charadrius cedicnemus. S Gryllus campestris. il \ t ■ i it ki 1 \' 102 The Natural History of Selborne Wkilt o'tr the cliff th' awaken' d churn-owl hung Through the still gloom protracts his chattering song ; While high in air, and poised upon his wings, Unseen, the soft enamour* d* wtodlark sings: These, Nature's works, the curious mind employ. Inspire a soothing melancholy joy : As fancy warms, a pleasing kind of pain Steals o'er the cheek, and thrills the creeping vein ! Each rural sight, each sound, each smell, combine ; The tinkling sheep-bell, or the breath of kine ; The new-mown hay that scents the swelling breeze. Or cottage-chimney smoking through the trees. The chilling night-dews fall ; — away, retire I For see, the glow-worm lights her amorous fire ! t Thus, ere night's veil had half obscured the sky, Th* impatient damsel hung her lamp on high: True to the signal, by love's meteor led, Leander hasten'd to his Hero's bed.% I am, icz. * In hot summer nights woodlarks soar to a prodigious height, and hang singing in the air. t The light of the female glow-worm (as she often crawls up the stal'.. of i grass to make herself more conspicuous) is a signal to the male, which is a slcndct' dusky scarabteus. \ Sec the story of Hero and Leander. ' f ; \ WktteChroat LETTER XXV. ■;^r>4if'-'^ML\A/".-. to the same. Sblmrnb, Aug. loth, 1769. |EAR SIR, — It gives me satisfaction to find that my account of the ousel migration pleases you. You put a very shrewd question when you ask me how I know that their autumnal migration is southward .^ Was not candour and openness the very life of natural history, I should pass over this quer , just as a sly commentator does over a crabbed passage in a classic ; but common ingenuousness obliges me to confess, not without some degree of shame, that I only reasoned in that case from analogy. For as all other autumnal birds migrate from the northward to us, to partake of our milder winters, and return to the northward again when the rigorous cold abates, so I concluded that the ring-ousels did the same, as well as their con- geners the fieldfares ; and especially as ring-ousels are known to haunt cold mountainous countries : but I have good reason to suspect since that they may come to us from the westward ; because I hear, from very good authority, that they breed on Dartmoor ; and that they forsake that wild district about the time that our visitors appear, and do not return till late in the spring. I have taken a great deal of pains about your salicaria and mine, with a white stroke over its eye and a tawny rump. I have sur- ' 't n i ' il 104 The Natural History of Selborne veyed it alive and dead, and have procured several specimens, and am perfectly persuaded myself (and trust you will soon become convinced of the same) that it is no more nor less than the f asset arundinaceus minor of Ray. This bird, by some means or other, seems to be entirely omitted in the "British Zoology"; and one reason probably was because it is so strangely classed in Ray, who ranges it among his Pici affines. It ought no doubt to have gone among his Avicula Cauda unicoiore, and among your slender-billed small birds of the same division. Linnaeus might with great propriety have put it into his genus of motacilla ; and tnotactlla salicaria of his fauna suecica seems to come the nearest to it. It is no uncom- mon bird, haunting the sides of ponds and rivers where there is covert, and the reeds and sedges of moors. The country people in some places call it the sedge-bird. It sings incessantly night and day during the breeding-time, imitating the note of a sparrow, a swallow, a sky-lark ; and has a strange hurrying manner in its song. My specimens correspond most minutely to the description of your fen salicaria shot near Revesby.* Mr. Ray has given an excellent characteristic of it when he says, " Rostrum et pedes in hdc aviculd multo majores sunt quam pro corporis ratione." ' See letter. May 29, 1769. I have got you the egg of an cedicnemus^ or stone-curlew, which was picked up in a fallow on the naked ground : there were two ; but the finder inadvertently crushed one with his foot before he saw them. When I wrote to you last year on reptiles, I wish I had not forgot to mention the faculty that snakes have of stinking se defen- dendo. I knew a gentleman who kept a tame snake, which was in its person as sweet as any animal while in good humour and un- alarmed ; but as soon as a stranger, or a dog or cat, came in, it fell to hissing, and filled the room with such nauseous efHuvia as rendered it hardly supportable. Thus the squnck, or stonck [skunk], of Ray's " Synop. Quadr." is an innocuous and sweet animal ; but, when pressed hard by dogs and men, it can eject such a most ' This is the sedge-warbler, ticroctphalus phragmitis. — Ed. * The bill and feet in this bird are much too large to be proportionate with its body. — Ed. ■-'jmf.'uaoT'!' m MWMh The Natural History of Selborne 105 pestilent and fetid smell and excrement, than which nothing can be more horrible. A gentleman sent me lately a fine specimen of the hnius minor cinerascens cum maculd in scapulis albdy Rait ;^ which is a bird that, at the time of your publishing your two first volumes of " British Zoology," I find you had not seen. You have described it well from Edwards's drawing. ^ TYvt ^NOoAc\^^tt Lanitts pomeranus, — £»• FieUfa re \ \}\i I J! «k:H V: !| ***'///!- Snow-hunt Lng LETTER XXVI. To the same. Selborne, Detemtsr %th, 1769. lEAR SIR, — I was much gratified by your com- municative letter on your return from Scotland, where you spent some considerable time, and gave yourself good room to examine the natural curiosities of that extensive kingdom, both those of the islands, as well as those of the highlands. The usual bane of such expeditions is hurry, because men seldom allot themselves half the time they should do ; but, fixing on a day for their return, post from place to place, rather as if they were on a journey that required dispatch, than as philosophers investigating the works of nature. You must have made, no doubt, many discoveries, and laid up a good fund of materials for a future edition of the ** British Zoology " ; and will ^ The Natural History of Selborne 107 have no reason to repent that you have bestowed so much pains on a part of Great Britain that perhaps was never so well examined before. It has always been matter of wonder to me that fieldfares, which are so congenerous to thrushes and blackbirds, should never choose to breed in England ; but that they should not think even the highlands cold and northerly, and sequestered enough, is a circumstance still more strange and wonderful. The ring-ousel, you find, stays in Scotland the whole year round ; so that we have reasons to conclude that those migrators that visit us for a short space every autumn do not come from thence. And here, I think, will be the proper place to mention that those birds were most punctual again in their migration this autumn, appearing, as before, about the 30th of September ; but their flocks were larger than common, and their stay protracted somewhat beyond the usual time. If they came to spend the whole winter with us, as some of their congeners do, and then left us, as they do, in spring, I should not be so much struck with the occurrence, since it would be similar to that of the other winter birds of passage ; but when I see them for a fortnight at Michaelmas, and again for about a week in the middle of April, I am seized with wonder, and long to be informed whence these travellers come, and whither they go, since they seem to use our hills merely as an inn or baiting-place. Your account of the greater brambling, or snow-fleck, is very amusing ; and strange it is that such a short-winged bird should delight in such perilous voyages over the northern ocean ! Some country people in the winter-time have every now and then told me th. they have seen two or three white larks on our downs ; but, on conb 'ering the matter, I begin to suspect that these are some stragglers of the birds we are talking of, whi'jh sometimes perhaps may rove so far to the southward. It pleases me to find that white hares are so frequent on the Scottish mountains, and especially as you inform me that it is a distinct species ; for the quadrupeds of Britain are so few, that every new species is a great acquisition. The eagle-owl, could it be proved to belong to us, is so majestic r ii ,) .'] tft ■n i ^ io8 The Natural History of Selborne a bird, that it would grace our fauna much. I never was informed before where wild-geese are known to breed. You admit, I find, that I have proved your fen salicaria to be the lesser reed-sparrow of Ray ; and I think you may be secure that I am right, for I took very particular pains to clear up that matter, and had some fair specimens ; but, as they were not well preserved, they are decayed already. You will, no doubt, insert it in its proper place in your next edition. Your additional plates will much improve your work. De Buffon, I know, has described the water shrew-mouse : but still I am pleased to find you have discovered it in Lincolnshire, for the reason I have given in the article of the white hare. As a neighbour was lately ploughing in a dry chalky field, far removed from any water, he turned out a water-rat, that was curiously laid up in an hybernaculum artificially formed of grass and leaves. At one end of the burrow lay above a gallon of potatoes regularly stowed, on which it was to have supported itself for the winter. But the difficulty with me is how this amphibius mus came to fix its winter station at such a distance from the water. Was it determined in its choice of that place by the mere accident of finding the potatoes which were planted there ; or is it the constant practice of the aquatic rat to forsake the neighbourhood of the water in the colder months ? Though I delight very little in analogous reasoning, knowing how fallacious it is with respect to natural history ; yet, in the following instance, I cannot help being inclined to think it may conduce towards the explanation of a difficulty that I have mentioned before, with respect to the invariable early retreat of the hirundo apus, or swift, so many weeks before its congeners ; and that not only with us, but also in Andalusia, where they also begin to retire about the beginning of August. The great large bat * (which by the by is at present a nondescript in England, and what I have never been able yet to procure) retires * The little bat appears almost every month in the year ; but I have never seen the large ones till the end of April, nor after July. They are most common in June, but never in any plenty : are a rare species with us. n .' The Natural History of Selborne 109 or migrates very early in the summer ; it also ranges very high for its food, feeding in a different region of the air ; and that is the reason I never could procure one. Now this is exactly the case with the swifts ; for they take their food in a more exalted region than the other species, and are very seldom seen hawking for flies near the ground, or over the surface of the water. From hence I would conclude that these hirundines and the larger bats are sup- ported by some sorts of high-flying gnats, scarabs, or fhalana^ that are of short continuance ; and that the short stay of these strangers is regulated by the defect of their food. By my journal it appears that curlews clamoured on to October the thirty-first ; since which I have not seen or heard any. Swal- lows were observed on to November the third. r; f' ill f: ^J I iS II u\ !l ^ :iv •III ■//'«'»,Vt| Jied^eho^ LETTER XXVII. Ho the same. Selborne, Feb. iind, 1770. JEAR SIR, — Hedgehogs abound in my gardens and fields. The manner in which they eat the roots of the plantain in my grass-walks is very curious ; with their upper mandible, which is much longer than their lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat the root off upwards, leaving the tufts of leaves untouched. In this respect they are serviceable, as they destroy a very troublesome weed ; but they deface the walks in some measure by digging little round holes. It appears, by the dung that they drop upon the turf, that beetles are no inconsiderable part of their food. In June last I procured a litter of four or five young hedgehogs, which appeared to be about five or six days old ; they, I find, like puppies, are born blind, and could not see when they came to my hands. No doubt their spines are soft and flexible at the time of their birth, or else the poor dam would have but a bad time of it in the critical moment of 1 ■ t- I '1 ''til Nt:. ■J\ T 112 The Natural History of Selborne parturition ; but it is plain they soon harden ; for these little pigs had such stiff prickles on their backs and sides as would easily have fetched blood, had they not been handled with caution. Their spines are quite white at this age ; and they have little hanging ears, which I do not remember to be discernible in the old ones. They can, in part, at this age draw their skin down over their faces ; but are not able to contract themselves into a ball, as they do, for the sake of defence, when full grown. The reason, I suppose, is, because the curious muscle that enables the creature to roll itself up in a ball was not then arrived at its full tone and firmness. Hedge- hogs make a deep and warm hybernaculum with leaves and moss, in which they conceal themselves for the winter : but I never could find that they stored in any winter provision, as some quadrupeds certainly do. I have discovered an anecdote with respect to the fieldfare {Turdus pilaris), which I think is particular enough ; this bird, though it sits on trees in the daytime, and procures the greatest part of its food from white-thorn hedges ; yea, moreover, builds on very high trees, as may be seen by the Fauna Suecica ; yet always appears with us to roost on the ground. They are seen to come in flocks just before it is dark, and to settle and nestle among the heath on our forest. And besides, the larkers in dragging their nets by night frequently catch them in the wheat stubbles ; while the bat-fowlers, who take many redwings in the hedges, never entangle any of this specie". Why these birds, in the matter of roosting, should differ from all their congeners, and from themselves also with respect to their proceedings by day, is a fact for which I am by no means able to account. I have somewhat to inform you of concerning the moose-deer ; but in general foreign animals fall seldom in my way ; my little intelligence is confined to the narrow sphere of my own observations at home. • . 'vivry><-»xyv-!y^;i; :;■::.•; •• =^- :-ji)ji.,:s.:;-.-'^cfTVAvt; .TCuLcUen/ LETTER XXVIII. i.- - V^^'. 7*0 M^ jtfw^. Selborne, March 1770. N Michaelmas Day 1768 I managed to get a sight of the female moose belonging to the Duke of Richmond, at Goodwood ; but was greatly disappointed, when I arrived at the spot, to find that it died, after having appeared in a languish- ing way for some time, on the morning before. However, understanding that it was not stripped, I proceeded to examine this rare quadruped : I found it in an old greenhouse, slung under the belly and chin by ropes, and in a stand- ing posture ; but though it had been dead for so short a time, it was in so putrid a state that the stench was hardly supportable. The grand distinction between this deer, and any other species that I have ever met with, consisted in the strange length of its legs ; on which it was tilted up much in the manner of the birds of the gralla order. I measured it, as they do an horse, and found that from the ground to the withers it was just five feet four inches ; which height answers exactly to sixteen hands, a growth that few horses arrive at ; but then, with his length of legs, its neck was remarkably short, no more than twelve inches ; so that, by straddling with one foot forward and the other backward, it grazed on the plain ground, H ! 't ' I 1 1.: 1 1] ' Hi »; t1 1 7 114 The Natural History of Selborne with the greatest difficulty, between its legs ; the ears were vast and lopping, and as long as tne neck ; the head was about twenty inches long, and ass-like ; and had such a redundancy of upper lip as I never saw before, with huge nostrils. This lip, travellers say, is esteemed a dainty dish in North America. It is very reasonable to suppose that this creature supports itself chiefly by browsing of trees and by wading after water plants ; towards which way of livelihood the length of legs and great lip must contribute much. I have read somewhere that it delights in eating the nymphaa^ or water-lily. From the fore-feet to the belly behind the shoulder it measured three feet and eight inches : the length of the legs before and behind consisted a great deal in the tihia^ which was strangely long ; but, in my haste to get out of the stench, I forgot to measure that joint exactly. Its scut seemed to be about an inch long ; the colour was a grir.Ll/ black ; the mane about four inches long ; the fore-hoofs were upright and shapely, the hind flat and splayed. The spring before it was only two years old, so that most probably it was not then come to its growth. What a vast tall beast must a full-grown stag be ! I have been told some arrive at ten feet and an half ! This poor creature had at first a female companion of the same species, which died the spring before. In the same garden was a young stag, or red deer, between whom and this moose it was hoped that there might have been a breed ; but their inequality of height must have always been a bar to any commerce of the amorous kind. I should have been glad to have examined the teeth, tongue, lips, hoofs, &c., minutely ; but the putrefaction precluded all farther curiosity. This animal, the keeper told me, seemed to enjoy itself best in the extreme frost of the former winter. In the house they showed me the horn of a male moose, which had no front antlers, but only a broad palm with some snags on the edge. The noble owner of the dead moose proposed to make a skeleton of her bones. Please to let me hear if my female moose corresponds with that you saw ; and whether you think still that the American moose and European elk are the same creature.' I am, with the greatest esteem, &c. ' The American moose is not now generally recognised as a distinct species from the European elk. — Ed. ■"/ '/""■ ■'••'''' ',.V; .J ■' ■ 1^ J Qihraifar sio^ LETTER XXXIil. 7*0 the same. Selborne, Nov. idth, 1770. EAR SIR, — I was much pleased to see, airong the collection of birds from Gibraltar, some of those short-winged English summer birds of passage, concerning whose departure we have made so much ^_J >^J inquiry. Now if these birds are found in Anda- W^ ^JM lusia to migrate to and from Barbary, it may ~^^^i easily be supposed that those that come to us may migrate back to the continent, and spend their winters in some of the warmer parts of Europe. This is certain, that many soft-billed birds that come to Gibraltar appear there only in spring and autumn, seeming to advance in pairs towards the northward, for the sake of breeding during the summer months ; and retiring in parties and broods towards the south at the decline of the year : so that the rock of Gibraltar is the great rendezvous, and place of observation, from whence they take their departure each way towards Europe or Africa. It is therefore no mean discovery, I think, to find that our small i * 1 24 The Natural History of Selborne short-winged summer birds of passage are to be seen spring and autumn on the very skirts of Europe ; it is a presumptive proof of their emigrations. Scopoli seems to me to have found the H'trundo melba^ the great Gibraltar swift, in Tirol, without knowing it. For what is his Hirundo alpina but the afore-mentioned bird in other words } Says he " Omnia prioris " (meaning the swift) ; " sed pectus album ; paulo major priore." I do not suppose this to be a new species. It is true also of the melba, that " nidificat in excelsis ^Ipium rupibus^ Vide Annum Primum.^ My Sussex friend, a man of observation and good sense, but no naturalist, to whom I applied on account of the stone-curlew, adic- nemus, sends me the following account : " In looking over my Naturalist's Journal for the month of April, I find the stone-curlews are first mentioned on the seventeenth and eighteenth, which date seems to me rather late. They live with us all the spring and summer, and at the beginning of autumn prepare to take leave by getting together in flocks. They seem to me a bird of passage that may travel into some dry hilly country south of us, probably Spain, because of the abundance of sheep-waJks in that country; for they spend their summers with us in such districts. This conjecture I hazard, as I have never met with any one that has seen them in England in the winter. I believe they are not fond of going near the water, but feed on earth-worms, that are common on sheep-walks and downs. They breed on fallows and lay-fields abounding with grey mossy flints, which much resemble their young in colour ; among which they skulk and conceal themselves. They make no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground, producing in common but two at a time. There is reason to think their young run soon after they are hatched ; and that the old ones do not feed them, but only lead them about at the time of feeding, which, for the most part, is in the night." Thus far, my friend. In the manners of this bird you see there is something very ' This is the Cypselus melba, sent to Linnzus by John White from Gibraltar. It is now known that swifts are not swallows, nor related to the swallow, the resem- blance between the two being merely external and due to similarity of habit. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 125 analogous to the bustard, whom it also somewhat resembles in aspect and make, and in the structure of its feet. For a long tinie I have desired my relation to look out for these birds in Andalusia ; and now he writes me word that, for the first time, he saw one dead in the market on the third of September. When the cedknemus flies it stretches out its legs straight behind, like an heron. I am, &c. \ ^ousc^^^t&^jt Gra/m/ma/r Sc/u>o€ LETTER XXXIV. To the same, Selborne, March 30/^, 1 77 1. EAR SIR, — There is an insect with us, especially on chalky districts, which is ^'ery troublesome and teasing all the latter end of the summer, getting into people's skins, especially those of women and children, and raising tumours which itch intolerably. This animal (which we call an harvest bug) is very minute, scarce discernible to the naked eye ; of a bright scarlet colour, and of the genus of Acarus. They are to be met with in gardens on kidney-beans, or any legumens, but prevail only in the hot months of summer. The Natural History of Seiborne 127 Warreners, as some have assured mc, are much infested by them on chalky downs ; where these insects swarm sometimes to so infinite a degree as to discolour their nets, and to give them a reddish cast, while the men are so bitten as to be thrown into fevers. There is a small long shining fly in these parts very troublesome to the housewife, by getting into the chimneys, and laying its eggs in the bacon while it is drying ; these eggs produce maggots called jumpers, which, harbouring in the gammons and best parts of the hogs, eat down to the bone, and make great waste. This fly I suspect to be a variety of the Musca putris of Linnaeus ; it is to be seen in the summer in farm-kitchens on the bacon-racks and about the mantelpieces, and on the ceilings. The insect that infests turnips and many crops in the garden (destroying often whole fields while in their seedling leaves) is an animal that wants to be better known. The country people here call it the turnip-fly and black-dolphin ; but I know it to be one of the coleoptera ; the " chrysomela oleracea^ saltatoria, femoribus, posticis crassissimis." In very hot summers they abound to an amazing degree, and, as you walk in a field or in a garden, make a pattering like rain, by jumping on the leaves of the turnips or cabbages. There is an oestrus, known in these parts to every ploughboy ; which, because it is omitted by Linnasus, is also passed over by late writers ; and that is the curvicauda of old Mouset, mentioned by Derham in his *' Physico-Theology," p. 250; an insect worthy of remark for depositing its eggs as it flies in so dexterous a manner on the single hairs of the legs and flanks of grass-horses. But then Derham is mistaken when he advances that this oestrus is the parent of that wonderful star- tailed maggot which he mentions afterwards ; for more modern entomologists have discovered that singular pro- duction to be derived from the egg of the %Miisca chamaleon ; see GeoflTroy, t. xvii. f. 4.' A full history of noxious insects hurtful in the field, garden, and house, suggesting all the known and likely means of destroying them, would be rllowed by the public to be a most useful and important work. What knowledge there is of this sort lies scattered, and ' White is here mistaken. — Ed. I 1' '• r» 128 The Natural History of Selborne wants to be collected ; great improvements would soon follow of course. A knowledge of the properties, economy, propagation, and in short of the life and conversation of these animals, is a necessary step to lead us to some me' hod of preventing their depredations. As far as I am a judge, nothing would recommend entomology more than some neat plates that should well express the generic distinctions of insects according to Linnaeus ; for I am well assured that many people would study insects, could they set out with a more adequate notion of those distinctions than can be conveyed at first by words alone. k w -r'' LETTER XXXV. 'To the same. Selborne, 1771. ^AR SIR, — Happening to make a visit to my neighbour's peacocks, I could not help observing that the trains of those magnificent birds appear by no means to be their tails ; those long feathers growing not from their uropygium, but all up their backs. A range of short brown stiff feathers, about six inches long, fixed in the uropygium, is the real tail, and serves as the fulcrum to prop the train, which is long and top-heavy when set on end. When the train is up, nothing appears of the bird before but its head and neck ; but this would not be the case were those long feathers fixed only in the rump, as may be seen by the turkey-cock when in a strutting attitude. By a strong muscular vibration these birds can I 130 The Natural History of Selborne make the shafts of their long feathers clatter like the swords of a sword-dancer ; they then trample very quick with their feet, and run backwards towards the females. I should tell you that I have got an uncommon calculus tegogropila^ taken out of the stomach of a fat ox ; it is perfectly roun4, and about the size of a large Seville orange : such are, I think, usually flat. \ \ I ffreat bat LETTER XXXVI. 'To the same. Sept. 1 77 1. -AR SIR, — The summer through I have seen but two of that large species of bat which I call Vespertilio altivolans, from its manner of feeding high in the air ; I procured one of them, and found it to be a male ; and made no doubt, as they accompanied together, that the other was a female ; but, happening in an evening or two to procure the other likewise, I was somewhat disappointed, when it appeared to be also of the same sex. This circumstance, and the great scarcity of this sort, at least in these parts, occasions some suspicions in •":"¥ mind whether it is really a species, or whether it may ncl jc tm male part of the more known species, one of which may ppiy n^a.^v females ; as is known to be the case in sheep and some jiher q' .Jrupeds. But this doubt can only be cleared by a rar<-!ic;r exa!;i; :ion, and some attention to the sex, of more i>pLC'!ncu- ; ; 1 that I know at present is, that my two were amply furnished with the parts of generation, much resembling those of a boar. 132 The Natural History of Selborne In the extent of their wings they measured fourteen inches and a naif ; and four inches and a half from the nose to the tip of the tail ; their heads were large, their nostrils bilobated, their shoulders broad and muscular ; and their whole bodies fleshy and plump. Nothing could be more sleek and soft than their fur, which was of a bright chestnut colour ; their maws were full of food, but so macerated that the quality could not be distinguished ; their livers, kidneys, and hearts, were large, and their bowels covered with fat. They weighed each, when entire, full one ounce and one drachm. Within the ear there was somewhat of a peculiar structure that I did not understand perfectly ; but refer it to the observation of the curious anatomist. These creatures sent forth a very rancid and ofl^ensive smell. JVu/htjar or Qoat=!SUcher LETTER XXXVII. To the same. Selborne, 1 77 1. EAR SIR,— On the twelfth of July I had a fair opportunity of contemplating the motions of the caprimulgus, or fern-owl, as it was playing round a large oak that swarmed with Scarabai solstitialeSy or fern-chafers. The powers of its wing were wonderful, exceeding, if possible, the various evolutions and quick turns of the swallow genus. But th^" circumstance that pleased me most was, that I saw it dis- tinctly, more than once, put out its short leg while on the wing, and, by a bend of the head, deliver somewhat into its mouth. If it takes any part of its prey with its foot, as I have now the greatest reason to suppose it does these chafers, I no longer wonder at the use of its middle toe, which is curiously furnished with a serrated claw. ^1 T 134 The Natural History of Selborne Swallows and martins, the bulk of them I mean, have forsaken us sooner this year than usual ; for on September the twenty- second they rendezvoused in a neighbour's walnut-tree, where it seemed probable they had taken up their lodging for the night. At the dawn of the day, which was foggy, they arose all together in infinite numbers, occasioning such a rushing from the strokes of their wings against the hazy air, as might be heard to a con- siderable distance : since that no flock has appeared, only a few stragglers. Some swifts stayed late, till the twenty-second of August — a rare instance ! for they usually withdraw within the first week.* On September the twenty-fourth three or four ring-ousels appeared in my fields for the first time this season ; how punctual are these visitors in their autumnal and spring migrations ! * See Letter LIII. to Mr. Barrington. 0CdJ{o;?.7a^n^. LETTER XXXVIII. To the same. Selborne, March l^th, 1773. EAR SIR, — By my journal for last autumn it appears that the house-martins bred very late, and stayed very late in these parts ; for, on the first of October, I saw young martins in their nest nearly -^^ 1/ ar/^ v^Ftioucr, 1 saw young niariins in incir nest ncariy ji ' -^.^^^ fledged; and again on the twenty-first of October, * ^ """ we had at the next house a nest full of young martins just ready to fly ; and the old ones were hawking for insects with great alertness. The next morning the brood forsook their nest, and were flying round the village. From this day I never saw one of the swallow kind till November the third ; when twenty, or perhaps thirty, house-martins were playing all day long by the side of the hanging wood, and over my field. Did these small weak birds, some of which were nestling twelve days ago, shift their quarters at this late season of the year to the otner side of the northern tropic ? Or rather, is it not more probabla f R ' 136 The Natu. al History of Selborne that the next church, ruin, chalk-cliff, steep covert, or perhaps sand- bank, lake or pool (as a more northern naturalist would say), may become their hybernaculumy and afford them a ready and obvious retreat ? We now begin to expect our vernal migration of ring-ousels every week. Persons worthy of credit assure me that ring-ousels were seen at Christmas 1770 in the forest of Bere, on the southern verge of this county. Hence we may conclude that their migrations are only internal, and not extended to the continent southward, if they do at first come at all from the northern parts of this island only, and not from the north of Europe. Come from whence they will, it is plain, from the fearless disregard that they show for men or guns, that they have been little accustomed to places of much resort. Navigators mention that in the Isle of Ascension, and other such desolate districts, birds are so little acquainted with the human form that they settle on men's shoulders ; and have no more dread of a sailor than they would have of a goat that was grazing. A young man at Lewes, in Sussex, assured me that about seven years ago ring-ousels abounded so about that town in the autumn that he killed sixteen himself in one afternoon ; he added further, that some had appeared since in every autumn ; but he could not find that any had been observed before the season in which he shot so many. I myself have found these birds in little parties in the autumn cantoned all along the Sussex downs, wherever there were shrubs and bushes, from Chichester to Lewes ; particularly in the autumn of 1770. I am, &c. Osprey LETTER XXXIX.' To the same. Selborne, N'j-j. i)th, 1773. jEAR SIR, — As you desire me to send you such observations as may occur, I take the liberty of making the following remarks, that you may, according as you think me right or wrong, admit or reject what I here advance, in your intended new edition of the " British Zoology." The osprey * was shot about a year ago at Frinsham [Frenzham] Pond, a great lake, at about six miles from * "British Zoology," vol. i. p. 128. ' This and the following letter were evidently written at Pennant's request as material for his " British Zoology," and were used by him on the various pages referred to below. — Ed. 138 The Natural History of Selborne hence, while it was sitting on the handle ot plough and devouring a fish : it used to precipitate itself into th. water, and so take its prey by surprise. A great ash-coloured * butcher-bird was shot last winter inTisted Park, and a red-backed butcher-bird at Selborne : they are rar<£ aves in this county. Crows t go in pairs all the year round. Cornish choughs ^ abound, and breed on Beechy Head, and on all the cliffs of the Sussex coast. The common wild-pigeon,§ or stock-dove, is a bird of passage in the south of England, seldom appearing till towards the end of November ; is usually the latest winter-bird of passage. Before our beechen woods were so much destroyed, we had myriads of them, reaching in strings for mile a together as they went out in a morning to feed. They leave us early in spring ; where do they breed ^ The people of Hampshire and Sussex call the missel-bird II the storm-cock, because it sings early in the spring in blowing showery weather ; its song often commences with the year : with us it builds much in orchards. A gentleman assures me he has taken the nests of ring-ousels f on Dartmoor : they build in banks on the sides of streams. Titlarks** not only sing sweetly as they sit on trees, but also as they play and toy about on the wing ; and particularly while they are descending, and sometimes as they stand on the ground.' Adanson's f f testimony seems to me to be a very poor evidence that European swallows migrate during our winter to Senega! : he does not talk at all like an ornithologist ; and probably saw only the swallows of that country, which I know build within Governor O'Hara's hall against the roof. Had he known European swallows, would he not have mentioned the species : * "British Zoology," vol. i. p. 161. t Vol. i. p. 167. \ Vol. i. p. 198. § Vol. i. p. 216. II Vol. i. p. 224. f Vol. i. p. 229. •• \'ol. ii. p. 237. 1 1 Vol. ii. p. 2J 2. ' This is true ot" the tree-pipit, >.hithui trkuiiiis, not of the common titlark or mcadou-pipit, J. pratemis, two birds which White apparently confuses. — Ed. WfUtc^ (SitmxCcaX T 140 The Natural History of Selborne The house-swallow washes by dropping into the water as it flies : this species appears commonly about a week before the house-martin, and about ten or twelve days before the swift. In 1772 there were young house-martins* in their nest till October the twenty-third. The swift f appears about ten or twelve days later than the house-swallow : viz., about the twenty-fourth or twenty-sixth of April. Whin-chats and stone-chatters \ stay with us the whole year. Some wheat-ears § continue with us the winter through. Wagtails, all sorts, remain with us all the winter. Bullfinches, || when fed on hempseed, often become wholly black. We have vast flocks of female chaflfinches f all the winter, with hardly any males among them. When you say that in breeding-time the cock snipes * * make a bleating noise, and I a drumming (perhaps I should have rather said an humming), I suspect we mean the same thing. However, while they are playing about on the wing they certainly make a loud piping with their mouths : but whether that bleating or humming is vetribquous, or proceeds from the motion of their wings, I cannot say ; but this I know, that when this noise happens the bird is always descending, and his wings are violently agitated. Soon after the lapwings f t have done breeding they congregate, and, leaving the moors and marshes, betake themselves to downs and sheep-walks. Two years ago;J;| last spring the little auk was found alive and unhurt, but fluttering and unable to rise, in a lane a few miles from Alresford, where there is a great lake : it was kept a while, but died. I saw young teals §§ taken alive in the ponds of Wolnier Poorest in the beginning of July last, along with flappers, or young wild- ducks. • "British Zoology," vol. ii. p. 244. t Vol. ii. p. 245. 271. § Vol. ii. p. 269. II Vol. ii. p. 300. f Vol. ii. p. 306. 1 1 Vol. ii. p. 360. J t Vol. ii. p. 409. §§ Vol. ii. p. 475. X Vol. ii. pp. 270, *• Vol.ii. p. 358. y .J; V\ The Natural History of Selborne 141 Speaking of the swift,* that page says " its drink the dew " ; whereas it should be " it drinks on the wing " ; for all the swallow kind sip their water as they sweep over the face of pools or rivers : like Virgil's bees, they drink flying ; flumina summa libant. In this method of drinking perhaps this genus may be peculiar. Of the sedge-bird t be pleased to say it sings most part of the night ; its notes are hurrying, but not unpleasing, and imitative of several birds ; as the sparrow, swallow, skylark. When it happens to be silent in the night, by throwing a stone or clod into the bushes where it sits you immediately set it a-singing ; or in other words, though it slumbers sometimes, yet as soon as it is awakened it reassumes its song. • " British Zoology," vol. ii. p. 15. f Vol. ii. p. 16. iy «A ( > ^(ightingaU LETTER XL. 1 \ 'To the same. Selborne, Sept. znd, 1774. ^AR SIR, — Before your letter arrived, and of my own accord, I had been remarking and comparing the tails of the male and female swallow, and this ere any young broods appeared ; so that there was no danger of confounding the dams with their pulli : and besides, as they were then always in pairs, and busied in the employ of nidification, there could be no room for mistaking the sexes, nor the individuals of different chimneys the one for the other. From all my observa- tions, it constantly appeared that each sex has the long feathers in its tail that give it that forked shape ; with this difference, that they are longer in the tail of the male than in that of the female. Nightingales, when their young first come abroad, and are helpless, make a plaintive and a jarring noise ; and also a snapping or cracking, pursuing people along the hedges as they walk : these last sounds seem intended for menace and defiance. The grasshopper-lark chirps all night in the height of summer. The Natural History of Selborne 143 Swans turn white the second year, and breed the third. Weasels prey on moles, as appears by their being sometimes caught in mole-traps. Sparrow-hawks sometimes breed in old crows' nests, and the kestril in churches and ruins. There are supposed o be two sorts of eels in the island of Ely. The threads sometimes discovered in eels are perhaps their young : the generation of eels is very dark and mysterious.* Hen-harriers breed on the ground, and seem never to settle on trees. When redstarts shake their tails they move them horizontally, as dogs do when they fawn : the tail of a wagtail, when in motion, bobs up and down like that of a jaded horse. Hedge-sparrows have a remarkable lirt with their wings in breeding-time ; as soon as frosty mornings come they make a very piping plaintive noise. Many birds which become silent about Midsummer reassume their notes again in September ; as the thrush, blackbird, woodlark, willow-wren, &c. ; hence August is by much the most mute month, the spring, summer, and autumn through. Are birds induced to sing again because the temperament of autumn resembles that of sprmg } Linnaeus ranges plants geographically ; palms inhabit the tropics, grasses the temperate zones, and mosses and lichens the polar circles ; no doubt animals may be classed in the same manner with propriety. House-sparrows build under eaves in the spring ; as the weather becomes hotter they get out for coolness, and nest in plum-trees and apple-trees. These birds have been known sometimes to build in rooks' nests, and sometimes in the forks of boughs under rooks' nests. As my neighbour was housing a rick he observed that his dogs devoured all the little red mice that they could catch, but rejected * The threads mentioned by White are intestinal worms. The reproduction of eels has only recently been satisfactorily understood. They never spawn in rivers, but deposit'their eggs and hatch out the young in the deep sea. — Ed. ■ H' ,f7l I 1 l< •'i ) i u IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4^ 1.0 I.I m U2 121 2? 144 ■" S i:a IIP RnJiE 11.25 gnu Mf^ Photografiiic Sciences Corxjralion ^ r <«^-'5. 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WItSTtfR.N.Y. MSM) (716)«72-4S03 6^ f J V P' I 144 The Natural History of Selborne and that his cats ate the common mice, refusing through the spring, summer, and autumn, called autumn songsters is, because in the common mice ; the red. Red-breasts sing all The reason that they are called autumn songsters is, because m the two first seasons their voices are drowned and lost in the general chorus ; in the latter their song becomes distinguishable. Many songsters of the autumn seem to be the young cock red-breasts of that year : notwithstanding the prejudices in their favour, they do much mischief in gardens to the summer- fruits.* The titmouse, which early in February begins to make two quaint notes, like the whetting of a saw, is the marsh titmouse : the great titmouse sings with three cheerful joyous notes, and begins about the same time. Wrens sing all the winter through, frost excepted. House-martins came remarkably late this year both in Hampshire and Devonshire : is this circumstance for or against either hiding or migration .? Most birds drink sipping at intervals •, but pigeons take a long continued draught, like quadrupeds. Notwithstanding what I have said in a former letter, no grey crows were ever known to breed on Dartmoor ; it was my mistake. The appearance and flying of the Scarabaus solsHtialiSy or fern- chafer, ccrr.mence with the month of July, and cease about the end of it. These scarabs are the constant food of Caprimulgi, or fern- owls, through that period. They abound on the chalky dov/ns and in some sandy districts, but not in the clays. In the garden of the Black Bear inn in the town of Reading is a stream or canal running under the stables and out into the fields on the other side of the road : in this water are many carps, which lie rolling about in sight, being fed by travellers, who amuse themselves by tossing them bread ; but as soon as the weather grows at all severe these fishes are no longer seen, because they • They eat also the berries of the iv)', the honeysuckle, and the Euonymus europaus, or spindle-tree. The Natural History of Selborne 145 retire under the stables, where they remain till the return of spring. Do they lie in a torpid state ? if they do not, how are they supported ? The note of the white-throat, which is continually repeated, and often attended with odd gesticulations on the wing, is harsh and displeasing. These birds seem of a pugnacious disposition ; for they sing with an erected crest and attitudes of rivalry and defiance ; are shy and wild in breeding-time, avoiding neighbour- hoods, and haunting lonely lanes and commons ; nay even the very tops of the Sussex downs, where there are bushes and covert ; but in July and August they bring their broods into gardens and orchards, and make great havoc among the summer-fruits. The black-cap has in common a full, sweet, deep, loud, and wild pipe ; yet that strain is of short continuance, and his motions are desultory ; but when that bird sits calmly and engages in song in earnest, he pours forth very sv/eet, but inward melody, and expresses great variety of soft and gentle modulations, superior perhaps to those of any of our warblers, the nightingale excepted. Black-caps mostly haunt orchards and gardens ; while they warble their throats are wonderfully distended. The song of the redstart is superior, though somewhat like that of the white- throat ; some birds have a few more notes than others. Sitting very placidly f. v\ Is C%e^^-xa^ K .J tmmmmmmmmmim 146 7>&^ Natural History of Selborne on the top of a tall tree in a village, the cock sings from morning to night : he affects neighbourhoods, and avoids solitude, and loves to build in orchards and about houses ; with us he perches on the vane of a tall maypole. The fly-catcher is of all our summer birds the most mute and the most familiar ; it also appears the last of any. It builds in a vine, or a sweetbrier, against the wall of a house, or in the hole of a wall, or on the end of a beam or plate, and often close to the post of a door where people are going in and out all day long. This bird does not make the least pretension to song, but uses a little inward wailing note when it thinks its young in danger from cats or other annoy- ances ; it breeds but once, and retires early. Selborne parish alone can and has exhibited at times more than half the birds that are ever seen in all Sweden ; the former has produced more than one hundred and twenty species, the latter only two hundred and twenty-one. Let me add also that it has shown near half the species that were ever known in Great Britain.* On a retrospect, I observe that my long letter carries with it a quaint and magisterial air, and is very sententious ; but when I recollect that you requested stricture and anecdote, I hope you will pardon the didactic manner for the sake of the inforn^ation it may happen to contain. * Sweden 221, Great Britain 252 species. [Many more are now known. — Ed.] n SfreaTlct) mouse \ \ 1 s r s It it I t" ■y LETTER XLI. 'To the same. IT is matter of curious inquiry to trace out how those species of soft-billed birds that continue with us the v/inter through, subsist during the dead months. The imbecility [feebleness] of birds seems not to be the only reason why they shun the rigour of our winters ; for the robust wryneck (so much resembling the hardy race of woodpeckers) migrates, while the feeble little golden-crowned wren, that shadow of a bird, braves our severest frosts without availing himself of houses and villages, to which most of our winter birds crowd m distressful seasons, while this keeps aloof in fields and woods ; but perhaps this may be the reason why they may often perish, and why they are almost as rare as any bird we know. I have no reason to doubt but that the soft-billed birds, which winter with us, subsist chiefly on insects in their aurelia state. All the species of wagtails in severe weather haunt shallow streams near their spring-heads, where they never freeze ; and, by wading, pick out the aurelias of the genus of Phryganea* &c. * See Derham's " Physico-theology," p. 235. mm il 1' t'S V 148 The Natural History of Selborne Hedge-sparrows frequent sinks and gutters in hard weather, where they pick up crumbs and other sweepings : and in mild weather they procure worms, which are stirring every month in the year, as any one may see that will only be at the trouble of taking a candle to a grass-plot on any mild winter's night. Red-breasts and wrens in the winter haunt out-houses, stables, and barns, where they find spiders and flies that have laid themse^ . ^s up during the cold season. But the grand support of the soft-billed birds in winter is that infinite profusion of aureliae of the Lepidoptera ordo, which is fastened to the twigs of trees and their trunks ; to the pales and walls of gardens and buildings ; and is found in every cranny and cleft of rock or rubbish, and even in the ground itself. Every species of titmouse winters with us ; they have what I call a kind of intermediate bill between the hard and the soft, between the Linnaean genera of Fringilla and Motacilla. One species alone spends its whole time in the woods and fields, never retreating for succour in the severest seasons to houses and neighbourhoods ; and that is the delicate long-tailed titmouse, which is almost as minute as the golden-crowned wren ; but the blue titmouse or nun (Parus c^rukus)y the cole-mouse (Parus afer), the great black-headed titmouse {Fringillago\^ and the marsh titmouse {Parus palusiris), all resort at times to buildings, and in hard weather particularly. The great titmouse, driven by stress of weather, much frequents houses ; and, in deep snows, I have seen this bird, while it hung with its back downwards (to my no small delight and admiration), draw straws lengthwise from out the eaves of thatched houses, in order to pull out the flies that were concealed between them, and that in such numbers that they quite defaced the thatch, and gave it a ragged appearance. The blue titmouse, or nun, is a great frequenter of houses, and a general devourer. Besides insects, it is very fond of flesh ; for it frequently picks bones on dunghills : it is a vast admirer of suet, and haunts butchers' shops. When a boy, I have known twenty in a morning caught with snap mouse-traps, baited with tallow or suet. ' This bird is no doubt the Parus major of Linnaeus, the great tit or black- headed tit of most British authors. — Ed. The Natural History ofSelborne _'49 I! Jin ""^-l ^1^ ^°!'' '" TP'P ^"^^ on the ground. ^iiTb^^nter. tamed with the seeds on the head of a sunlower. The blue, marsh and great titmice will, in very severe weather, carry away badry and oat-straws from the sides of ricks. ^ ^ ^ can^rh^l'^^'f'^'' '"• ^,^»".-^'^*' support themselves in winter heX T "'"'^^ ascertained, since they spend their time on wild heaths and warrens; the former especially, where there are stone quarries : most probable it is that their maintenance arises from the aurehae of t\^^Lepdoptera ordo, which furnish them with a plentiful table ".n the wilderness. j ^^^^ ^^ HHHBi I' ^Cae'^Cit mouse LETTER XLIL' To the same. Selborne, March ^th, •774> lEAR SIR, — Some future faunist, a man of fortune, will, I hope, extend his visits to the kingdom of Ireland ; a new field and a country little known to the naturalist. He will not, it is to be wished, undertake that tour unaccompanied by a botanist, because the mountains have scarcely been sufficiently examined ; and the sov:»^herly counties of so mild an island may possibly afford some plants little to ' This letter is interesting as showing the comparatively limited range of ornithologists hardly more than a century ago. Ireland was then a scarcely known country. At the present day every nook of it has been explored, zoologically and botanically, and the stations of every rare species of plant or animal exactly recorded. White was quite right in his expectation that the southern counties would afford some plants little to be expected within the United Kingdom ; the flora of Kerry and Connemara abounds in essentially Spanish and Portuguese types. Nothing is more interesting in reading White than to observe the extraordinary % The Natural History of Selborne 151 be expected within the British dominions. A person of a thinking turn of mind will draw many just remarks from the modern improvements of that country, both in arts and agriculture, where premiums obtained long before they were heard of with us. The manners of the wild natives, their superstitions, their prejudices, their sordid way of life, will extort from him many useful reflections. He should also take with him an able draughtsman ; for he must by no means pass over the noble castles and seats, the extensive and picturesque lakes and waterfalls, and the lofty stupendous moun- tains, so little known, and so engaging to the imagination when described and exhibited in a lively manner ; such a work would be well received. As I have seen no modern map of Scotland, I cannot pretend to say how accurate or particular any such may be ; but this I know, that the best old maps of that kingdom are very defective. The great obvious defect that I have remarked in all maps of Scotland that have fallen in my way is, a want of a coloured line, or stroke, that shall exactly define the just limits of that district called the Highlands. Moreover, all the great avenues to that mountainous and romantic country want to be well distinguished. The military roads formed by General Wade are so great and Roman-like an undertaking that they well merit attention. My old map, Moll's Map, takes notice of Fort William, but could not mention the other forts that have been erected long since ; therefore a good representa- tion of the chain of forts should not be omitted. The celebrated zigzag up the Coryarich must not be passed over. Moll takes notice of Hamilton and Drumlanrig, and such capital difference in the estimate of remoteness which has been brought about by increased means of locomotion. He speaks of Ireland almost as we should now speak of New Guinea. In other letters a similar point of view may be noted with regard to Andalusia and Carniola, places now well within the ordinary tourist beat ; but the expressions here used about Ireland are even more striking. The allusion to the " lofty stupendous mountains " also gives an interesting glimpse of the eighteenth-century way of looking at nature. White's contemporaries had a marvellous faculty for standing awestruck before "majestic heights " up which the present generation strolls easily for a picnic party. The observations on the maps of Scotland belong in the same way to what now seems a remote antiquity. — Ed. 152 The Natural History of Selborne houses ; but a new survey, no doubt, should represent every seat and castle remarkable for any great event, or celebrated for its paintings, &c. Lord Breadalbane's seat and beautiful policy are too curious and extraordinary to be omitted. The seat of the Earl of Eglintoun, near Glasgow, is worthy of notice. The pine plantations of that nobleman are very grand and extensive indeed. I am, &c. HfN yfon^'biLzzxtrd LETTER XLIII. To the same. PAIR of honey-buzzards, Buteo apivorus^ Linn.y sive vespivorus Raii^^ built them a large shallow nest, composed of twigs and lined with dead beechen leaves, upon a tall slender beech near the middle of Selborne Hanger, in the summer of 1780. In the middle of the month of June a bold boy climbed this tree, though standing on so steep and dizzy a situation, and brought down an egg, the only one in the nest, which had been sat on for some time, and contained the embryo of a young bird. The egg was smaller, and not so round as ' The honey-buzzard is a very rare British bird. White is almost th^ only authority for any but an insect diet on its part. Most of the specie^ undoubtedly live on the grubs and pupx of wasps and bees. — Ed. 154 The Natural History 0/ Seiborne those of the common buzzard ; was dotted at each end with small red spots, and surrounded in the middle with a broad bloody zone. The hen-bird was shot, and answered exactly to Mr. Ray's description of that species ; had a black cere, short thick legs, and a long tail. When on the wing this species may be easily distin- guished from the common buzzard by its hawk-like appearance, small head, wings not so blunt, and longer tail. This specimen con- tained in its craw some limbs of frogs and many grey snails [slugs] without shells. The irides of the eyes of this bird were of a beautiful bright yellow colour. About the tenth of July in the same summer a pair of sparrow- hawks bred in an old crow s nest on a low beech in the same hanger ; and as their brood, which was numerous, began to grow up, became so daring and ravenous, that they were a terror to all the dames in the village that had chickens or ducklings under their care. A boy climbed the tree, and found the young so fledged that they aU escaped from him ; but discovered that a good house had been kept : the larder was well stored with provisions ; for he brought down a young blackbirdjjay, and house-martin, all clean picked, and some half devoured, The old birds had been observed to make sad havoc for some days among the new-flown swallows and martins, which, being but lately out of their nests, had not acquired those powers and command of wing that enable them, when more mature, to set such enemies at defiance. i Ttock'piqeon LETTER XLIV. 'To the same. * Skilborne, Nov. f,oth. 1780. lAR SIR, — Every iiicidenf that ncciisions a renewal of our correspondent' vvil/ "ver be pleasing and agr-eabk to me. As to the wild wo< '^i-pigeon, the (T'.hM:.^ ^ Vinago, of Ray/ I am n. 'h of your mind ; anci see no reason for making it (hi -ioiin of the common house-dove : but suppose thnsse *>vit have advanced that opinion may li4V( been misled by aniA.?;?f appellation, often given to he (Enas^ which is tha' j^f !»^'KMc-dove. Unless the stock-dove in the winter varies grearly in manners from itself in summer, no species seems more unlikely to be dofn«estiw cated, and to make an house-dove. We very rarely see the ,\''ittr ' The whole question of the relation of domesticated pigeons to the wiW stocks has been thoroughly investigated by Darwin, to whose classical rcsearcheii the reader must be referred for more modern information. — Ec. J ^6 The Natural History of Selborne settle on trees at all, nor does it ever haunt the woods : but the former as long as it stays witli us, from November perhaps to February, lives the same wild life with the ring-dove, Palumbus torquatus ; frequents coppices and groves, supports itself chiefly by mast, and delights to roost in the tallest beeches. Could it be known in what manner stock-doves . build, the doubt would be settled with me at once, provided they construct their nests on trees, like the ring-dove, as I much srispect they do. You received, you say, last spring a stock-dove from Sussex ; and are informed that they sometimes breed in that country. But why did not your correspondent determine the place of its nidification, whether on rocks, cliffs, or trees ? If he was not an adroit orni- thologist I should doubt the fact, because people with us perpetually confound the stock-dove with the ring-dove. For my own part, I readily concur with you in supposing that house-doves arc derived from the small blue rock-pigeon, for many reasons. In the first place the wild stock-dove is manifestly larger than the common house-dove, against the usual rule of domestica- tion, which generally enlarges the breed. Again, those two remark- able black spots on the remiges of each wing of the stock-dove, which are so characteristic of the species, would not, one should think, be totally lost by its being reclaimed ; but would often breal- out among its descendants. But what is worth an hundred argu- ments is, the instance you give in Sir Roger Mostyn's house-doves in Caernarvonshire ; which, though tempted by plenty of food and gentle treatment, can never be prevailed on to inhabit their cote for any time ; but, as soon as they begin to breed, betake themselves to the fastnesses of Ormshead [Great Orme's Head], and deposit their young in safety amidst the inaccessible caverns and precipices of that stupendous promontory.' " Naturam expellas furca .... tamtn usque recurret." ' The "stupendous promontory" of the Great Orme's Head is another excellent example of the eighteenth-century point of view of nature. It is now overrun by visitors from Llandudno, and v/as at no time a particularly formidable eminence, except to sailors. — Ed. SraccocttS c/Yrcct 1*^ 158 The Natural History of Selborne I have ccmsulted a sportsman, now in his seventy-eighth year, who tells me that fifty or sixty years back, when the betchen woods were much more extensive than at present, the number of wood-pigeons was astonishing ; that he has often killed near twenty in a day : and that with a long wild-fowl piece he has shot seven or eight at a time on the wing as they came wheeling over his head : he moreover adds, which I was not aware of, that often there were among them little parties of small blue doves, which he calls rockiers. The food of these numberless emigrants was beech-mast and some acorns ; and particularly barley, which they collected in the stubbles. But of late years, since the vast increase of turnips, that vegetable has furnished a great part of their support in hard weather ; and the holes they pick in these roots greatly damage the crop. From this food their flesh has contracted a rancidness which occasions them to be rejected by nicer judges of eating, who thought them before a delicate dish. They were shot not only as they were feeding in the fields, and especially in snowy weather, but also at the close of the evening, by men who lay in ambush among the woods and groves to kill them as they came in to roost.* These are the principal circum- stances relating to this wonderful internal migration, which with us takes place towards the end of November, and ceases early in the spring. Last winter we had in Selborne high wood about an hundred of these doves ; but in former times the flocks were so vast, not only with us but all the district round, that on mornings and evenings they traversed the air, like rooks, in strings, reaching for a mile together. When they thus rendezvoused here by thousands, if they happened to be suddenly roused from their roost-trees on an evening, " Tkeir rising all at once was like tke sound Cf thunder heard remote" It will by no means be foreign to the present purpose to add, that I had a relation in this neighbourhood who made it a practice, for a time, whenever he could procure the eggs of a ring-dove, to place them under a pair of doves that were sitting in his own pigeon- * Some old sportsmen say that the main part of these flocks used to withdraw as soon as the heavy Christmas frosts were over. / lat ice The Natural History of Selborne 159 house ; hoping thereby, if he could bring about a coalition, to enlarge his breed, and teach his own doves to beat out into the woods and to support themselves by mast : the plan was plausible, but something always interrupted the success ; for though the birds were usually hatched, and sometimes grew to half their size, yet none ever arrived at maturity. I myself have seen these foundlings in their nest displaying a strange ferocity of nature, so as scarcely to bear to be looked at, and snapping with their bills by way of menace. In short, they always died, perhaps for want of proper sustenance : but the owner thought that by their fierce and wild demeanour they frighted their foster-mothers, and so were starved. Virgil, as a familiar occurrence, by way of simile, describes a dove haunting the cavern of a rock in such engaging numbers, that I can- not refrain from quoting the passage : and John Dryden has rendered it so happily in our language, that without further excuse I shall add his translation also : " Qualis spelunca subitb commota Columba, Cut damus, tt dulces latebroso in pumice nidi, Fertur in arva volans, plans umque exterrita pennis Dat tecto ingentem — max aere lapsa quieto, Radit iter liquidum^ celeres neque commovet alas" " As when a dove her rocky hold forsakes, Rous' d, in a fright her sounding wings she shakes t The cavern rings with clattering : — out she flies. And leaves her callow care, and cleaves the skies; At first she flutters : — hut at length she springs To smoother flight, and shoots upon her wings. "^ I am, &c. ' This is the last letter to Pennant, and probably one written after publication of the series had been fully decided upon. It is obviously artificial. The curious habit of formally quoting Latin verses in private letters, and giving English translations of them even to readers equally well acquainted with the original, is 80 common, however, in eighteenth-century writers, that White may, perhaps, really have written to Pennant in this quaint fashion. A letter was in those days regarded as a serious piece of literary work, to be embellished with a neat patchwork of classical quotation. — Ed. i:-\ ■■"• |(. z- i....:;i.A^^S;ffiiigi^^ SHORT LYTHE cm Qd&ert lUhcm time . ^' I-- rrvr:'^^>;fp .f * ?i (I S/aftrMnxit. 17? o .__,.J ^C^H t^U^ ^i^r^- ' WBk tS/ i I i J \ ':, J*¥l> <^*fT, tC. dbiackcap LETTER I.' 1 tk w^m To the Honourable Dairies Barrington. Selborne, June $ot/f, 1769. EAR SIR, — When I was in town last month I partly engaged that I would sometime do myself the honour to write to you on the subject of natural history ; and I am the more ready to fulfil my promise, because I see you are a gentle- man of great candour, and one that will make allowances ; especially where the writer professes to be an out-door naturalist, one that takes his observations from the subject itself, and not from the writings of others. ' The letters to Daines Barrington were printed in the first edition separately from those to Pennant, being arranged as a second part and disposed consecutively. Many subsequent editors have seen fit to re-arrange both sets according to dates, interlarding these with those to Pennant. I do not think this procedure tends either to clearness or accuracy. The reader does not always notice the superscrip- tion of th». Most soft-billed birds live on insects, and not on grain and seeds ; and therefore at the end of summer they retire : but the following soft-billed birds, though insect eaters, stay with us the year round : Jynx. n. Columba. Motadlla. •7- Rallus. HirunJo. 19. Caprimulgus. Cucu/us. 14. Alauda. Charadritts. 20. MuscUapa. Red-breast, Wren, Hedge-sparrow, White-wagtail, Yellow-wagtail, Grey-wagtail, Wheat-ear, Whin-chat, Stone-chatter, RAM NOMINA. Rubecula. Passer troglodytes. Cur rue a. Motacilla alba. Motacilla flava. Motacilla cinerea. (Enanthe. (Enanthe secunda. (Lnanthe tertia. Golden-crowned wren, Regulus cristatus. These frequent houses: and haunt out-buildings in the winter : eat spiders. Haunt sinks for crumbs and other sweepings. These frequent shallow rivulets near the spring heads, where they never freeze : eat the aurelix of Phryganea. The smallest birds that walk. J Some of these are to be seen with \ us the winter through. This is the smallest British bird ; haunts the tops of tall trees: stays the winter through. '* 1 66 The Natural History of Selborne A LlIT OF THE WlNTIR BiRDS OF PaSSAOI ROUND THIS NbIOHBOVRHOOD RANOID 80MIWHAT IN THE OrDER IN WHICH THEY APPEAR. I. Ring-ouicl, Redwing, Fieldfare, Royston-crow, Woodcocic, Snipe, ;. Jack inipe, 8, Wood-pigeon, 9. Wild-swan, 10. Wild-goose, 11. Wild-duck, 12. Pochard, 13. Wigeon, 14. Teal, breeds with us in Wolmcr Forest, 15. Cross-beak, 16. Gross-bill, 17. Silk-tail, RAII NOMINA. Mirula terquata, Turdus iliacus. TurJus pilaris, Cornix cintrea. ScoUpax. Gallinago minor. Galliniigo minima. (Enas. Cygttus feruj. Anstr firui. Anat terquata minor. Anasfttafusca. Penelope. ■ Querquedula. Coccot/^raustes. Loxia. Garrulus bohemicus. This it a new migration, which I have lately discovered about Michaelmai week, and about the 14th of March. About old Michaelmas. (Though a percher by day, \ on the ground. Most frequent on downs. Appears about old Michaelmas. (Some snipes constantly breed with ( us. again roosts ( Seldom appears till late : ( such plenty as formerly. On some large waters. On our lakes and streams. not in These are only wanderers that appear occasionally and are not observant of any regular migra- tion. These birds, as they stand numerically, belong to the following Linnajan genera : I, 2, 3, Turdus. 4, Cort'us. 5, 6, 7, Scolopax. 8, Columba. 9, 10, II, 12, 13, 14, Anas. 15, 16, Loxia. 1 7, Ampelis. Birds that sing in the night are but few. "In Susp I Among reeds and willows. Nightingale, Woodlark, Luscinia. " In shadiest covert hid." — Milton. Alauda arborea. Suspended in mid air. . J ( Passer arundinaceus Less rced-sparrow, ( ^^.^^^ The Natural History of Selborne 167 I should now proceed to such birds as continue to sine after Mi7 summer but, as they are rather numerous, they woulcf exceed the bounds of thjs paper : besides, as this is now the season fcr rem ;king on that subject, I am w.lhng to repeat my observations on som! hLtsreToubV'^""^""^^'^" ^^"^^^ ^°"« ' T- V-- 1: 1 am, occ. Stock-dove <(! I'l i i '' ^^H^^ ( ^tficyHMc^ S: ipt nine 1 LETTER II. To the same. Sef^borne, Nov. znJ, 1769. EAR SIR,— When I did myself the honour to write to you about the end of last June on the subject of natural history, I sent you a list of the summer birds of passage which I have observed in this neighbourhood ; and also a list of the winter birds of passage : I mentioned besides those soft- • L , -^r-^ "^^ "''■'^^ ^^*f stay with us the winter throntrh 'in t :::gt. '' ^"^^"'' ^'^^ ^'°^^ '^^^ ^^^ remarLr^ tS^g According to my proposal, I shall now proceed to such birds (singing birds strictly so called) as continue in full song till after t^evT^T '■ '"^ '^'" ''"Se them somewhat in the orde^r n which they first begin to open as the spring advances. mmmmmmm 170 T6e Natural History of Selborne 1. Woodlark, 2. Song-thrush, 3. Wren, 4. Redbreast, 5. Hedge-sparrow, 6. Yellowhammer, 7- 8. 9- 10. Skylark, Swallow, Black-cap, Titlark, II. Blackbird, RAII NOMINA. Alauda arborea, f Turdus simp/iciter \ dictus. Passer troglodytes. Rubecula. Curruca. Emberiza flava. Alauda vulgaris. Hirundo domestica. Atricapilla. Alauda pratorum. Merula vulgaris. In January, and continues to sing through all the summer and autumn. ( In February and on to August : I re-assume their song in autumn. All the year, hard frost excepted. Ditto. Early in February to July 10. j Early in February, and on through ( July to August 21. In February, and on to October, From April to September. Beginning of April to July 13. From middle of April to July 16. (Sometimes in February and March, and so on to July 23 : re-assumes in autumn. In April, and on to July 23. April, and through to September 16. On to July and August 2. [ May on to beginning of July. /Breeds and whistles on till August : re-assumes its note when they \ begin to coi'gregate in October, and again early before the flocks \ separate. Birds that cease to be in full song, and are usually silent at or before Midsummer : 12. Whitethroat, Ficedula affinis. 13. Goldfinch, Carduelis. 14. Greenfinch, Chloris. . , I J f Passer arundinaceus 1 c. Less reed-sparrow, \ ^ I minor. 16. Common linnet, Linaria vulgaris. 17. Middle willow- wren, 18. Redstart, 19. Chaffinch, 20. Nightingale, [ Regulus non crislatus. Ruticilla. Fringilla. Luscinia. \ Middle of June : begins in April. Ditto : begins in May. (Beginning of June: sings first in \ February. Middle of June : sings first in April. Birds that sing for a short time, and very early in the spring : January 2; 1770, in February. 21. Missel-bird, Turduf viscivorus. Is called in Hampshire and Sussex the storm-cock, because its song is supposed to forbode windy wet weather : it is ihe largest singing bird we have. The Natural History of Selbome 171 RAII NOMINA. 22, Great titmouse, ) _ . .„ or ox-eye. \^rtngillago fin February, March, April: re- assumes for a short time in Sep- tember. Birds that have somewhat of a note or song, and yet are hardly to be called singing birds : o y 7 23. Golden-crowned ) „ \ Regulus cristatus. vren, 24. Marsh-titmouse, Parus palustris. 25. Small willow-wren, Regulus non cristatus. 26. Largest ditto. Ditto. 27. Grass-hopper lark. H^'f^'^" '"'"""'' ^'"'^ ^*^ ' i locusta. 28. Martin, 29. Bullfinch, 30. Bunting. Hirundo agrestis, Pyrrkula. Emberiza alba. Its note as minute as its person: frequents the tops of high oaks and firs : the smallest British bird. Haunts great woods : two harsh sharp notes, f Sings in March and on to Sep- ( tember. \Cantat voce stridula locust a; from \ end of April to August. (Chirps all night, from the middle ( of April to the end of July. jAll the breeding time: from May I CO September. From the end of January to July. AH singing birds, and those that have any pretensions to song, not only in Britain, but perhaps the world through, come under the l^innaean ordo of Passeres. . 'r-^^,a^?ve-mentioned birds, as they stand numerically, belong to the following Linnasan genera : 1, 7, 10, 27, 2, II, 21, 3, 4. 5. 9» »2, 15. 17. ) 18, 20, 23, 25, 26 i 6, 30, Alauda. Turdus. Motacilla. Emberiza, Birds that sing as they fly are but few : Sl^ylark. Alauda vulgaris. Titlark, Woodlark, Blackbird, Whitethroat, 8,28, 13. 16, 19, 22, 24, I4» 29. Hirundo. Fringilla. Parus. Loxia. Alauda pratorum, Alauda arborea. Merula. Ficeduia affinis. Rising, suspended, and falling. (In its descent: also sitting on trees, 1 and walking on the ground. (Suspended: in hot summer nights i all night long. Sometimes from bush to bush. j Uses when singing on the wing odd i jerks and gesticulations. 172 The Natural History of Selborne '>N; \ i .i 1 RAII NOMINA. Swallow, Hirundo domestic a. In soft sunny weather. Wren, Passer troglodytes. Sometimes from bush to bush. Birds that breed most early in these parts : Raven, Corvus. Hatches in February and March. Song-thrush, Turdus. In March. Blackbird, Merula. In March. Rook, Comix frugilega. Builds the beginning of March. Woodlark, Alauda arborea. Hatches in April. king-dove. Palumbus torquatus. Lays the beginning of April. All birds that continue in full song till after Midsummer appear to me to breed more than once. Most kinds of birds seem to me to be wild and shy somewhat in proportion to their bulk ; I mean in this island, where they are much pursued and annoyed ; but in Ascension Island, and many other desolate places, mariners have found fowls so unacquainted with an human figure, that they would stand still to be taken ; as is the case with boobies, &c. As an example of what is advanced, I remark that the gold-crested wren (the smallest British bird) will stand unconcerned till you come within three or four yards of it, while the bustard (Otis), the largest British land fowl, does not care to admit a person within so many furlongs. I am, &c. hi t\ •« i J, * • 1 1 1 2 ydiowh ammer LETTER III. To the same. Selborne, Jan, i^t/:, 1770. ilAR SIR, — It was no small matter of satisfaction to me to find that you were not displeased with my little methodus of birds. If there was any merit in the sketch, it must be owing to its punctuality. For many months I carried a list in my pocket of the birds that were to be remarked, and, as I rode or walked about my business, I noted each day the continuance or omission of each bird's song ; so that I am as sure of the certainty of my facts as a man can be of any transaction whatsoever. I shall now proceed to answer the several queries which you put in your two obliging letters, in the best manner that I am able. Perhaps Eastwick, and its environs, where you heard so very few birds, is not a woodland country, and therefore not stocked with such songsters. If you will cast your eye on my last letter, you will find that many species continue to warble after the beginning of July. 18 v f^ I** I 1-oi I 174 The Natural History of Selborne The titlark and yellowhammer breed late, the latter very late ; and therefore it is no wonder that they protract their song : for I lay it down as a maxim in ornithology, that as long as there is any incubation going on there is music. As to the redbreast and wren, it is well known to the most incurious observer that they whistle the year round, hard frost excepted ; especially the latter. It is not in my power to procure you a black-cap, or a less reed- sparrow, or sedge-bird, alive. As the first is undoubtedly, and the last, as far as I can yet see, a summer bird of passage, they would require more nice and curious management in a cage than I should be able to give them : they are both distinguished songsters. The note of the former has such a wild sweetness that it always brings to my mind those lines in a song in " As You Like It." '■'■ And tune hn merry note Unto the wild bird^s throat" — Shakespeare. The latter has a surprising variety of notes resembling the song of several other birds ; but then it has also an hurrying manner, not at all to its advantage : it is notwithstanding a delicate polyglot. It is new to me that titlarks in cages sing in the night ; perhaps only caged ones do so. I once knew a tame redbreast in a cage that always sang as long as candles were in the room ; but in their wild state no one supposes they sing in the night. I should be almost ready to doubt the fact, that there are to be seen much fewer birds in July than in any former month, notwith- standing so many young are hatched daily. Sure I am that it is far otherwise with respect to the swallow tribe, which increases prodigiously as the summer advances : and I saw at the time mentioned, many hundreds of young wagtails on the banks of the Cherwell, which almost covered the meadows. If the matter appears as you say in the other species, may it not be owing to the dams being engaged in incubation, while the young are concealed by the leaves } Many times have I had the curiosity to open the stomachs of woodcocks and snipes ; but nothing ever occurred that helped to explain to me what their subsistence might be : all that I could ever find was a soft mucus, among which lay many pellucid small gravels. I am, &c. .M ZHU (jickoo LETTER IV. ives Ihs of ;d to icould small 2"(j the same. Selborne, Feb. i()t/?, 1770. EAR SIR, — Your observation that " the cuckoo does not deposit its egg indiscriminately in the nest of the first bird that conies in its way, but probably looks out a nurse in some degree con- generous, with whom to intrust its young," is perfectly new to me ; and struck me so forcibly, that I naturally fell into a train of thought that led me to consider whether the fact was so, and what reason there was for it. When I came to recollect and inquire, I could not find that any cuckoo had ever been seen in these parts, except in the nest of the wagtail, the hedge-sparrow, the titlark, the whitethroat, and the redbreast, all soft-billed insectivorous birds. The excellent Mr. Willughby mentions the nest of the Palumbus (ring-dove), and of the fringilla (chaffinch), birds that subsist on acorns and grains, and such hard food : but then he does not mention them as of his own knowledge ; but says afterwards that he saw himself a wagtail feeding a cuckoo. It appears hardly possible that a soft-billed bird should subsist on the same food with the hard-billed : for the former have thin membranaceous stomachs suited to their soft food ; while ir^ «i \ r; 176 TAe Natural History of Selborne the latter, the granivorous tribe, have strong muscular gizzards, which, like mills, grind, by the help of small gravels and pebbles, what is swallowed. This proceeding of the cuckoo, of dropping its eggs as it were by chance, is such a monstrous outrage on maternal affection, one of the first great dictates of nature ; and such a violence on instinct ; that had it only been related of a bird in the Brazils, or Peru, it would never have merited our belief. But yet, should it farther appear that this simple bird, when divested of that natural aropyi) that seems to raise the kind in general above them- selves, and inspire them with extraordinary degrees of cunning and address, may be still endued with a more enlarged faculty of discerning what species are suitable and congenerous nursing-mothers for its disregarded eggs and young, and may deposit them only under their care, this would be adding wonder to wonder, and instancing, in a fresh manner, that the methods of Providence are not subjected to any mode or rule, but astonish us in new lights, and in various and changeable appearances.' What was said by a very ancient and sublime writer concerning the defect of natural affection in the ostrich, may be well applied to the bird we are talking of : " S^e is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers : " Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding." * ^uery. Does each female cuckoo lay but one egg in a season, or does she drop several in different nests according as opportunity offers ?^ I am, &c. * Job xxxix. 16, 17. ' The cuckoo lays its eggs for the most part in the nests of bird« much smaller than itself. This is probably in order that the young cuckoo may be markedly stronger than its fellow-nestlings, and so able to oust its unhappy little foster- brothers from the nest when necessary. It is quite true that cuckoos lay in the nests of chaffinches ; but there is no such objection to this procedure as White supposes : for all the finches, as well as some other hard-billed birds, though they subsist in the adult stage on grains and acorns, feed their callow young upon grubs and caterpillars. It is not likely, on the other hand, that the cuckoo would lay in a ring-dove's nest, because the ring-dove would notice the marked difference in size, and the young ring-doves would also be quite as strong as the young cuckoo, better able to oust it than it would be to oust them. — Ed. ' The curkoo lays several eggs yearly, dropping them about in different nests as chances offer. — Ed. ' V ^ ihneC a season, LETTER V. To the same. Selborne, April xith, 1770. AR SIR, — I heard many birds of several species sing last year after Midsummer ; enough to prove that the summer solstice is not the period that puts a stop to the music of the woods. The yellowhammer no doubt persists with more steadi- ness than any other ; but the woodlark, the wren, the redbreast, the swallow, the whitethroat, the goldfinch, the common linnet, are all undoubted instances of the truth of what I advanced. If this severe season does not interrupt the regularity of the summer migrations, the blackcap will be here in two or three days. I wish it was in my power to procure you one of those songsters ; but I am no birdcatcher, and so little used to birds in a cage, that I fear if I had one it would soon die for want of skill in feeding. Was your reed-sparrow, which you kept in a cage, the thick- billed reed-sparrow of the " Zoology," p. 320 ; or was it the less M < I n T" U » X I >V r 178 The Natural History of Selborne reed-sparrow of Ray, the sedge-bird of Mr. Pennant's last publi- cation, p. 16 ? As to the matter of long-billed birds growing fatter in moderate frosts, I have no doubt within myself what should be the reason. The thriving at those times appears to me to arise altogether from the gentle check which the cold throws upon insensible perspiration. The case is just the same with blackbirds, &c. ; and farmers and warreners observe, the first, that their hogs fat more kindly at such times, and the latter that their rabbits are never in such good case as in a gentle frost. But when frosts are severe, and of long continuance, the case is soon altered ; for then a want of food soon overbalances the repletion occasioned by a checked perspiration. I have observed, moreover, that some human constitutions are more inclined to plumpness in winter than in summer. When birds come to suffer by severe frost, I find that the first that fail and die are the redwing-fieldfares, and then the song-thrushes. You wonder, with good reason, that the hedge-sparrows, &c., can be induced at all to sit on the egg of the cuckoo without being scandalized at the vast, disproportionate size of the supposititious egg ; but the brute creation, I suppose, have very little idea of size, colour, or number. For the common hen, I know, when the fiiry of incubation is on her, will sit oji a single shapeless stone instead of a nest full of eggs that have been withdrawn : and, more- over, a hen-turkey, in the same circumst^jnces, would sit on in the empty nest till she perished with hunger.' I think the matter might easily be determined whether a cuckoo lays one or two eggs, or more, in a season, by opening a female during the laying time. If more than one was come down out of the ovary, and advanced to a good size, doubtless then she would that spring lay more than one.'' ' As a matter of fact, the egg of the cuckoo is scarcely larger than that of the hedge-sparrows and chaffinches in whose nest the mother-bird lays : but the young cuckoo is very voracious, and therefore soon outgrows its small foster-brothers. Cuckoos have not been observed to lay in the nests of birds whose eggs are larger than their own. Their most common host, I think, is the meadow-pipit. — Ed. * This is physiologically incorrect. Only one ovum is contained in the oviduct of any bird at one time ; but the cuckoo, as already noted, does lay several eggs in each season. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 179 I will endeavour to get a hen, and to examine. Your supposition that there may be some natural obstructiu* li^ singing birds while they are mute, and that when this is removc^J the song recommences, is new and bold ; I wish you could discover, some good grounds for this suspicion. I was glad you were pleased with my specimen of the capri- mulgus, or fern-owl ; you were, I find, acquainted with the bird before. When we meet I shall be glad to have some conversation with you concerning the proposal you make of my drawing up an account of the animals in this neighbourhood. Your partiality towards my small abilities persuades you, I fear, that I am able to do more than is in my power : for it is no small undertaking for a man unsupported and alone to begin a natural history from his own autopsia ! Though there is endless room for observation in the field of nature, which is boundless, yet investigation (where a man endeavours to be sure of his facts) can make but slow progress ; and all that one could collect in many years would go into a very narrow compass. Some extracts from your ingenious " Investigations of the Dif- ference between the Present Temperature of the Air in Italy," &c., have fallen in my way ; and gave me great satisfaction : they have removed the objections that always arose in my mind whenever I came to the passages which you quote. Surely the judicious Virgil, when writing a didactic poem for the region of Italy, could never think of describing freezing rivers, unless such severity of weather pretty frequently occurred. P.S„ Swallows appear amidst snows and frost. n 1 i ■ : ^1 A <:^ttCcmjTcrm WcncCmji£C7(cCi l Reed sparrow LETTER VI. jia'^fy- #*^^ 7*19 the same, Seldorne, May 21st, 1770. iAR SIR, — The severity and turbulence of last month so interrupted the regular process of summer migration, that some of the birds do but just begin to show themselves, and others are apparently thinner than usual ; as the white- throat, the black-cap, the red-start, the fly- catcher. I well remember that after the very severe spring in the year 1739-40, summer birds of passage were very scarce. They come probably hither with a south-east wind, or when it blows between those points ; but in that unfavourable year the winds blowed the whole spring and summer through from the opposite quarters. And yet amidst all these disadvantages two swallows, as I mentioned in my last, appeared this year as early as the eleventh of April amidst frost and snow ; but they withdrew again for a time. I am not pleased to find that some people seem so little satisfied Wt 1 182 T6e Natural History of Selborne with Scopoli's new publication ;* there is room to expect great things from the hands of that man, who is a good naturalist : and one would think that an history of the birds of so distant and southern a region as Carniola would be new and interesting. I could wish to see that work, and hope to get it sent down. Dr. Scopoli is physician to the wretches that work in the quicksilver mines of that district. When you talked of keeping a reed-sparrow, and giving it seeds, I could not help wondering ; because the reed-sparrow which I men- tioned to you {Tasser arundinaceus minor Rait) is a soft-billed bird ; and most probably migrates hence before winter ; whereas the bird you kept {Passer torquatus Raii) abides all the year, and is a thick- billed bird.* I question w lether the latter be much of a songster ; but in this matter I want to be better informed. The former has a variety of hurrying notes, and sings all night. Some part of the song of the former, I suspect, is attributed to the latter. We have plenty of the soft-billed sort ; which Mr. Pennant had entirely left out of his " British Zoology," till I reminded him of his omission. See " British Zoology " last published, p. i6.t I have somewhat to advance on the different rm ners in which different birds fly and walk ; but as this is a subject that I have not enough considered, and is of such a nature as not to be contained in a small space, I shall say nothing further about it at present.:): No doubt the reason why the sex of birds in their first plumage is so difficult to be distinguished is, as you say, " because they are not to pair and discharge their parental functions till the ensuing spriig," As colours seem to be the chief external sexual distinction in many birds, these colours do not take place till sexual attachments begin to obtain. And the case is the same in quadrupeds ; among whom, in their younger days, the sexes differ but little ; but, as they advance to maturity, horns and shaggy manes, beards and brawny necks, &c. &c., strongly discriminate the male from the female. We may instance still farther in our own species, where a beard and ♦ This work he calls his "Annus Primus Historico-Naturalis." t See Letter XXV. to Mr. Pennant. J See Letter XLIL to Mr. Barrington. ^ The bird here alluded to is the reed-bunting. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 183 stronger features are usually characteristic of the male sex : but this sexual diversity does not take place in earlier life ; for a beautiful youth shall be so like a beautiful girl that the difference shall not be discernible : *' ^em si puellarum insereres choro. Mire sagaces falleret hospites Discrimen obscurum, solutis Crinibus, umbiguoque vultu" HOR. ■■'\ I .(I Ik ^ (i i* i ll i J I it SOelvesJ/ouse ■jx>wj,s'sittff9ia!h LETTER VII. To the same. RmcMER, near Lewes, Oct. St/), 1770. iAR SIR, — I am glad to hear that Kuckalm is to furnish you with the birds of Jamaica ; a sight of the hirundines of that hot and distant island would be a great entertainment to me. The Anni of Scopoli are now in my posses- sion ; and I have read the Annus Primus with satisfaction ; for though some parts of this work are exceptionable, and he may advance some mistaken observaiicns, yet the ornithology of so distant a country as Carniola is avy curious. Men that undertake only one district are much snore likely to advance natural knowledge than those that grasp at more The Natural History of Selborne 185 than they can possibly be acquainted with : every kingdom, every province, should have its own monographer. The reason perhaps why he mentions nothing of Ray's Ornitho- logy may be the extreme poverty and distance of his country, into which the works of our great naturalist may have never yet found their way. You have doubts, I know, whether this Ornithology is genuine, and really the work of Scopoli ; as to myself, I think I discover strong tokens of authenticity ; the style corresponds with that of his Entomology ; and his characters of his Ordines and Genera are many of them new, expressive, and masterly. He has ventured to alter some of the Linnaean genera with sufficient show of reason. It might perhaps be mere accident that you saw so many swifts and no swallows at Staines ; because, in my long observations of those birds, I never could discover the least degree of rivalry or hostility between the species.^ Ray remarks that birds of the gallina order, as cocks and hens, partridges, and pheasants, &c., are pulveratrices^ such as dust them- selves, using that method of cleansing their feathers, and ridding themselves of their vermin. As far as I can observe, many birds that dust themselves never wash ; and I once thought that those birds that wash themselves would never dust ; but here I find myself mistaken ; for common house-sparrows are great pulveratrices, being frequently seen grovelling and wallowing in dusty roads ; and yet they are great washers. Does not the skylark dust ? ^ Query. Might not Mahomet and his followers take one method of purification from these pulveratrices ? because I find from travellers of credit, that if a strict Mussulman is journeying in a sandy desert where no water is to be found, at stated hours he strips off his clothes, and most scrupulously rubs his body over with sand or dust. A countryman told me he had found a young fern-owl in the ' White, I think, is here in error. Both birdb feed on the same sort of insects, which they catch on the wing, and several observers have noticed the swift flying or swooping in a hostile manner at swallows and house-martins. — Ed. ' White is correct in this ; skylarks wash themselves by dusting. — Ed. I !i i I :!' It ,/'> 1 86 T'/)e Natural History of Selborne nest of a small bird on the ground ; and that it was fed by the little bird. I went to see this extraordinary phenomenon, and found that it was a young cuckoo hatched in the nest of a titlark ; it was become vastly too big for its nest, appearing .... in tenui re Majores pennas nido extenJisse . . and was very fierce and pugnacious, pursuing my finger, as I teased it, for many feet from the nest, and sparring and buflFeting with its wings like a game-cock. The dupe of a dam appeared at a distance, hovering about with meat in its mouth, and expressing the greatest solicitude. In July I saw several cuckoos skimming over a large pond ; and found, after some observation, that they were feeding on the Libellul^y or dragon-flies ; some of which they caught as they settled on the weeds, and some as they were on the wing. Not- withstanding what Linnasus says, I cannot be induced to believe that they are birds of prey. This district affords some birds, that are hardly ever heard of at Selborne. In the first place considerable flocks of cross-beaks (Loxi, 1772. i!AR SIR, — You are, I know, no great friend to migration ; and the well-attested accounts from various parts of the kingdom seem to justify you in your suspicions, that at least many of the swallow kind do not leave us in the winter, but lay themselves up like insects and bats, in a torpid state, and slumber away the more uncom- fortable months till the return of the sun and fine weather awakens them.^ ' This 'ettcr is in answer to an essay of Harrington's, published in his " Mis- cellanies," p. 174, " On the Periodical Appearing and Disappearing of Certain Birds at Different Times of the Year." In that paper Harrington argues against the pro- bability of periodical migration ; and White here meets many of his rather fanciful difficulties and objections. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 193 But then we must not, I think, deny migration in general ; be- cause migration certainly does subsist in some places, as my brother in Andalusia has fully informed me. Of the motions of these birds he has ocular demonstration, for many weeks together, both spring and fall ; during which periods myriads of the swallow kind traverse the Straits from north to south, and from south to north, according to the season. And these vast migrations consist not only of hirundines but of bee-birds, hoopoes, Oro pendoloSy or golden thrushes, &c. &c., and also of many of our soft-billed summer birds of passage ; and moreover of birds which never leave us, such as all the various sorts of hawks and kites. Old Belon, two hundred pears ago, gives a curious account of the incredible armies of hawks and kites which he saw in the springtime traversing the Thracian Bosphorus from Asia to Europe. Besides the above- mentioned, he remarks that the procession is swelled by whole troops of eagles and vultures. Now it is no wonder that birds residing in Africa should retreat before the sun as it advances, and retire to milder regions, and especially birds of prey, whose blood being heated with hot animal food, are more impatient of a sultry climate ; but then I cannot help wondering why kites and hawks, and such hardy birds as are known to defy all the severity of England, and even of Sweden and all north Europe, should want to migrate from the south of Europe, and be dissatisfied with the win*"-s of Andalusia.' It does not appear to rr ■■5»t much stress may be laid on the difficulty and hazard that ^nas must run in their migrations, by reason of vast oceans, cross winds, &c. ; because, if we reflect, a bird may travel from England to the Equator without launching out and exposing itself to boundless seas, and that by crossing the water at Dover, and again at Gibraltar. And I with the more confidence advance this tbvious remark, because my brother has always found that some of hi: birds, and particularly the swallow kind, are very sparing of their pains in crossing the Mediterranean ; for when arrived at Gibraltar they do not ' It is curious to see how often and how persistently our great naturalist returns to this question of migration. — Ed. N r: 4 i 'H vs. 194 7*/^^ Natural History of Selborne ..." Rang'd in figure wedge their way, j4nd set forth Their airy caravan high over seas Flying, and over lands with mutual wing Easing their fight .•"... . — Milton but scout and hurry along in little detached parties of six or seven in a company ; and sweeping low, just over the surface of the land and water, direct their course to the opposite continent at the narrowest passage they can find. They usually slope across the bay to the south-west, and so pass over opposite to Tangier, which, it seems, is the narrowest space. In former letters we have considered whether it was probable that woodcocks in moonshiny nights cross the German ocean from Scandinavia. As a proof that birds of less speed may pass that sea, considerable as it is, I shall relate the following incident, which, though mentioned to have happened so many years ago, was strictly matter of fact : — As some people were shooting in the parish of Trotton, in the county of Sussex, they killed a duck in that dreadful winter, 1 708-9, with a silver collar about its neck,* on which were engraven the arms of the king of Denmark. This anecdote the rector of Trotton at that time has often told to a near relation of mine ; and, to the best of my remembrance, the collar was in the possession of the rector. At present I do not know anybody near the se; that will take the trouble to remark at what time of the moon woodcocks first come ; if I lived near the sea myself I would soon tell you more of the matter. One thing I used to observe when I was a sportsman, that there were times in which woodcocks were so sluggish and sleepy that they would drop again when flushed just before the spaniels, nay, just at the muzzle of a gun that had been fired at them ; whether this strange laziness was the effect of a rtcent fatiguing journey I shall not presume to say. Nightingales not only never reach Northumberland and Scotland, but also, as I have been always told, Devonshire and Cornwall. In those last two counties we cannot attribute the failure of them to the * I have read a like anecdote of a swan. \ The Natural History of Selborne 195 want of warmth ; the defect in the west is rather a presumptive argument that these birds come over to us from the continent at the narrowest passage, and do not stroll so far westward. Let me hear from your own observation whether skylarks do not dust. I think they do ; and if they do, whether they wash also. The Alauda pratensis of Ray was the poor dupe that was educating the booby of a cuckoo mentioned in my letter of October last. Your letter came too late for me to procure a ring-ousel for Mr. Tunstal during their autumnal visit ; but I will endeavour to get him one when they call on us again in April. I am glad that you and that gentleman saw my Andalusian birds ; I hope they answered your expectation. Royston, or grey crows, are winter birds that come much about the same time with the woodcock ; they, like the fieldfare and redwing, have no apparent reason for migration ; for as they fare in the winter like their congeners, so might they in all appearance in the summer. Was not Tenant, when a boy, mistaken ? did he not find a missel-thrush's nest, and take it for the nest of a fieldfare } The stock-dove, or wood-pigeon, CEnas Rati, is the last winter bird of passage which ppearswith us ; it is not seen till towards the end of November : about twenty years ago they abounded in the district of Selborne ; and strings of them were seen morning and evening that reached a mile or more ; but since the beechen woods have been greatly thinned they are much decreased in number. The ring-dove, Palumbus Rait, stays with us the whole year, and breeds several times through the summer. Before I received your letter of October last I had just remarked in my journal that the trees were unusually green. This uncommon verdure lasted on late into November ; and may be accounted for from a late spring, a cool and moist summer ; but more particularly from vast armies of chafers, or tree-beetles, which, in many places, reduced whole woods to a leafless naked state. These trees shot again at Midsummer, and then retained their foliage till very late in the year. ■ 196 The Natural History of Selbo7'ne My musical friend, at whose house I am nov/ visiting, has tried all the owls that are his near neighbours with a pitch-pipe set at concert pitch, and finds they all hoot in B flat. He will examine the nightingales next spring. I am, &c. &c. ' r 1 i 1' '' hi1 ■ T^edzvin^ LETTER X. "To the same. Selborne, Jug. 1st, 1 77 1. jEAR SIR, — From what follows, it will appear that neither owls nor cuckoos keep to one note, A friend remarks that many (most) of his owls hoot in B flat ; but that one went almost half a note below A. The pipe he tried their notes by was a common half-crown pitch-pipe, such as masters use for tuning of harpsichords ; it was the common London pitch. A neighbour of mine, who is said to have a nice ear, remarks that the owls about this village hoot in three different keys, in G flat, or F sharp, in B flat and A flat. He heard two hooting to each other, the one in A flat and the other in B flat, duery : Do these difi^erent notes proceed from different species, or only from various in- dividuals } The same person finds upon trial that the note of the cuckoo (of which we have but one species) varies in difl^erent individuals ; for, about Selborne wood, he found they were mostly in D : he heard two sing together, the one in D, the other in D sharp, who made a disagreeable concert : he afterwards heard one in i .1- I a 198 TI)e Natural History of Selborne D sharp, and about Wolmer forest some in C. As to nightingales, he says that their notes are so short, and their transitions so rapid, that he cannot well ascertain their key. Perhaps in a cage, and in a room, their notes may be more distinguishable. This person has tried to settle the notes of a swift, and of several other small birds, but cannot bring them to any criterion. As I have often remarked that redwings are some o'* the first birds that suffer with us in severe weather, it is no ider at all that they retreat from Scandinavian winters : and m nore the ordo of gralUy who, all to a bird, forsake the northern parts of Europe at the approach of winter. " Gralla tanquam conjurattg unanlmiter in fugam se conjiciunt ; ne earum unicam quidem inter nos habitantem invenire possimus ; ut enim estate in australibus degere nequeunt ob defectum lumbricorum^ terramque siccam ; ita nee infrigidis ob eandem causam^^ says Ekmarck the Swede, in his ingenious little treatise called " Migrationes Avium," which by all means you ought to read while your thoughts run on the subject of migration. See " Amoenitates Academical," vol. iv., p, 565. Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to migrate in one country, and not in another : but the gralla (which procure their food from marshy and boggy grounds), must in winter forsake the more northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want of food.* I am glad you are making inquiries from L;nna:us concerning t^'e woodcock : it is expected of him that he should be able to account for the motions and manner of life of the animals of his own " Fauna." Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare descrip- tions, anJ a few synonyms : the reason is plain ; because all that may be done at home in a man's study, but the investigation of the life and conversation of animals is a concern of much more trouble and difficulty, and is not to be attained but by the active and inquisitive, and by those that reside much in the country.'' ■ ' The question of food-supply has far more to do with the migrations of birds than mere climate. — Ed. ^ In this passage White strikes the keynote of the modern school of natural history, the school which culminated in Darwin, and which is interested rather in the facts and problems of life than in mere classification. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 199 Foreign systematics* are, I observe, much too vague in their specific diflferences ; which are almost universally constituted by one or two particular marks, the rest of the description running in general terms. But our countryman, the excellent Mr. Ray, is the only describer that conveys some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his superiority over his followers and imitators in spite of the advantage of fresh discoveries and modern information. At this distance of years it is not in my power to recollect at what period woodcocks used to be sluggish or aler-; when I was a sportsman : but, upon my mentioning this circumstance to a friend, he thinks he has observed them to be remarkably listless against snowy foul weather ; if this should be the case, then the inaptitude for flying arises only from an eagerness for food ; as sheep are observed to be very intent on grazing against stormy wet evenings. I am, &c. &c. ' He means Svstematists. — Ed. I '•t H"! I I £Ht^ White Owls LETTER XV. 'To the same. Selborne, July St/\ 1773. EAR SIR, — Some young men went down lately to a pond on the verge of Wolmer Forest to hunt flappers, or young wild-ducks, many of which they caught, and, among the rest, some very minute yet well-fledged wild-fowls alive, which upon examination I found to be teals. I did not know till then that teals ever bred in the south of England, and was much pleased with the discovery : this I look upon as a great stroke in natural history. vl i'Ti i t ( ! I iM 212 The Natural History of Selborne We have had, ever since I can remember, a pair of white owls that constantly breed under the eaves of this church. As I have paid good attention to the manner of life of these birds during their season of breeding, which lasts the summer through, the following remarks may not perhaps be unacceptable : — About an hour before sunset (for then the mice begin to run) they sally forth in quest of prey, and hunt all round the hedges of meadows and small enclosures for them, which seem to be their only food. In this irregular country we can stand on an eminence and see them beat the fields over like a setting-dog, and often drop down in the grass or corn. I have minuted these birds with my watch for an hour together, and have found that they return to their nest, the one or the other of them, about once in five minutes ; reflecting at the same time on the adroitness that every animal is possessed of as far as regards the well-being of itself and oflPspring. But a piece of address, which they show when they return loaded, should not, I think, be passed over in silence. As they take their prey with their claws, so they carry it in their claws to their nest ; but, as the feet are necessary in their ascent under the tiles, they con- stantly perch first on the roof of the chancel, and shift the mouse from their claws to their hill, that their feet may be at liberty to take hold of the plate on the wall as they are rising under the eaves. White owls seem not (but in this I am not positive) to hoot at all ; all that clamorous hooting appears to me to come from the wood kinds. The white owl does indeed snore and hiss in a tre- mendous manner ; and these menaces well answer the intention of intimidating ; for I have known a whole village up in arms on such an occasion, imagining the churchyard to be full of goblins and spectres. White owls also often scream horribly as they fly along ; from this screaming probably arose the common people's imaginary species of screech-owl, which theyjuperstitiously think attends the windows of dying persons. The plumage of the remiges of the wings of every species of owl that I have yet examined is remarkably soft and pliant. Perhaps it may be necessary that the wings of these birds should not make much resistance or rushing, that they may be enabled to steal through the air unheard upon a nimble and watchful quarry. M The Natural History of Selborne 213 While I am talking of owls, it may not be improper to mention what I was told by a gentleman of the county of Wilts. As they were grubbing a vast hollow pollard-ash that had been the rr nnsion of owls for centuries, he discovered at the bottom a mass of matter that at first he could not account for. After some examina- tion he found that it was a congeries of the bones of mice (and perhaps of birds and bats) that had been heaping together for ages, being cast up in pellets out of the crops of many generations of inhabitants. For owls cast up the bones, fur, and feathers, of what they devour, after the manner of hawks. He believes, he told me, that there were bushels of this kind of substance. When brown owls hoot, their throats swell as big as an hen's egg. I have known an owl of this species live a full year without any water. Perhaps the case may be the same with all birds of prey. When owls fly they stretch out their legs behind them as a balance to their large heavy heads, for as most nocturnal birds have large eyes and ears they must have large heads to contain them. Large eyes I presume are necessary to collect every ray of light, and large con- cave ears to command the smallest degree of sound or noise. I am, &c. [It will be proper to premise here that the sixteenth, eighteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first letters have been published already in the " Philosophical Transactions " ; but as nicer observation has furnished several corrections and additions, it is hoped that the republication of them will not give offence ; especially as these sheets would be very imperfect without them, and as they will be new to many readers who had no opportunity of seeing them when they made their first appearance.] The hirundines are a most inoffensive, harmless, entertaining, social, and useful tribe of birds ; they touch no fruit in our gardens ; delight, :i11 except one species, in attaching themselves to our houses ; amuse us with their migrations, songs, and marvellous agility; and clear our outlets from the annoyances of gnats and other troublesome insects. Some districts in the south seas, near Guiaquil,* are ♦ See " Ulloa's Travels." '11 w ' in 214 T6e Natural History of Selborne desolated, it seems, by the infinite swarms of venomous mosquitoes, which fill the air, and render those coasts insupportable. It would be worth inquiring whether any species of hirundines is found iu those regions. Whoever contemplates the myriads of insects that sport in the sunbeams of a summer evening in this country, t ill soon be convinced to what a degree our atmosphere would be choked with them was it not for the friendly interposition of the swallow- tribe. Many species of birds have their peculiar lice ; but the hirundines alone seem to be annoyed with dipterous insects, which infest every species, and are so large, in proportion to themselves, that they must be extremely irksome and injurious to them. These are the hippo- bosca hirundinisy with narrow subulated wings, abounding in every nest ; and are hatched by the warmth of the bird's own body during incubation, and crawl about under its feathers. A species of them is familiar to horsemen in the south of England under the name of forest-fly ; and to some of side-fly, from its running sideways like a crab. It creeps under the tails, and about the groins,' of horses, which, at their first coming out of the north, are rendered half frantic by the tickling sensation ; while our own breed little regards them. The curious Reaumur discovered the large eggs, or rather pupa., of these flies as big as the flies themselves, which he hatched in his own bosom. Any person that will take the trouble to examine the old nests of either species of swallows may find in them the black shining cases or skins of the pupa of these insects ; but for other particulars, too long for this place, we refer the reader to "L'Histoire d'Insectes " of that admirable entomologist. Tom. iv., pi. ii. ■ ^iouse ' Tnarttn LETTER XVI. To the same. Selborne, Uov. 2ot/}, 1773. I ^^ ^^^ |EAR SIR, — In obedience to your imunctions, I I L?*^ ^^** sit down to give you some account or the house- r^i^ _r^ ' iifc^ martin, or martlet ; and if my monography of ^ X j_) ^^^^ this little domestic and familiar bird should ^ "^ "^ happen to meet with your approbation, I may probably soon extend my inquiries to the rest of the British hirundines — the swallow, the swift, and the bank-martin [sand-martin]. A few house-martins begin to appear about the 1 6th of April; usually some few days later than the swallow. For some time after they appear the hirundines in general pay no attention to the business of nidification, but play and sport about, either to recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate at all, or else that their blood may recover its true tone and texture after it has been so long ! 11 ) ', V'S i ^ \\ i> 1 ■Jl /■* ^ IJ 'p. 2i6 T6e Natural History of Selborne benumbed by the severities of winter. About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, the martin begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion for its family. The crust or shell of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought together with little bits of broken straws to render it tough and tenacious. As this bird often builds against a perpendicular wall without any projecting ledge under, it requires its utmost efforts to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it may safely carry the superstructure. On this occasion the bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a fulcrum ; and thus steadied, it works and plasters the materials into the face of the brick or stone. But then, that this work may not, while it is soft and green, pull itself down by its own weight, the provident architect has prudence and forbearance enough not to advance her work too fast ; but by building only in the morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About half an inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus careful workmen, when they build mud-walls (informed at first perhaps by this little bird), raise but a moderate layer at a time, and then desist, lest the work should become top- heavy, and so be ruined by its own weight. By this method in about ten or twelve days is formed an hemispheric nest with a small aperture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm ; and perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. But then nothing is more common than for the house-sparrow, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it as its own, to eject the. owner, and to line it after its own manner.* After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as nature seldom works in vain, martins will breed on for several years together ' In the case of some house-martins which had built under the eaves of my own cottage, I removed no less than twelve successive nests of sparrows. While each nest was being removed, the sparrows hopped about close by with building materials in their mouths, looking exceedingly saucy, and with an obviously insolent air of self-assertion. They seemed to say, " Who's afraid of you ? We mean to go on building in spite of you." In the end, however, we tired them out, and the house-martins returned to undisturbed possession. — Ed. T The Natural History of Selborne 217 in the same nest, where it happens to be well sheltered and secure from the injuries of weather. The shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic-work full of knobs and protuberances on the outside ; nor is the inside of those that 1 have examined smoothed with any exact- ness at all ; but is rendered soft and warm, and fit for incubation, by a lining of small straws, grasses, and feathers, and sometimes by a bed of moss interwoven with wool. In this nest they tread, or engender, frequently during the time of building ; and the hen lays from three to five white eggs. At first when the young are hatched, and are in a naked and help- less condition, the parent birds, with tender assiduity, carry out what comes away from their young. Was it not for this affectionate cleanliness the nestlings would soon be burnt up, and destroyed in so deep and hollow a nest, by their own caustic excrement. In the quadruped creation the same neat precaution is made use of ; par- ticularly among dogs and cats, where the dams lick away what proceeds from their young. But in birds there seems to be a par- ticular provision, that the dung of nestlings is enveloped in a tough kind of jelly, and therefore is the easier conveyed off without soiling or daubing. Yet, as nature is cleanly in all her ways, the young perform this office for themselves in a little time by thrusting their tails out at the aperture of their nest. As the young of small birds presently arrive at their i^XtKta, or full growth, they soon become impatient of confinement, and sit all day with their heads out at the orifice, where the dams, by clinging to the nest, supply them with food from morning to night. For a time the young are fed on the wing by their parents ; but the feat is done by so quick and almost imperceptible a flight that a person must have attended very exactly to their motions before he would be able to perceive it. As soon as the young are able to shift for themselves, the dams immediately turn their thoughts to the business of a second brood ; while the first flight, shaken off and rejected by their nurses, congregate in great flocks, and are the birds that are seen clustering and hovering on sunny mornings and evenings round towers and steeples, and on the roofs of churches and houses. These congregatings usually begin to take place about the first week in August ; and therefore we may M \ >¥-M ^ \\\ #f^ .11 ' ■ I I !^ J i ^! 2 1 8 T6e Natural History of Selborne conclude that by that time the first flight is pretty well over. The young of this species do not quit their abodes all together ; but the more forward birds get abroad some days before the rest. These approaching the eaves of buildings, and playing about before them, make people think that several old ones attend one nest. They are often capricious in fixing on a nesting-place, beginning many edifices and leaving them unfinished ; * but when once a nest is completed in a sheltered place, it serves for several seasons. Those which breed in a ready-finished house get the start in hatching of those that build new by ten days or a fortnight. These industrious artificers are at their labours in the long days before four in the morning. When they fix their materials they plaster them on with their chins, moving their heads with a quick vibratory motion. They dip and wash as they fly sometimes in very hot weather, but not so frequently as swallows. It has been observed that martins usually build to a north-east or north-west aspect, that the heat of the sun may not crack and destroy their nests; but instances are also remem- bered where they bred for many years in vast abundance in a hot stifled inn-yard aguinst a wall facing to the south. Birds in general are wise in their choice of situation ; but in this neighbourhood every summer is seen a strong proof to the contrary at an house without eaves in an exposed district, where some martins build year by year in the corners of the windows. But, as the corners of these windows (which face to the south-east and south- west) are too shallow, the nests are washed down every hard rain ; and yet these birds drudge on to no purpose from summer to summer, without changing their aspect or house. It is a piteous sight to see them labouring when half their nest is washed away and bringing dirt . . . ^^ generis lapsi sarcire ruinas." Ihus is instinct a most wonderful unequal faculty ; in some instances so much above reason, in other respects so far below it ! Martins love to frequent towns, especially if there are great lakes and rivers at hand ; nay they even affect the close air of London. And i have not only seen them nesting in the Borough, but even in the Strand and Fleet * This is usually due either to hostile demonstrations on the part of sparrows, or to difficulty in making the walls hang together in the particular situation. — Ed. m». The Natural History of Selborne 219 Street ; but then it was obvious from the dinginess of their aspect that their feathers partook of the filth of that sooty atmosphere. Martins are by far the least agile of the four species ; their wings and tails are short, and therefore they are not capable of such surprising turns, and quick and glancing evolutions as the swallow. Accord- ingly they make use of a placid easy motion in a middle region of the air, seldom mounting to any great height, and never sweeping long together over the surface of the ground or water. They do not wander far for food, but affect sheltered districts, over some lake, or under some hanging wood, or in some hollow vale, especially in windy weather. They breed the latest of all the swallow kind : in 1772 they had nestlings on to October 21st, and are never without unfledged young as late as Michaelmas. As the summer declines the congregating flocks increase in numbers daily by the constant accession of the second broods ; till at last they swarm in myriads upon myriads round the villages on the Thames, darkening the face of the sky as they frequent the aits [eyots] of that river, where they roost. They retire, the bulk of them I mean, in vast flocks together about the beginning of October; but have appeared of late years in a considerable flight in this neighbourhood, for one day or two, as late as November the 3rd and 6th, after they were supposed to have been gone for more than a fortnight. They therefore withdraw with us the latest of any species. Unless these birds are very short-lived indeed, or unless they do not return to the district where they are bred, they must undergo vast devastations somehow, and somewhere ; for the birds that return yearly bear no manner of proportion to the birds that retire. House-martins are distinguished from their congeners by having their legs covered with soft downy feathers down to their toes. They are no songsters ; but twitter in a pretty inward soft manner in their nests.* During the time of breeding they are often greatly molested with fleas. I am, &c. ' They also call to their young on the wing as they appvoach the nests to feed ther ,. — Ed. il.', H5 •a ^ I 1 ) 1 h,\ .^ '>'n''' i! I HNl <9cSe^irlc//k^0a/e \t yO^cUinCi ""Jl "'-■-iti^.. XM/%- t |1 1 LETTER XVII. 'To the same. RiNGMER, near Lewes, Dec, f)th, 1773. EAR SIR, — I received your last favour just as I was setting out for this place ; and am pleased to find that my monography met with your appro- bation. My remarks are the result of many years' observation ; and are I trust true in the whole, though I do not pretend to say that they are perfectly void of mistake, or that a more nice observer might not make many additions, since subjects of this kind are inexhaustible. If you think my letter worthy the notice of your respectable society, you are at liberty to lay it before them ; and they will consider it, I hope, as it was intended, as an humble attempt to promote a more minute inquiry into natural history ; into the life and conversation of animals. Perhaps, hereafter, I may be induced to take the house-swallow under consideration ; and from that proceed to the rest of the British hirundines. \ 'It I ( I i li n i ( I 222 The Natural History of Selborne Though I have now travelled the Sussex Downs upwards of thirty years, yet I still investigate that chain of majestic mountains' with fresh admiration year by year ; and I think I see new beauties every time I traverse it. This range, which runs from Chichester east- ward as far as East Bourn [Eastbourne], is about sixty miles in length, and is called the South Downs, properly speaking, only round Lewes. As you pass along, you command a noble view of the wild," or weald, on one hand, and the broad downs and sea on the other. Mr. Ray used to visit a family * just at the foot of these hills, and was so ravished with the prospect from Plumpton Plain, near Lewes, that he mentions those scapes ' in his " Wisdom of God in the Works of the Creation " with the utmost satisfaction, and thinks them equal to anything he had seen in the finest parts of Europe. For my own part, I think there is somewhat peculiarly sweet and amusing in the shapely figured aspect of chalk-hills in pre- ference to those of stone, which are rugged, broken, abrupt, and shapeless.* Perhaps I may be singular in my opinion, and not so happy as to convey to you the same idea ; but I never contemplate these moun- tains without thinking I perceive somewhat analogous to growth in their gentle swellings and smooth fungus-like protuberances, their • Mr. Courthope of Danny. ' There is no passage in White more redolent of the eighteenth-century manner of regarding natural scenery than this. Few of us would now apply such overwrought words to the Bernese Oberland. — Ed. ' The " wild " is of course superfine English for the weald. The word weald is a good old term for a wooded district, and is allied to the German Wald. The whole of the weald of Surrey and Sussex was once covered by a dense oak forest ; even now it is very thickly wooded. Both in this instance, and at Monkton Weald in Dorsetshire, the people preserve the true pronunciation, though White here ignorantly writes "wild " and the ordnance surveyors write " Monkton Wyld." As a rule, in such cases, the popular form is the correct one, while "educated" people, striving to be more correct, distort or lose sight of the true etymology. — Ed. ^ Views. This is a rare example of the separate use of the word, familiar to us all in com- position in " landscape " and " seascape." — Ed. * Here again we get the eighteenth-century notion that rugged and rocky scenery is "shapeless," and, therefore, ugly. What that age specially admired was smiling cultivation ; wild mountainous districts it regarded as repellent and terriiying, — Ed. LUMJWLMiiiiiaaMW The Natural History of Selborne 223 fluted sides, and regular hollows and slopes, that carry at once the air of vegetative dilatation and expansion. . . . ... Or was there ever a time \Vhen these immense masses of calcareous matter were thrown into fermentation by some adven- titious moisture ; were raised and leavened into such shapes by some phctic power ; and so made to swell and heave their broad backs mto the sky so much above the less anliiirtted clay of the wild [weald] below ? ' By what I can guess from the admeasurements of the hills that have been taken round my house, I should suppose that these hills surmount the wild at an average of about the rate of five hundred feet. One thing is very remarkable as to the sheep : from the westward till you get to the river Adur all the flocks have horns, and smooth white faces, and white legs, and a hornless sheep is rarely to be seen ; but as soon as you pass that river eastward, and mount Deeding Hill, all the flocks at once become hornless, or as they call them, poll-sheep ; and have, moreover, black faces with a white tuft of wool on their foreheads, and speckled and spotted legs, so that you would think that the flocks of Laban were pasturing on one side of the stream, and the variegated breed of his son-in-law Jacob were cantoned along on the other. And this diversity holds good respec- tively on each side from the valley of Bramber and Beeding to the eastward, and westward all the whole length of the downs. If you talk with the shepherds on this subject, they tell you that the case has been so from time immemorial ; and smile at your simplicity if you ask them whether the situation of these two different breeds might not be reversed } However, an intelligent friend of mine near Chichester is determined to try the experiment ; and has this autumn, at the hazard of being laughed at, introduced a parcel of 1 We P"'' 'ivii.'v; .hat these shapes are due to the slow denuding action of rain-waf whi. h g' "..ually melts away the surface of the chalk beneath the thin lay^r of i rf "viirh (. jvcrs it. The weald clay underlies the chalk, a thick mass of whic'i orii <* ;;ptv i.. over it from North Downs to South Downs. The central portjf". oi 'his iw if chalk has long since been removed by denudation ; the hr..;i,;- »r«s o \\\ \ north and south still overlies the clay, bat is itself in process of receding slowly. '~Ed. I' !■ \\ \r K\ \ 224 ^^ Natural History of Selborne m-\ lAX\ black-faced hornless rams among his horned western ewes. The black-faced poll-sheep have the shortest legs and the finest wool. As I had hardly ever before travelled these downs at so late a season of the year, I was determined to keep as sharp a look-out as possible so near the southern coast, with rel^ect to the summer short-winged birds of passage. We make great inquiries concerning the withdrawing of the swallow-kind, without examining enough into the causes why this tribe is never to be seen in winter; for, entre nous, the disappearing of the latter is more marvellous than that of l! c former, and much more unaccountable. The hirundines, if they please, are certainly capable of migration, and yet no doubt are often found in a torpid state ; but redstarts, nightingales, white- throats, black-caps, &c. &c., are very ill provided for long flights ; have never been once found, as I ever heard of,* in a torpid state ; and yet can never be supposed, in such troops, from year to year to dodge and elude the eyes of the curious and inquisitive, which from day to day discern the other small birds that are known to abide our winters. But, notwithstanding all my care, I saw nothing like a summer bird of passage ; and, what is more strange, not one wheat- ear, though they abound so in the autumn as to be a considerable perquisite to the shepherds that take them ; and though many are to be seen to my knowledge all the winter through in many par^s of the south of England. 1 he most intelligent shepherds tell me that some few of these birds appear on the downs in March, and then withdraw to breed probably in warrens and stone-quarries ; now and then a nest is ploughed up in a fallow on the downs under a furrow, but it is thought a rarity. At the time of wheat-harvest they begin to be taken in great numbers ; are sent for sale in vast quantities to Brighthelmstone [Brighton] and Tunbridge ; and appear at the tables of all the gentry that entertain with any degree of elegance. About Michaelmas they retire and are seen no more till March. Though these birds are, when in season, in great plenty on the south downs round Lewes, yet at East Bourn [Eastbourne], which is the eastern extremity of those downs, they abound much more. ' A good example of a phrase, in itself excellent English, but now, by mere disuse, degraded into a vulgarism.— Ed. tua. The Natural History of Selborne 22^ One thing is very remarkable, that though in the height of the season so many hundreds of dozens are taken, yet they never are seen to flock ; and it is a rare thing to see more than three or four at a time ; so that there must be a perpetual flitting and constant progressive succession. It does not appear that any wheatears are taken to the westward of Houghton Bridge, which stands on the river Arun. I did not fail to look particularly after my new migration of ring- ousels ; and to take notice whether they continued on the downs in this season of the year ; as I had formerly remarked them in the month of October all the way from Chichester to Lewes wherever there were any shrubs and covert : but not one bird of this sort came within my observation. I only saw a few larks and whinchats, some rooks, and several kites and buzzards. About Midsummer a flight of cross-bills comes to the pine-groves about this house, but never makes any long stay. The old tortoise, that I have mentioned in a former letter, still continues in this garden ; and retired under ground about the twentieth of November, and came out again for one day on the thirtieth : it lies now buried in a wet swampy border under a wall facing to the south, and is enveloped at present in mud and mire !^ There is a large rookery round this house, the inhabitants of which seem to get their livelihood very easily ; for they spend the greatest part of the day on their nest-trees when the weather is mild. These rooks retire every evening all the winter from this rookery, where they only call by the way, as they are going to roost in deep woods : at the dawn of day they always revisit their nest-trees, and are preceded a few minutes by a flight of daws, that act, as it were, as their harbingers. I am, &c. ' The shell of this historical tortoise, presented by White's niece to the British Museum, is now in their natural history collection at South Kensington. — Ed. I» *Swa{Cow ■i ! ;i LETTER XVIII. EAR To the same. Selborne, Jan. 29//', 1774. SIR, — The house-swallow, or chimney- swallow, is undoubtedly the first comer of all the British hirundines ; and appears in general on or about the thirteenth of April, as I have remarked from many years' observation.' Not but now and then a straggler is seen much earlier ; and, in particular, when I was a boy I observed a swallow for a whole day together on a sunny warm Shrove Tuesday ; which ' Later observers arc almost unanimous in noting that the sand-martin precedes the chimney-swallow by from seven to eleven days. This is also my own experience. On Hind Head, sand-martins flit round the houses, catching flies, till the house-martins return to their rests ; but after the house-martins have arrived, the sand-martins abandon the neighbourhood of" the houses, and hawk only on the open moors. — Ed. h\ ! The Natural History of Selborne 22'j day could not fall out later than the middle of March and often happened early in February. It is worth remarking that these birds are seen first about lakes and mill-ponds ; and it is also very particular, that if these early visitors happen to find frost and snow, as was the case of the two dreadful springs of 1770 and 1771, they immediately withdraw for a time. A circumstance this much more in favour of hiding than migration ; since it is much more probable that a bird should retire to its hybernaculum just at hand, than return for a week or two only to warmer latitudes.^ The swallow, though called the chimney-swallow, by no means builds altogther in chimneys, but often within barns and outhouses against the rafters ; and so she did in Virgil's time : .... "Ant6 Garrula quam tignis nidos suspcndat hirundo." In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called ladu swala^ the barn- swallow. Besides, in the warmer parts of Europe there are no chimneys to houses, except they are English-built : in these countries she constructs her nest in porches, and gateways, and galleries, and open halls.^ Here and there a bird may affect some odd, peculiar place ; as we have known a swallow build down the shaft of an old well, through v/hich chalk had been formerly drawn up for the purpose of manure : but in general with us this hirundo breeds in chimneys ; and loves to haunt those stacks where there is a constant fire, no doubt /or the sake of warmth. Not that it can subsist in the immediate shaft where there is a fire ; but prefers one adjoining to that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual smoke of that funnel, as I have otten observed with some degree of wonder. ' Once more the same old pitfall. It is most likely that the birds in these cases were killed by the cold. — Ed. '^ It is a curious fact that at the present day all the places in which the chimney-swallow builds are of artificial human origin. Hence it seems probable that before the epoch of house-building, the swallow must have bred only in caverns or on accidental cliffs. The enormous growth of human building must, therefore, have admitted of an immense extension of the swallow species. — Ed. I^i i '♦^v' i« I) 228 The Natural History of Selborne Five or six or more feet down the chimney does this little bird begin to form her nest about the middle of May, which consists, like that of the house-martin, of a crust or shell composed of dirt or mud, mixed with short pieces of straw to render it tough and permanent ; with this difFerence, that whereas the shell of the martin is nearly hemispheric, that of the swallow is open at the top, ?.nd like half a deep dish : this nest is lined with fine grasses, and feathers, which are often collected as they float in the air. Wonderful is the address which this adroit bird shows all day long in ascending and descending with security through so narrow a pass. When hovering over the mouth of the funnel, the vibrations of her wings acting on the confined air occasion a rumbling like thunder. It is not improbable that the dam submits to this in convenient situation so low in the shaft, in order to secure her broods from rapacious birds, and particularly from owls, which frequently fall down chimneys, perhaps in attempting to get at these nestlings. Tht swallow lays from four to six white eggs, dotted with red specks; and brings out her first brood about the last week in June, or the first week in July. The progressive method by which the young are introduced into life is very amusing ; first, they emerge from the shaft with difficulty enough, and often fall down into the rooms below : for a day or so they are fed on the chimney-top, and then are conducted to the dead leafles? bough of some tree, where, sitting in a row, they are attended with great assiduity, and may then be called perchers. In a day or two more they become flyers, but are still unable to take their own food ; therefore they play about near the place where the dams are hawking for flies ; and, when a mouthful is collected, at a certain signal given, the dam and the nestling advance, rising towards each other, and meeting at an angle ; the young one all the while uttering such a little quick note of gratitude and complacency, that a person must have paid very little regard to the wonders of Nature that has not often remarked this feat.' ' It needs so quick an eye to observe this habit, however, that many people accustomed to i.otc facts of such an order may easily overlook it. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 22() The dam betakes herself immediately to the business of a second brood as soon as she is oisengaged from her first, which at once associates with the first broods of houj. -martins, and with them congregates, clustering on sunny roofs, towers, and trees. This hirundo brings out her second brood towards the middle and end of August. All the summer long is the swallow a most instructive pattern of unwearied industry and affection ; for, from morning to night, while there is a family to be supported, she spends the whole day in skimming close to the ground, and exerting the most sudden turns and quick evolutions. Avenues, and long walks under hedges, and pasture-fields, and mown meadows where cattle graze, are her delight, especially if there are trees interspersed ; because in such spots insects most abound. When a fly is taken a smart snap from her bill is heard, resembling the noise at the shutting of a watch-case ; but the motion of the mandibles Is too quick for the eye. Tht swallow, probably the male bird, is the excubitor to house- martins and other little birds, announcing the approach of birds of prey. For as soon as a hawk appears, with a shrill alarming note he calls all the swallows and martins about him, who pursue in a body, and buffet and strike their enemy till they have driven him from the village, darting down from above on his back, and rising in a perpendicular line in perfect security. This bird also will sound the alarm, and strike at cats when they climb on the roofs of houses, or otherwise approach the nests. Each species of hirundo drinks as it flies along, sipping the surface of the water ; but the swallow alone, in general, washes ok the wing, by dropping into a pool for many times together : in very hot weather house-martins and bank-martins dip and wash a little. The swallow is a delicate songster, and in soft sunny weather sings both perching and flying ; on trees in a kind of concert, and on chimney-tops : is also a bold flyer, ranging to distant downs and commons even in windy weather, which the other species seem much to dislike ; nay, even frequenting exposed sea-port towns, and making little excursions over the salt water. Horsemen on wide ft' j'H le 230 The Natural History of Selborne downs are often closely attended by a little party of swallows for miles together, which plays before and behi' d them, sweeping around them, and collecting all the skulking inse s that are roused by the trampling of the horses' feet : when the wi/ul blows hard, without this expedient, they are often forced to settle to pick up their lurking prey. This species feeds much on little Coleoptera, as well as on gnats and flies ; and often settles on dug ground, or paths, for gravels to grind and digest its food. Before they depart, for some weeks, to a bird, they forsake houses and chimneys, and roost in trees ; and usually withdraw about the beginning of Ocober, though some few stragglers may appear on at times till the first week in November. Some few pairs haunt the new and open streets of London next the fields, but do not enter, like the house-martin, the close and crowded parts of the city. Both male and female are distinguished from their congeners by the length and forkedness of their tails.' They are undoubtedly the most nimble of all the species : and when the male pursues the female in amorous chase, they then go beyond their usual speed and exert a rapidity almost too quick ^Oi iln. c^e to follow. After this circumstantial detail of the life and discerning aropyi] of the swallow, I shall add, for your further amusement, an anecdote or two not much in favour of her sagacity: — A certain swallow built for two years together on the handles of a pair of garden-shears that were stuck up against the boards in an out-house, and therefore must have her nest spoiled whenever that implement was wanted ; and, what is stranger still, another bird of the same species built its nest on the wing? and body of an owl that happened by accident to hang dead and dry from the rafter of a barn. This owl, with the nest on Its wings, and with eggs in the nest, was brought as a curiosity woithy the most elegant private museum in Great Britain. The ovvner, struck with the ' The tail, however, is much more f'crkcd and much longer in the male than in the female. The difference thus noted is probably ornamental, and is doubtless due to selectiun of the handsomer partners by the hen birds. — Ed. M The Natural History of Selborne 231 oddity of the sight, furnished the bringer with a large shell, or conch, desiring him to fix it just where the owl hung : the person did as he was ordered, and the following year a pair, probably the same pair, built their nest in the conch, and laid their eggs. The owl and the conch make a strange grotesque appearance, and are not the least curious specimens in that wonderful collection of art and nature.* Thus is instinct in animals, taken the least out of its way, an undistinguishing, limited faculty, and blind to every circumstance that does not immediately respect self-preservation, or lead at once to the propagation or support of their species. I am. With all respect, &c. &c. * Sir Ashton Lever's " Musxum " iiiJ ' I % I I .'i LETTER XIX. ^0 the same. Selborne, Feb. \\th^ ^11 \' EAR SIR, — I received your favour of the eighth, and am pleased to find that you read my little history of the swallow with your usual candour ; nor was I the less pleased to find that you made objections where you saw reason. As to the quotations, it is difficult to say pre- cisely which species of hirundo Virgil might intend in the lines in question, since the ancients did not attend to specific differences like modern naturalists : yet somewhat may be gathered, enough to incline me to suppose that in the two passages quoted the poet had his eye on the swallow.' In the first place the epithet garrula suits the swallow well, who is a great songster, and not the martin, who is rather a mute bird; and when it sings is so inward as scarce to be heard. Besides, if tigniim ' This dilettante question of the exact meaning of a classical passage is very much in Daines Harrington's amateurish manner, and very little in Gilbert White's. — Ed. I (i The Natural History of Selborne 233 in that place signifies a rafter rather than a beam, as it seems to me to do, then I think it must be the swallow that is alluded to, and not the martin, since the former does frequently build within the roof against the rafters ; while the latter always, as far as I have been able to observe, builds without the roof against eaves and cornices. As to the simile, too much stress must not be laid on it ; yet the epithet nigra speaks plainly in favour of the swallow, whose back and wings are very black ; while the rump of the martin is milk- white, its back and wings blue, and all its under part white as snow. Nor can the clumsy motions (comparatively clumsy) of the martin well represent the sudden and artful evolutions and quick turns which Juturna gave to her brother's chariot, so as to elude the eager pur- suit of the enraged ^neas. The verb sonat al&o seems to imply a bird that is somewhat loquacious.* We have had a very wet autumn and winter, so as to raise the springs to a pitch beyond anything since 1764, which was a remark- able year for floods and high waters. The land-springs which we call lavants,' break out much on the downs of Sussex, Hampshire, and Wiltshire. The country people say when the lavants rise corn will always be dear ; meaning that when the earth is so glutted with water as to send forth springs on the downs and uplands, that the corn-vales must be drowned ; and so it has proved for these ten or eleven years past. For land-springs have never obtained more since the memory of man than during that period ; nor has there been known a greater scarcity of all sorts of grain, considering the great improvements of modern husbandry. Such a run of wet seasons a century or two ago would, I am persuaded, have occasioned a famine. Therefore pam- phlets and newspaper-letters, that talk of combinations, tend to inflame and mislead ; since we must not expect plenty till Providence sends us more favourable seasons. * "Nigra velut magnas domlni cum divitis ades Pervolat, et pennis alta atria lustrat hirundo^ Pabula parva legem, nidisque loquacibus escas : Et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc humida circam Stagna sonat." .... ' Intermittent springs which burst forth only in very rainy seasons. — Ed. I * t if : 'M fi I * u VI 2 34 ^^ Natural History of Selborne The wheat of last year, all round this district, and in the county of Rutland, and elsewhere, yields remarkably bad ; and our wheat on the ground, by the continual late sudden vicissitudes from fierce frost to pouring rains, looks poorly ; and the turnips rot very fast, I am, &c. ,:», t ^. m CHN. WJ April ; and in some of our late frosty, harsh j^ ^JM springs, it has not been seen till the beginning of —^^^t May. This species usually arrives in pairs. The swift, like the sand-martin, is very defective in architecture, making no crust, or shell, for its nest ; but forming it of dry grasses and feathers, very rudely and inartificially put together. With all my attention to these birds, I have never been able once to discover one in the act of collecting or carrying in materials ; so that I have suspected (since their nests are exactly the same) that they sometimes ' As I have already noted, the swift is now known to belong to an entirely different group of birds from the swallows, being in reality much more closely related to the tropical humming-birds. Its apparent resemblance to the swallow tribe is purely adaptive, and results only from similarity of habits. Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace has worked up this question admirably in his " Tropical Nature." —Ed. '^1 all other known H^jj^^ the hirundo melba^ or great white-bellied bwiit of (Gibraltar, excepted j for it is so disposed as to carry '* omnes quatuor JigiL. tnticos ' — all its four toes forward ; besides, the least toe, which should be ^he back toe, consists of one b >ne alone, and he other three only of n. -v^ apiece — a construction mo^r rare and peculiar, bur tike'v adapted to the purposes in which their feet are employed. T hia, and some peculiarities attending the nostrils and under mandible, have indiucevi a discerning* naturalist to suppose that this species might conk 'itc a genus per se, * John Antony Scopoli, of Carniola, M.D. ' It is really the question of food-supply that regulates their movements. — Ed. \ ! f! r ft 248 The Natural History of Selborne . > In London a party of swifts frequents the Tower, playing and feeding over the river just below the bridge ; others haunt some of the churches of the Borough, next the fields, but do not venture, like the house-martin, into the close crowded part cf the town. The Swedes have bestowed a very pertinent n?me on this swallow, calling it " ring swala," from the perpetual rings or circles that it takes round the scene of its nidification. Swifts feed on coleo^iera, or small beetles with hard cases over their wings, as well as on the softer insects ; but it does not appear how they can procure gravel to grind their food, as swallows do, since they never settle on the ground. Young ones, overrun with hippobosc f LETTER XXIV. To the same. Selborne, Aug. x^th, 1775. jEAR SIR, — There is a wonderful spirit of sociality in the brute creation, independent of sexual attach- ment : the congregating of gregarious birds in the winter is a remarkable instance. Many horses, though quiet with company, will not stay one minute in a field by themselves : the strongest fences cannot restrain them. My neigh- bour's horse will not only not stay by himself abroad, but he will not bear to be left alone in a strange stable without discovering the utmost impatience and endeavouring to break the rack and manger with his fore feet. He has been known to leap out at a stable- window, through which dung was thrown, after company ; and yet in other respects is remarkably quiet. Oxen and cows will not fatten by themselves ; but will neglect the finest pasture that is not :i -I > \\ •i,' i ! 1 * I r i 256 The Natural History of Selborne recommended by society. It would be needless to instance in sheep, which constantly flock together.' But this propensity seems not to be confined to animals of the same species ; for we know a doe, still alive, that was brought up from a little fawn with a dairy of cows ; with them it goes a-field, and with them it returns to the yard. The dogs of the house take no notice of this deer, being used to her ; but, if strange dogs come by, a chase ensues; while the master smiles to see his favourite securely leading her pursuers over hedge, or gate, or stile, till she returns to the cows, who, with fierce lowings and menacing horns, drive the assailants quite out of the pasture. Even great disparity of kind and size does not always prevent social advances and mutual fellowship. For a very intelligent and observant person has assured me that, in the former part of his life, keeping but one horse, he happened also on a time to have but one solitary hen. These two incongruous animals spent much of their time together in a lonely orchard, were they saw no creature but each other. By degrees an apparent regard began to take place between these two sequestered individuals. The fowl would approach the quadruped with notes of complacency, rubbing herself gently agair^t his legs: while the horse would look down with satisfaction, and move with the greatest caution and circumspection, lest he should trample on his diminutive companion. Thus, by mutual good offices, each seemed to console the vacant hours of the other : so that Milton, when he puts the following sentiment into the mouth of Adam, seems to be somewhat mistaken : " Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl. So well converse, nor with the ox the ape" I am, &c. ' All these animals are clearly the descendants of wild gregarious ancestors, in whom the need for sympathy and society has become organic. Social animals pine in solitude : solitary animals, on the contrary, dislike house-mates. — Ed. t^^'k iTALV- fi ^fl LETTER XXV. To the same. Selborne, Oct. 2ti^^ .- "i^^ . -2 ^ - X 1 — .- ul 1^ ^nS^ccAer^sJUee LETTER XXVII. 'To the same. Selborne, Dec \itl\ 1775. [EAR SIR, — We had in this village more than twenty years ago an idiot boy, whom I well remember, who, from a child, showed a strong propensity to bees ; they were his food, his amuse- ment, his sole object. And as people of this vraste have seldom more than one point in view, so this lad exerted all his few faculties on this one pur- suit. In the winter he dozed away his time within his father's house, by the fireside, in a kind of torpid state, seldom departing from the chimney-corner, but in the summer he was all alert, and in quest of his game in the fields, and on sunny banks. Honey-bees, humble- ^^^^I'fAl •^ [i 1 264 The Natural History of Selborne bees, and wasps, were his prey wherever he found them ; he had no apprehensions from their stings, but would seize them nudis manibus^ and at once disarm them of their weapons, and suck their bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. Sometimes he would fill his bosom between his shirt and his skin with a number of these captives, and sometimes would confine them in bottles. He was a very merops apiasfeKy or bee-bird, and very injurious to men that kept bees ; for he would slide into their bee-gardens, and, sitting dov/n before the stools, would rap with his finger on the hives, and so take the bees as they came out. He has been known to overturn hives for the sake of honey, of which he was passionately fond. Where metheglin was making^ he would linger round the tubs and vessels, begging a draught of what he called bee-wine. As he ran about he used to make a humming noise with his lips, resembling the buzzing of bees. This lad was lean and sallow, and of a cadaverous complexion ; and, except in his favourite pursuit, in which he was wonderfully adroit, discovered no manner of understanding. Had his capacity been better, and directed to the same object, he had perhaps abated much of our wonder at the feats of a more modern exhibitor of bees ; and we may justly say of him now, — //rf ^'^^". u^^^^ (3fd /^ LETTER XXVIII. In TV the same. Selborne, Jan. %th, 1776. jEAR SIR, — It is the hardest thing in the world to shake off superstitious prejudices : they are sucked in, as it were, with our mother's milk ; and, growing up with us at a time when they take the fastest hold and make the most lasting impressions, become so interwoven into our very constitutions, that the strongest good sense is required to disengage ourselves from them. No wonder, therefore, that the lower people retain them their whole lives through, since their minds are not invigorated by a liberal education, and therefore not enabled to make any efforts adequate to the occasion. '.M- i u 266 The Natural History of Selborne Such a preamble seems to be necessary before we enter on the superstitions of this district, lest we should be suspected of exaggera- tion in a recital of practices too gross for this enlightened age. But the people of Tring, in Hertfordshire, would do well to remember, that no longer ago than the year 1 751, and within twenty miles of the capital, they seized on two superannuated wretches, crazed with age, and overwhelmed with infirmities, on a suspicion of witchcraft ; and, by trying experiments, drowned them in a horse- pond. In a farm-yard near the middle of this village stands, at this day, a row of pollard-ashes, which, by the seams and long cicatrices down their sides, manifestly show that, in former times, they have been cleft asunder. These trees, when young and flexible, were severed and held open by wedges, while ruptured children, stripped naked, were pushed through the apertures, under a persuasion that, by such a process, the poor babes would be cured of their infirmity. As soon as the operation was over, the tree, in the suffering part, was plastered with loam, and carefully swathed up. If the parts coalesced and soldered together, as usually fell out, where the feat was performed with any adroitness at all, the party was cured ; but, where the cleft continued to gape, the operation, it was supposed, would prove ineffectual. Having occasion to enlarge my garden not long since, I cut down two or three such trees, one of which did not grow together. We have several persons now livinor in the village, who, in their childhood, were supposed to be healed by this superstitious ceremony, derived down perhaps from our Saxon ancestors, who practised it before their conversion to Christianity. At the South corner of the Plestor, or area near the church, there stood, about twenty years ago, a very old grotesque hollow pollard- ash, which for ages had been looked on with no small veneration as a shrew-ash. Now a shrew-ash is an ash whose twigs or branches, when gently applied to the limbs of cattle, will immediately relieve the pains which a beast sufl^ers from the running of a shrew-mouse over the part affected ; for it is supposed that a shrew-mouse is of so baneful and deleterious a nature, that wherever it creeps over a I t ■A The Natural History of Selborne 267 beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb/ Against this accident, to which they were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A shrew- ash was made thus* : Into the body of the tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt, with several quaint incantations long since forgotten. As the ceremonies necessary for such a consecration are no longer understood, all succession is at an end, and no such tree is known to subsist in the manor, or hundred. As to that on the Plestor " the late vicar stubbed and burnt it" when he was way-warden, regardless of the remonstrances of the bystanders, who interceded in vain for its preservation, urging its power and efficacy, and alleging that it had been " Religione patrum multos servata per annos." I am, &c. * For a similar practice, sec Plot's " Staftbrdshirc." ' This observation leads up to the modern science of Folk-lore, dealing with a class of facts too often despised in White's time. " Shrew-struck " horses were frequently cured by dragging the animal through the aperture of a bramble which had grown into the earth at the upper end, as frequently happens. The shrew-ash is a special case of that immolation of the deity of vegetation so fully illustrated in Mr. Frazcr's " Golden Bough."— Ed. I ,. ^ ^ ^ *i I fl ■ IVootiSonct LETTER XXIX. '•To the same. Selborne, Feb. "jt/?, 1776. lEAR SIR, — In heavy fogs, on elevated situations especially, trees are perfect alembics ; and no one that has not attended to such matters can imagine how much water one tree will distil in a night's time, by condensing the vapour, which trickles down the twigs and boughs, so as to make the ground below quite in a float. In Newton Lane, in October 1775, on a misty day, a particular oak in leaf dropped so fast that the cart- way stood in puddles and the ruts ran with water, though the ground in general was dusty. In some of our smaller islands in the West Indies, if I mistake not, there are no springs or rivers ; but the people are supplied with that necessary element, water, merely by the dripping of some large, tall trees, which, standing in the bosom of a mountain, keep their heads constantly enveloped with fogs and clouds, from which they i 1> u ^. c^i OracicnisJ^^trrccf LETTER XXX. 'to the same. Selrorne, April irj, 1776. EAR SIR, — Monsi(;ur Herissant, a French anato- mist, seems persuaded that he has discovered the reason why cuckoos do not hatch their own eggs; the impediment, he supposes, arises from the internal structure of their parts, which incapaci- tates them for incubation. According to this gentleman, the crop, or craw, of a cuckoo does not lie before the sternum at the bottom of the neck, as in the gallincc, columbie^ &c., but immediately behind it, on and over the bowels, so as to make a large protuberance in the belly.*' * "Histoirc dc I'Acadcmic Royalc," 1752. ' There is nothing whatsoever in the structure of the cuckoo to prevent its hatching its own eggs. The whole question of the curious parasitism of cuckoos and some other birds (such as (Molothrus) has since been fully elucidated by Darwin. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 273 Induced by this assertion, we procured a cuckoo, and cubing open the breast-bone, and exposing the intestines to sight* ft.'und the crop lying as mentioned above. This stomach was lat^ aihd round, and stuffed hard, like a pincushion, with food, which, Uipr/Kj nice examination, we found to consist of various insects ; such ^^ small scarabs, spiders, and dragon-flies; the last of which we have seen cuckoos catching on the wing as they were just emerging our of the aurelia state. Among this farrago also were to be seen maggots, and many seeds, which belonged either to gooseberrii^s 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. The sternum in this bird seemed to us to be remarkably short, between which and the anus lay the crop, or craw, and immediately 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 pro- posed to myself to make with a fern-owl, or goatsucker, 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 suspected might resemble the cuckoo in its internal con- struction. Nor were our suspicions ill-grounded ; for, upon dissec- tion, the crop, or craw, also lay behind the sternum, immediately on the viscera, between them and the skin of the belly. It was bulky, and stuffed hard with large phalana^ moths of several sorts, and their eggs, which no doubt had been forced out of those insects by the action of swallowing. ' Wherever White speaks thus in the first person plural, we may suspect the letter cither of being an added one, or else of being largely cooked up for publica- tion.— Ed. I " .1 \s ^\ V \ rji \ ' i J Jl ^ 274 The Natural History of Selborne 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 cuckoos 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 pecu- liarity 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 granivorous. I am, &c. fifi 4 LETTER XXXI. T'o the same. Selborne, April ic^th, 1776. EAR SIR,— On August the 4th, 1775, ^^ ^"''" prised 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 disengaged from the belly of the dam : they twi«;ted and wriggled about, and set them- selves up, and gaped very wide when touched with a stick, showing manifest tokens of menace and defiance, though as yet they had no manner of fangs that we could find, even with the help of our glasses. ; •i J \ > .'if ■ V if* 276 The Natural History of Selborne To a thinking mind nothing is more wonderful than that early instinct which impresses young animals with a 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 a lamb will push with their heads before the'r horns are sprouted. In the same manner did these young adders attempt to bite before their fangs were in being. The dam however was fur- nished with very formidable ones, which we lifted up (for they fold down when not used) and cut them off with the point of our scissors. There was little room to suppose that this brood had ever been in the open air before; and that they were taken in for refuge, at the mouth of the dam, when she perceived that danger was approaching ; because then probably we should have found them somewhere in the neck, and not in the abdomen. if, ri ^^^^ ■!l;:'f''y-^;'''--':...^..;y:'}v- li^'! ''lll.'if.-M '. ,, ymtton Cfui/rc/i LETTER XXXII. 7*19 the same. [ASTRATION has a strange effect : it emasculates both man, beast, and bird, and brings them to a near resemblance of the other sex. Thus eunuchs have smooth unmuscular arms, thighs, and legs; and broad hips, and beardless chins, and squeaking voices. Gelt stags and bucks have hornless heads, like hinds and does. Thus wethers 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 about the head like pullets ; they also walk without any parade, and hover chickens like hens. Barrow-hogs have also small tusks like sows. b 278 The Natural History of Selborne Thus far it is plain that the deprivation of mascuHne vigour puts a stop to the growth of those parts or appendages that are looked upon as its insignia. But the ingenious Mr. Lisle, in his book on husbandry, carries it much farther ; for he says that the loss of those insignia alone has sometimes 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 passionately attached, and from whom no fences would restrain him.^ ' The question of correlation of organs and functions here touched upon is one of those which received the greatest light from Darwin's investigations : see in particular the chapters on Sexual Selection in " The Descent of Man," — Ed. (I LETTER XXXIII. To the same. HE natural term of an hog's life is little known, and the reason is plain — because it is neither pro- fitable nor convenient to keep that turbulent animal to the full extent of its time : however, my neigh- bour, 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 I, M 28o The Natural History of Selborne many died. From long experience in the world this female was grown very sagacious and artful. When she found occasion to con- verse with a boar she used to open all the intervening 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 remark- ably thin. At a moderate computation she was allowed to have been the fruitful parent of three hundred pigs : a prodigious instance of fecundity in so large a quadruped ! She was killed in spring 1775. I am, &c. 0 ' % CnuTcA oTnGcCoto LETTER XXXIV. To the same. Selborne, May cjth, 1776. . admorunt ubera tigres" |EAR SIR, — 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 fondlings, to be killed by some dog or cat However, in about a * Letter XXIV. 1 I) ■ : J / J I 1. '1 I \ \\ |v * '\4' ' I 'f^^ 282 T^e Natural History of Selborne fortnight, as 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 gamboling after, which proved to be the leveret that the cat had supported with her milk, and continued to support with great affection. Thus was a graminivorous animal nurtured by a carnivorous and predaceous one ! Why so cruel and sanguinary a beast as a cat, of the ferocious genus of Felis^ the murium leo, as Linnaeus 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 occasioned 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 much distended 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 historians as well as the poets assert, of exposed children being sometimes nurtured by female wild beasts that probably had lost their young. For it is not one whit more marvellous that Romulus and Remus, in their infant state, should be nursed by a she-wolf, than that a poor little sucking leveret should be fostered and cherished by a bloody grimalkin. "... i'iridi fa'tam Mavortis in antra Procubuhse lupnm : geminos huic ubera circum Ludere pendenta pueros, et lambere matrem Impaz'idos : illam tertti cervice reflexam Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua,^' \'\ ■» 1 \ >— -8"3^-i: ^ ^ ^ ^ 5 i. i/ u / M/V \ a oinmon ba^ LETTER XXXV. 'To the same. Selborne, May 20/^, 1777. EAR SIR, — Lands that are subject to frequent inundations 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 economy of Nature, than the in- curious 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 despicable link in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost, would uiake a lamentable chasm. For to say nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds which are almost entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great pror'oters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without thein, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering 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 ■ f ■ The Natural History of Selborne 285 their excrement, is a fine manure for grain and grass. Worms pro- bably 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 detestation 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 corn. But these men would find that the earth without worms would soon become cold, hard-bound, and void of fermenta- tion, and consequently sterile ; 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 coleoptera (scarabs), and tipul^e (long-legs) in their larva, or grub-state ; and by unnoticed myriads of small shell-less snails, called slugs, which silently and imperceptibly make amazing havoc 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 afl^ord 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 Young, of Norton Farm, says, that this 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. ' This very interesting passage gives in brief, but without any full detail of experiments or observations, the main principles afterwards so fully worked out by Darwin in his wonderful treatise on Vegetable Mould and Earthworms. Oddly enough, Darwin, by a rare slip of memory in so candid and accurate a writer, does not allude in his treatise to this passage, from which he must almost certainly have derived the first impetus towards his long and patient investigation of the subject. — Ed. * The "monography" here desired has since been amply supplied by Darwin. — Ed. I \ ) 1 \\ it ' \ ■', 4 TfedsTarC LETTER XXXVI.' 'To the same. Selborne, Nov. iimi. '■^f- g^ ^ ^PWPPJEAR SIR,— You cannot but remember that the 26th and 27th of last March were very hot days, — so sultry that everybody complained and were restless under those sensations to which they had not been reconciled by gradual approaches. This sudden summer-like heat was attended 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 neigh- bourhood ; 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 Chobham, in Surrey. Bu as that short warm period was succeeded as well as preceded by harsh severe weather, with frequent frosts and ice, and cutting ' This letter was published by Harrington in his " Miscellanies," and was clearly called out by a communication from Harrington himself on the subject with which it deals. — Ed. The Natural History of Seiborne 287 winds, the insects withdrew, the tortoise retired again into the ground, and the swallows were seen no more until the loth of April, when, the rigour of the spring abating, a softer season began to prevail. Again ; it appears by my journals for many years past that house- martms retire, to a bird, about the beginning of October ; so that a person not very observant of such matters would conclude that they had 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 4th 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 enterprise of moment at all agitated their spirits. And this was the case in the beginning of this very month ; for on the 4th of November, more than twenty house-martins, which, in appearance, had all departed about the 7th of October, were seen again for that one morning only sporting between my fields and the Hanger, and feasting on insects which swarmed in that sheltered district. The preceding day was wet and blustering, but the 4th was dark, and mild, and soft, the wind at south-west, and the thermometer at 58'i ; a pitch not common at that season of the year. Moreover, 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 circuni?*^- ^s, laid together, it is obvious that torpid insects, reptiles, .. • uadrupeds, are awakened from their profoundest slumbers by a little untimely warmth ; and therefore that nothing so much promotes this death-like stupor as a defect of heat. And farther, it is reasonable to suppose that two whole species, or at least many individuals of those two species of British hirundines do never leave this island at all, but partake of the same benumbed state ; for we cannot suppose, that after a month's absence, house-ii.artins can return from southern regions to appear for one morning in November, or that house-swallows should leave the districts of Africa to enjoy in March the transient summer of a couple of days.' I am, &c. ' In such cases the birds on their way south are probably tempted a little north again for a short period by an increased temporary supply of food-stufFs. — Ed. I ./ ' :. I ~^^. -r, 't 1 - 1 L Ij I ih IHN y/uyCan tu^je^^m, m tfractotui Sf ; ' ^ SR^a^e LETTER XXXVII. 'To the same. Selborne, Jan. ^th, 1778. EAR SIR, — 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 hands or 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 indolence and inactivity. His habit was lean, lank, and cadaverous. In this sad plight he dragged on a miserable existence, a burden to himself and his parish which was obliged to T u V 290 The Natural History of Selborne 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 unable 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 whom were lepers ; his father in particular lived to be far advanced in yeati. In all ages the leprosy has made dreadful havoc 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 given them in fhe Levitical law.* Nor was the rancour of this foul disorder much abated in the last period of their commonwealth, as may be seen in many passages of the New Testament. Some centuries ago this horrible distemper prevailed all Europe over ; and our forefathers were by no means exempt, as appears by the large provision made for objects labouring under this calamity. There was an hospital for female lepers in 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. More- over, some crowned heads, and other wealthy and charitable personages, bequeathed l^,rge legacies to such poor people as languished under this hopeless infirmity. It must, therefore, in these days be to an humane and thinking person a matter of equal wonder and satisfaction, when he contem- plates how nearly this pest is eradicated, and observes that a leper now is a rare sight. He will, moreover, when engaged in such a train of thought naturally inquire for the reason. This happy change, perhaps, may have originated and been continued 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 * Sec Leviticus, chap. xiii. and xiv. The Natural History of Selborne 291 field-carrots, or hay, all the cattle which had grown fat in summer, and were not killed for winter use, were turned out soon after Michaelmas to shift as they could through the dead months ; so that no fresh meat could be had in winter or 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 II., even so late in the spring as the 3rd of May. It was from magazines like these that the turbulent barons supported 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 need eat saked flesh unless he prefers 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 cutaneous ails. At this very time woollen, instead of linen, prevails among the poorer Welsh, who are subject to foul eruptions. The plenty of good wheaten bread that now is found among all ranks of ^ople in the south, instead of that miserable sort which used in o^ days to be made of barley or beans, may contribute not a little to the sweetening their blood and correcting their juices; for the inhabitants of mountainous 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 consumption of vegetables is increased. Green-stalls in cities now support multitudes in a comfortable state, while gardeners get fortunes. Every decent labourer also has his garden, which is half his support, as well as his delight ; and common farmers provide plenty of beans, peas, and greens, for * Viz., Six hundred bacons, eighty carcasses of beef, and six hundred muttons. ' I -5" 11 f; M 292 The Natural History of Selborne their hinds to eat with their bacon ; and those few that do not are despised for their sordid parsimony, and looked upon as regardless of the welfare of their dependents. Potatoes have prevailed in this little district 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 Saxon ancestors certainly had some sort of c- jbage, because they call the month of February " sprout calt " but long after their days the cultivation of gardens was little -ded to. The religious, being men of leisure, and keeping up «, constant corre- spondence with Italy, were the first people among us that had gardens and fruit-trees in any perfection within the wall of their abbeys * 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 them- selves that the knowledge of gardening made such hasty advances. Lord Cobham, Lord Ila, and Mr. Waller, of Beaconsfield, were some of the first people of rank that promoted the elegant science of ornamenting without despising 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 advanced above ; for we find him observing so late as his davs, that " The Italians use several herbs for sallets, which are noi yet, or have not been but lately, used in England, viz., selleri (celery), which is nothing 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 further adds : " curled endive blanched is much used beyond seas ; and, for a rav/ sallet, seemed to excel lettuce itself." Now this journey was undertaken no longer ago than in the year 1663. I am, &c. * "In monasteries the lamp of knowledge continued to burn, however dimly. In them men of business were formed for the state : the art of writing was culti- vated by the monks ; they were the only proficients in mechanics, gardening, and architecture." — Sec Dalrvmple's "Annals of Scotland." 1 I'ri 7Ca/rt£e^ JixLudCtir LETTER XXXVIII. 'To the same. Selborne, Feb. \ith^ 1778. " Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, Dixerat, ecquis adest ? et, adesf, responderat ech, Hie stupet ; utque aciem partes divisit in omnes ; Voce, veni. clatnat magna. Vocat ilia z'ocantem." lAR sir, — 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 \M I i I 294 T'/)e Natural History of Selborne company in a summer evening walk, and was calling after them, stumbled upon a very curious one in a spot where it might least be expected. At first he was much surprised, and could not be per- suaded 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 patula recubans . . ." were as audibly and intelligibly returned as the first ; and there is no doubt, could trial have been made, but that at midnigl^t 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 late an experiment very inconvenient. 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, " Ahnstrum horrendum, informe^ ingens . . .'* we could perceive a return but of four or five. All echoes have some one place to which they are returned stronger and more distinct thar. to any other ; and that is always the place that lies at right angles with the object of repercussion, and is not too near nor too far off. Buildings, or naked rocks, re-echo much more articulately than hanging woods or vales; because in the latter the voice is, as it were, entangled and embarrassed in the covert, and weakened in 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 measures in front forty feet, and from the ground to the eaves twelve feet. The true centrum phonicum, or just distance, is one particular spot in the King's field, in the path to Nore-hill, on the very brink of the steep balk above the hollow cart-way. In this case there is no * t H I The Natural History of Seiborne 295 choice of distance ; but the path, by mere contingency, happens to be the lucky, the identical spot, because the ground rises or falls so immediately, if the speaker either retires or advances, that his mouth would at once be above or below the object. We measured this polysyllabical echo with great exactness, and found the distance to fall very short of Dr. Plot's rule for distinct articulation ; for the Doctor, in his " History of Oxfordshire," allows a hundred and twenty feet for the return of each syllable distinctly ; hence this echo, which gives ten distinct syllables, ought to measure four hundred yards, or one hundred and twenty feet to each syllable ; whereas our distance is only two hundred and fifty-eight yards, or near seventy-five feet to each syllable. Thus our measure falls short of the Doctor's, as five to eight ; but then it must be acknowledged that this candid philosopher was convinced afterwards, that some latitude must be admitted of in the distance of echoes according to time and place. When experiments of this sort are making, it should always be remembered that weather and the time of day have a vast influence 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 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 phenomenon, 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 advances a strange notion, that they are injurious to bees. After enumerating some probable and reasonable annoyances, such as prudent owners would wish far removed from their bee-gardens, he adds — ■t U :re is no " . . . . aut ubi concavn pulsu Saxd sonant, vocisque offenui resultat imago." i 296 T/)e Natural History of Selborne This wild and fanciful assertion will hardly be admitted by the philosophers of 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 feel the repercussions of sounds, I grant it is possible they may. Yet that these impressions are distasteful 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 Anathoth, a place of responses and echoes. Besides, it does not appear from experi- ment that bees are in any way capable of being affected by sounds ; for I 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 is planted as an hop-garden, and the voice of the speaker is totally absorbed and lost among the poles and entangled foliage of the hops. And when the poles are removed 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 impulse and repercussion of the voice ; so that till these 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 incident, 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 perhaps success might be the easier insured could some canal, lake, or stream intervene. From a seat at the centrum photiicum he and his friends might amuse themselves sometimes of an evening with the prattle of this * Insects have since been proved to be sensible to sound. Many insects emit musical notes as calls or cries to attract their mates. — Ed. r%1 isccts emit The Natural History of Selborne 297 loquacious nymph ; of whose complacency and decent reserve more may be said than can with truth of every individual of her sex ; since she is " . . . . qua nee reticere /oquentt. 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 : — " ^a bene quom videas, rationem redder e possis Tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacta per loca sola Saxa paries formas verborum ex ordine reddant^ Palanteis comites quom monteis inter opacos ^trrimus, et magna disperses voce ciemus. Sex etiam, aut septem loca vidi reddere voces Unam quom jaceres : ita colles collibus ipsis Verba repulsantes iterabant dicta referre. Htec loca capripedes Satyros, Nymphasque tenere Finitimi fingunt, et Faunos esse loquuntur ; ^orum noctivago strepitUy ludoque jucanti Adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rumpi^ Chordurumque sonos feriy dulceisque querelas. Tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum : Et genus agricolum late sentiscere, quom Pan Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans. Unco strpe labro calamos percurrit hianteis. Fistula silvestrem ne cesset fundere musam." Lucretius, Lib. iv. 1. 576. 1 1 ■ ; *: ;■ 1 * I, % u ff a. I t InH r\ WM ■1 iffli I 1 l<^^B' 11 t m <" f, rnBbW l& I * "I 2; iS ya&£efon vfugo/rcCem. u>cM i LETTER XXXIX. To the same. Selborne, May X'^th, 1778. EAR SIR, — Among the many singularities attend- ing 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 long time past. The swallows and martins are so numerous, and so widely distributed over the village, that it is hardly possibly 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 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 1 •fl W n 300 The Natural History of Selborne pairs, allowance being made for accidents, breed yearly eight pairs more, what becomes annually of this increase ; and what determines every spring which pairs shall visit us, and reoccupy their ancient haunts ? Ever since I have attended to the subject of ornithology, I have always supposed that that sudden reverse of affection, that strange avTiaropyif, 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 other. Whether the swallows and house-martins return in the same exact number annually is not easy to say, for reasons given above ; but it is apparent, as I have remarked before in my Monographies, that the numbers returning bear no manner of proportion to the numbers retiring.' ' Here we get an early hint of that profound problem of multiplication which gave rise later to Malthus's Theory of Population and also to the doctrine of the Strii '1c for Existence, with its Darwinian and Spencerian corollaries of Natural Sci. >>n and the Survival of the Fittest. It is interesting to observe such first tentative advances, as showing the inevitable trend of thought towards ideas as yet unborn. — Ed. ■i !- ! i\ ^rown Owl LETTER XL. 7*0 the same. Selborne, jfufie ind, 1778. [EAR SIR, — The standing objection to botany has always been, that it is a pursuit that amuses the fancy and exercises the memory without 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 investigate the laws of vegetation, should examine 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 'S^^-'J-'^^A i^>4ir'. !'o^^\.\>''^:^/| I. ~-J\ 1 ■ i I) I 1 i * mi 302 TAe Natural History of Selborne is by any means to be thrown aside ; without system the field of Nature would be a pathless wilderness : but system should be sub- servient to, not the main object of, pursuit.' Vegetation is highly worthy of our attention ; and in itself is of the utmost consequence to mankind, and productive of many of the greatest comforts and elegancies 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 : icures us from inclemencies of weather and adorns our persons. Man, in his true state o5 nature, seems to be subsisted by spontaneous vegetation ; in middle climes, where grasses prevail, he mixes some animal food with the produce of the field and garden ; and it is towards the polar extremes only 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 nations, and have been the great promoters of naviga- tion, as may be seen in the articles of sugar, tea, tobacco, opium, ginseng, betel, pepper, &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 conten* with our hips and haws, without enjoying the delicate fruits of India and the salutiferous drugs of Peru. Instt.'d of examinincr the minute distinctions of evt-y various species of each >hscnre gtnus, the botaiilst should endeavour to make himself acquainted with those that are useful. You shall see a man readily ascertain eviry herb of the field, yet hardly know wheat from barley, or at least one sort of wheat or barley from another. • See the late voyages to the South Seas. ' In this pregnant sentence, again, White foreshadows the transition from the age of Linnxus, bent all on classification, to the age of Darwin, bent all on the interpretation of the facts of nature. — Ed. ! i (I The Natural History of Selborne 303 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 grazmg kingdom. The botanist that could improve the sward of the district wnere 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. i I? ,11 1 tl II:.*? ^ \ m^ _• ] \m}\ ^ ft (-(i 1^ H I j mmH u^fie. J^oitcdcr^ * '■., '"" '' "■ -,7,. '■■"■'■;■,;;•••• - •'""" '"••'..■ .»|''/iiN • IV' .■ ■ ■ .n- '■''■■ 'tul • \u. Ill JUortom (JyCConje LETTER XLI. 7*0 the same. Selborne, July ird, 1778. |EAR SIR, — 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 champaign fields, cannot but furnish an ample Flora. The deep rocky lanes abound with filiceSy and the pastures and moist woods with 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 u i i < V \ jiti ^ ^> .;^ V'3 V' 1! ^Vun 306 T/je Natural History of Selborne amidst the hill country at the spring heads. To enumerate all the {)lants that have been discovered within our limits would be a need- ess work ; but a short list of the more rare, and the spots where they are to be found, may be neither unacceptable nor unentertaining : — Helleborus fcetidus^ stinking hellebore, bear's foot, or setterwort, — all over the High-wood and Coney-croft-hanger: this continues a great branching plant the winter through, blossoming about January, and is very ornamental in shady walks and shrubberies. The good women give the leaves powdered to children troubled with worms; but it is a violent remedy, and ought to be administered with caution. Hellehorus 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 February, flowering almost as soon as it appears above ground. Vaccinium oxycoccos, creeping bilberries, or cranberries, — in the bogs of Bin's-pond.' Vaccinium myrtilluSy whortle, or bleaberries, — on the dry hillocks of Woolmer-forest. Drosera rotundifolia, round-leaved sundew, — in the bogs of Bin's- pond. Drosera longifolia^ long-leaved sundew, — in the bogs of Bin's-pond. Comarum palustrCy purple comarum, or marsh cinquefoil, — in the bogs of Bin's-pond. Hypericum androstemum, Tutsan, St. John's Wort, — in the stony, hollow lanes. ViKca minor, less periwinkle, — in Selborne-hanger and Shrubwood. Monotropa hypopitkys, yellow monotrcpa, or birds' nest, — in Sel- borne-hanger under the shady beecher, to whose roots it seems to be parasitical, at the north-west end of the hanger. Chlora perfoliata, 'Blackstonia perfoliata, Hudsoni, perfoliated yellow- wort, — on the banks in the King's-field. Paris quadrifolia, herb of Paris, true-love, or one-berry, — in the Church-litten-coppice. ' Now drained. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 307 Chrysospleaium oppositi/olium, opposite golden saxifrage, — in the dark and rocky hollow lanes. Gentiana amarella^ autumnal gentian, or fellwort, — on the Zigzag and Hanger. Lathraa squamaria^ tooth-wort, — in the Church-litten-coppice under some hazels near the foot-bridge, in Trimming's garden hedge, and on the dry wall opposite Grange-yard. Dipsacus pilosuSy small teasel, — in the Short and Long Lith. Lathyrus sylvestrir 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 i-ith, and towards the south corner of the common. Ophrys nidus avis, birds' 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 /aiifolia, helleborine, — in the High-wood under the shady beeches. Daphne /aureola, spurge laurel, — in Selborne-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 elder, 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 dawnings of spring ; many when the spring is established ; some at midsummer, and some not till autumn. When we see the helleborus fcetidm and helleborus niger blowing at Christmas, the helleborus hyemalis in January, and the helleb' ■■us viridis as soon as ever it emerges out of the ground, we ' In the first edition this letter ended here ; but in the quarto edited by Mitford the following passage was added to it. The additional paragraph has appeared in all the subsequent editions whi:h I have consulted. I do not know whence Mitford derived it, nor on what authority he added it in this particular position. — Ed. H I •tli 308 The Natural History of Selborne do not wonder, because they are kindred plants that we expect should keep pace the one with the other ; but other congimerous vegetables differ so widely in their time of flowering, that we cannot but admire. I shall only instance at present in the crocus sativus, the vernal and the autumnal crocus, which have such a» affinity, that the best botanists only make them varieties of the same genus, of which there is only one species, not being able to discern 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 rigorous 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 difficult to be explained as the most stupendous phenomenon in nature. " Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow CongeaVd, the crocus^ fi^my bud to glow ? Say, what retards, amidst the summer's Haze, Th' autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days ? The God 0/ Seasons; whose pervading power Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower : He bids each flower his quickening word obey. Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay." ^^^'^j^w:^^. XVoodcoch 'A LETTER XLII. To the same. "Omnibus animalibiis rcliquis ccrtus et uniusmodi, et in suo cuique genere incessus est : aves solas vario meatu fcruntur, et in terra, et in acre." Selbornc, Aug. Jth, 1778. EAR SIR, — 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 manner peculiar to itself, yet there is somewhat in most genera at least, that at first sight discriminates them, and enables a judicious observer to pro- nounce upon them with some certainty. Put a bird in motion Et vera incessu patiiit "1 ' The original edition reads vera, with a needless circumflex clearly due to a printer's blunder. In this and many other cases I have not thought it necessary slavishly to reproduce the particular vagaries of Mr, Benjamin White's compositors. Either Gilbert White did not correct his own proofs, or, if he corrected them, allowed many foolish errors of the printer to pass unnoticed. — Ed. I !|( tit I ft i\ "> I 310 T^e Natural History of Selborne Thus kites and buzzards sail round in circles with wings ex- panded and motionless ; 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 windover, 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 cuflling each other on the wing in a kind of playful 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 centre of gravity. Rooks sometimes dive and tumble in a frolicksome manner ; crows and daws swagger in their walk ; woodpeckers 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. All the gallina parade and walk gracefully, and run nimbly ; but fly with difficulty, with an impetuous whirring, and in a straight line. Magpies and jays flutter with powerless wings, and make no dispatch ; herons seem incumbered with too much sail for their light bodies, but these vast hollow wings are necessary in carrying burdens, such as large fishes and the like ; pigeons, 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 ringdoves, 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 windhover ; and the green- The Natural History of Selborne 311 finch in particular, exhibits such languishing and faltering gestures as to appear like a wounded and dying bird ; the king-fisher darts along like an arrow ; fern-owls, or goat-suckers, glance in the dusk over the tops of trees like a meteor ; starlings 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 themselves by rapid turns and quick evolutions ; swifts dash round in circles ; and the bank-martin moves with frequent vacillations like a butter- fly. Most of the small birds fly by jerks, rising and falling as they advance. Most small birds hop ; but wagtails and larks walk, moving their legs alternately. Skylarks rise and fall perpendicularly as they sing ; woodlarks hang poised in the air ; and tit-larks rise and fall in large curves, singing in their descent. The white-throat uses odd jerks and gesticulations over the tops of hedges and bushes. All the duck-kind waddle ; divers and auks walk as if fettered, and stand erect on their tails : these are the compedes of Linnaeus. Geese and cranes, and most wild fowls, move in figured flights, often changing their position. The secondary remiges of Tringae, wild ducks, and some others, are very long, and give their wings, when in motion, an hooked appearance. Dabchicks, moor-hens, and coots fly erect, with their legs hanging down, and hardly make any dispatch ; the reason is plain, their wings are placed too forward out of the true centre of gravity ; as the legs of auks and divers are situated too backward. U ■fl * ii Sparrow-hawk LETTER XLIIL' To the same. Selborne, Sept. ^t/>, 1778. jEAR SIR, — From the motion of birds, the transi- tion is natural enough to their notes and language, 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 between two owls reclaimed a sultan,* before delighting in conquest and de- vastation ; but I would be thought only to mean that many of the * See "Spectator," Vol. vii., No. 512. ' This is clearly not a real letter, but an additional essay on the notes of birds, written when the idea of publication had been adopted. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 313 winged tribes have various sounds and voices adapted to express their various passions, wants, and feelings ; such 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 under- stood. The notes of the eagle-kind are shrill and piercing ; and about the season of nidification much diversified, as I have been often assured by a curious observer of Nature, who long 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 humana, and reducible by a pitch-pipe to a musical key. This note seems to express complacency and rivalry among the males ; they use also a quick call and an horrible scream ; and can snore and hiss when they mean to menace. Ravens, besides their 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 hearts to sing, but with no great success ; the parrot-kind have many modulations of voice- as appears by their aptitude to learn human sounds ; doves coo in an amorous ai.'d mournful manner, and are emblems of despairing lovers ; the woodpecker sets up a sort of loud and hearty laugh ; the fern-owl, or goat-sucker, from the dusk tUl day-break, serenades his mate with the clattering of castanets.' All the tuneful passeres express their complacency by sweet modula- tions, and a variety of melody. The swallow, as has been observed ' A few fish utter cries. The grey gurnard grunts loud enough to be heard at a considerable distance. As a rule, however, fish are "somewhat silent." — Ed. -' This is a true and deep remark — one of White's many anticipatory aperfus. Later research has shown that very early human speech, and the speech of very undcv',»oped races, is elliptical in the extreme. — En. ' The fern-owl, or night-jar, utters a note which White here sadly underestimates. Though not musical, it is full of profound and weird emotion. — Ed. . !■ h 314 Tf^^ Natural History of Selborne W ;i : in a former letter, by a shrill alarm bespeaks the attention of the other hirundines, and bids them be aware the hawk is at hand. Aquatic and gregarious birds, especially the nocturnal, that shift their quarters in the dark, are ver'' noisy and loquacious ; as cranes, wild-geese, wild-ducks, and the like ; their perpetual clamour pre- vents them from dispersing 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 struts and gobbles to his mis- tress in a most unc(- h manner ; he hath also a pert and petulant note when he attacks his adversary. 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 copious 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. Of all the occurrences of 1 The Natural History of Selborne 315 their life that of laying seems to be the most important ; for no sooner has a hen disburdened 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 sprt-ads to every home- stead within hearing, till at last the whole village is in an uproar. As soon as a hen becomes a mother her new relation demands :i new language : she then runs clucking [clacking] and screaming about, am' seems agitated as if possessed. The father of the flock has also a considerable vocabulary ; if he finds food, he calls a favourite con- cubine to partake ; and if a bird of prey passes over, with a warning voice he bids his family beware. The gallant chanticleer has, at command, his amorous phrases and his terms of defiance. But the sound by which he is best knov/n is his crowing : by this he has been distinguished in all ages as the countryman's clock or larum, as the watchman that proclaims the divisions of the night. Thus the poet elegantly styles him : " . . . . the crated cock, whose clarion sounds The silent hurs," 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 diminished, hung a setting-net adroitly between the pile and the house, into which the caitifl^ dashed, and was entangled. Resentment suggested the law of retaliation ; he therefore clipped the hawk's wings, cut oflT 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 revenge, inspired, were new, or at least such as had been unnoticed before : the exasperated matrons upbraided, they execrated, they insulted, they triumphed. In a word, they never desisted from bufl^eting their adversary till they had torn him in an hundred pieces. ? '1 I I \i : : »i I V I i i I I 1 i f '''!,) I 'H ■ LETTER XLIV. To the same. " . . . . Monstrent # • ♦ ♦ * ^id tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles Hybernii vel qua taniis mora noctibus obstet." Selborne.' ENTLEMEN who have outlets might contrive to make ornament subservient to utility : a pleas- ing 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 "v'.ii.nev solstice : and the two erections might be constructed ' Ti • Ici er has no date ot" time, but one of place only. It, and most of *\i>%i viuc'- bliow it, were not, I believe, ever really written to Barrington. ritey ari; )i ? called forth by the subjects of the previous series. Many of them aic tot * -cd at all : these, I fancy, were wriitcn merely to embody other impor* n<. observations not alluded to in the genu ne correspondence. Their style is accordingly more " literary " and less spontaneous : they are therefore of far inferior interest and importance to the actual letter:. — Eo. 1 I \ i H I \' j: !U j! 3 1 8 The Natural History of Selborne 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 contemplate, in a fine summer's evening, the utmost extent that the sun makes to the northward at the season of the longest days. Now nothing would be necessary but to place these two objects with so much exactness, 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 whole disc of the sun, at the longest day, might exactly at setting 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 reHring backwards every evening at its setting, towards the object westward, till, in a few nights, it would set quite behind it and so by degrees, to the west of it : for when the sun comes near the summer solstice, the whole disc of it would at first set behind the object ; 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 mere 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, till at length it would descend quite behind the object again ; and so iiightly more and more to the westward. % ': ! 7rom J^c CUVt 'k£e^sUn LETTER XLV. 'To the same. " . . . . Mugire videbis Sub pedibus terram, et descendere montibus ornos." Selborne. HEN I was a boy I used to read, with astonish- ment and implicit assent, accounts in " Baker's Chronicle " of walking hills and travelling moun- tains. 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." " / nor advise, nor reprehend the choice Of Marc ley Hill ; the apple no where finds A kinder mould ; yet 'tis unsafe to trust Deceitful ground : who knows but that once more *l ) 320 The Natural History of Selborne This mount may journey, and, his present site Forsaken, to thy neighbour s bounds transfer Thy goodly plants, affording matter strange For lata 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, leav- ing 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 suspicions ; 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 months of January and February, in the year 1774, were remarkable for great 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 eighth and ninth of that month, a considerable part of the great woody hanger at Hawkley was torn from its place, and fell down, leaving a high free-stone cliff naked and bare, and resembling the steep side of a chalk-pit. It appears that this huge fragment, being perhaps sapped and undermined by waters, foundered, and was ingr.lfed, 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 upright a position as to open and shut with great exactness, just as in its first situation. Several oaks also are stil' 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 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 {^\s.\\ forward. The Natural History of Selborne 321 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 farmhouse, 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 kitchen began to heave and part ; and that the walls seemed to open, and 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 buried under the ruins of their shattered edifices. When daylight 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 wer'^ removed out of their perpendicular, some thrown down, and some tullen into the heads of neighbouring trees ; and that a gate wu;. thrust forward, with its hedge^ full six feet, so as to reqv.ire a niw 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 hillockfj, 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 such vast shelves that the road was impassable 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 fissures 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 feet against the bodies of some oaks that obstructed their farther course, and terminated this awful commotion. ii '^ \ \i 32 2 The Natural History of Selborne The perpendicular height of the precipice in general is twenty- three yards ; the length of the lapse or slip as seen from the fields below, one hundred and eighty-one ; and 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; t«vo houses were entirely destroyed ; one end of a new barn was left in ruins, the walls being cracked through the very stones that composed them ; a hanging coppice was changed to a naked rock ; and some grass grounds and an arable field so broken and rifted by the chasms as to be rendered for a time neither fit for the plough or safe for pastur- age, till considerable labour and expense had been bestowed in level- ling the surface and filling in the gaping fissures.* ' In this letter White shows himself prophetic of Lyell's famous doctrine that geological phenomena are due, not to mighty cataclysms, but to the slow result of causes still in action. — Ed. 1 1 M \^u£(/ crtcAe^ LETTER XLVI. To the same. ". • . . resonant arbusta Selborne. HERE is a steep abrupt pasture field intei^persed with furze close to the back of this village, well known by the name of Short Lithe, consisting of a rocky dry soil, and inclining to the afternoon sun. This spot abounds with the gryllus campestrisy or field-cricket; which, though frequent in these parts, is by no means a common insect in many other countries. As their cheerful summer cry cannot but draw the attention of a naturalist, I have often gone down to examine the economy of these grylliy 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 burrows, 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 success ; for either we could not get to the bottom of the hole, which often terminated under a great stone ; or else in break- ing up the ground we inadvertently squeezed the poor insect to ; II \ ? ! I '»J4 ^i, •m: i? 324 The Natural History of Selborne death. Out of one so bruised we f ok a multitude of eggs, which were long and narrow, of a yellow )lour, and covered with a very tough skin. By this accident we learned to distinguish the male from the female ; the former of which is 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 receptacles. Where violent methods will not avail, more gentle means will often succeed, and so it proved in the p esent 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 brine out the inhabitant ; and thus the humane inquirer may gratify his curiosity 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 grasshoppers ; 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 e':crt tncm when there seems to be the greatest occasion. The males only make that shrilling noise, perhaps, out of rivalry and emulation, as is the case with many animals which exert some sprightly note during their breeding time. It is raised by a bri,.k friction of one wing against the rther. They are solitary beings, living singly male and 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 pi't 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 know- ledge, yet the first that got possession of the chinks would seize on any that were intruded upon them with a vast row of serrated 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, like the mole-cricket. When taken in m ir cells, The Natural History of Selborne 325 hand I could not but wonder that they never offered to defend themselves, chough armed with such formidable weapons. Of such herbs as grow before the mouths of their burrows they eat indis- criminately, 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 vigorous, 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 sweet- ness and melody ; nor do harsh sounds always displease. We are more apt to be captivated or disgusted with the associations which they promote than with the notes themselves. Thus the shrilling of the field-cricket, though sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously delights some hearers, filling their minds with a train of summer ideas of everything that is rural, verdurous, and joyous. About the loth 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 und:.:r 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 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 farther distance every morning, so that it appears that on this emergency they * Wc have observed that they cast these skins in April, which are then seen lying at tlie mouths ot" their holes. i» ■ IWA I I ¥. t (I 326 The Natural History of Selborne 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 supplied 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. ^otue-oTCcAe:^ LETTER XLVII. To the same. EAR SIR,- Selborne. " Far from all resort of mirth Save the cricket on the hearth." Milton's // Penseroso. While many other insects must be sought after in fields and woods, and waters, the gryllus domes- ticus, or house-cricket, resides altogether within our dwellings, in- truding 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 burrow and mine between the joints of the bricks or stones, and to open communications from one room to another. They are particularly fond of kitchens and bakers' ovens, on account of their perpetual warmth. 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 ;:. \ fi f> iJ 328 The Natural History of Selborne should suppose, from the burning atmosphere which they inhabit they are a 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 housewife's barometer, foretelling her when it will rain, and are pro- gnostic sometimes, she thinks, of ill or good luck, of the death of a near relation, or the approach of an absent lover. By being the constant companions of her solitary hours they naturally become the objects of her superstition. These crickets are not only very thirsty, but very voracious; for they will eat the scummings of pots, and yeast, salt, and crumbs of bread, and any kitchen offal or sweepings. In the summer we have 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 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 bedchambers, 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 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. jKto£e-;:V^ 23 WBT MA:N STRHT WnSTIR.N.Y. U5tO (71»)a72-4S03 r Cv 330 The Natural History of Selborne 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 May they lay their eggs, as I was once an eye-witness ; for a gardener at an house where 1 was on a visit, hap- pening to be mowing, on the 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 : — ". . . . Ingenttm lata dedit ore fenestram : Apparet domus intus, tt 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 co'our, 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 i". curves, like the other species mentioned before. In different parts of this kingdom people call 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 struc- ture, 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 ! * Its note still more strikingly resembles that of the grasshopper-warbler. — Ed. ' White, I think, is mistaken in supposing that the word tve-churr refers to the ro.ole-cricket. It is a variant on the name night-jar, now commonly applied to the fern-owl, or goat-sucker. In the form of eve-jar it has been introduced into literature by Mr. George Meredith in his exquisite poem, " Love in a Valley." — Ed. T>Lach'WirufedStiU LETTER XLIX. To the same. Selborne, May jth, 1779. T is now more than forty years that I have paid some attention to the ornithology of this district, without being able to exhaust the subject : new occurrences still arise as long as any inquiries are kept alive. In the last week of last month five of those most rare birds, too uncommon to have obtained *n English name, but known to naturalists by the terms of himantopus, or loripes^ and charadrius himantopus^ were shot upon the verge of * This bird is apparently the Himantopus melanopterus of modern orni- thology — Ed. m m vm w^ ^mrMrk?^^ BiiiiS IWj«*/lltcrhJ f' i t li I 332 The Natural History of Selborne Frinsham-pond [Frensham-pond], a large lake belonging to the Bishop of Winchester, and lying between Wolmer-forest and the town of Farnham, 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 specimens 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 pro- portions 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. Brisson, under that idea, gives them the apposite name of rkhasse. My 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 instance, 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 measure 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 hundred 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 experiment in still larger birds the disparity would still increase. It must be matter of 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 vacillations, and seldom able to preserve the true centre of gravity. The Natural History of Seiborne 333 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 curious 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. 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 impelled to make so distant and northern an excursion from motives or accidents for which we are not able to account. One thing may fairly be deduced, that these birds come over to us from the Conti- nent, since nobody can suppose that a species not noticed once in an age, and of such a remarkable make, can constantly breed unob- served in this kingdom. * The "accurate observer of nature" so often alluded to is almost undoubtedly Gilbert White's brother, the Rev. John White of Gibraltar. — Ed. ', m > h> M !l U'. . i^ii jii!anim«!i,iiUL?M-j,jjH ■■■■I '«-,- ^\'Mr; .-■^»iV:ii.V \'«|i' »*l ?«%< ?:p? < *^/iec4/C'•< 340 The Natural History of Selborne occasion so late a stay. I watched therefore till the 24th 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. These remained till the twenty-seventh, looking more alert every day, and seeming to long to be on the wing. After this day they were missing at once ; nor could I ever observe them with 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 hippobosde hirundinis. The following remarks on this unusual incident are obvious. The first is, that though it may be disagreeable to swifts to remain beyond the beginnmg 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 con- trary the case, the occurrence above could neither be new nor rare. » P.S. One swift was seen at Lyndon, in the country of Rutland, in 1782, so late as the third of September. 9(Me^WfuXi;6t&mCr LETTER LIII. To Mtf . ime. [S I have sometimes knu\v^.i you make inquirie* about several kinds of insects, 1 ' :''l here send you an account of one sort which I little c»:pecf-t4 to have found in thi kingdom. I had ' ii i ( ■\i. ^1 . il 350 T^ke Natural History of Selborne the season was soft and still ; I was resolved to pay uncommon atten- tion 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 these 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 seemed to be well calculated for their winter residence ; for in many parts 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 complete. I watched them on the thirteenth and fourteenth of October, and found their evening retreat was exact and uniform ; but after this they made no regular appearance. Now and then a straggler was seen ; and on the twenty-second of October, I observed two in the morning over the village, and with them my remarks for the season ended. From all these circumstances put together, 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 November visit, as I much desired, I presume that, with proper assistants, I should have settled the matter past all doubt ; but though the 3rd of November was a sweet day, and in appearance exactly suited to my wishes, yet not a martin was 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, J . .11. rill; wm The Natural History of Selborne 351 probably those late broods, and perhaps the whole aggregate body of the house-martins of this district, might be found there, in different secret dormitories ; and that, so far from withdrawing into warmer climes, it would appear that they never depart three hundred yards from the village. ! < ■-ar- I J^t hatch LETTER LVI. k' To the same. |HEY who write on natural history cannot too frequently 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 naturally to pursue, at all times, the same way or track, without any teaching or example ; whereas reason, without instruction, would often vary and do that by many methods which instinct effects by one alone. Now this maxim must be taken in a qualified sense ; for there are instances in which instinct does vary and conform to the circumstances of place and convenience. It has been remarked that every species of bird has a mode of nidification peculiar to itself, so that a school-boy would at once The Natural History of Selborne 353 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 in 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 com- pactness so emarkable in the edifices of thit little architect. Again, the regular nes : of the house-martin is hemispheric ; but where a rafter, or a joist, or a cornice, may happen to stand in the way, the nest is so contrived as to conform to the obstruction, and becomes flat, or compressed. In the following instances instinct is perfectly uniform and con- sistent. There are three creatures, the squirrel, the field-mouse, and the bird called the nut-hatch {sitta Europaa)^ which live much on hazel-nuts ; 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 affect some men, as it were by recollection, for days after the concert is over. What I mean the following passage will most readily explain ; — " Prashabebat porrb vocibus humanis, instrumentisque harmonicis musicam illam avium : non quod alia quoque non delectaretur : sed z J 354 The Natural History of Seihorne quod ex music^ humand relinqueretur in animo continens quaedam, attentionemque et somnum conturbans agitatio ; dum ascensus, exscensus, tenores, ac mutationes ilia: sonorum et consonantiarum euntque, redeuntque per phantasiam : — cum nihil tale relinqui possit ex modulationibus avium, quae, quod non sunt perinde a nobis imitabiles, non possunt perinde internam facultatem commovere." — Gassendus in Vitd 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 at first waking, which by their importunity, give me more uneasiness than pleasure ; elegant lessons still tease my imagination, and recur irresistibly to my recollection even at seasons when I am desirous of thinking of more serious matters. I am, &c. PereprlneTaCcon LETTER LVII. To the same. RARE, and I think a new, little bird frequents my garden, which I have great reason to think is the pettichaps : it is common in some parts of the kingdom ; and I have received formerly several dead specimens 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 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. Some- times it feeds on the ground like the hedge-sparrow, by hopping about on the grass-plots and mown walks. Hi W} t m H . -1^1, I ^ : It 1 * n 356 7/5^ Natural History of Selborne 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 discovered a great cluster of house- swallows, thirty, at least, he supposes, perching on a willow that hung over the verge of James Knight's upper pond. His attention was first drawn by the twittering of these birds, which sat motion- less 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 may not retire \vXo 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 Woolmer Forest sent me a peregrine- falcon, which he shot on the verge of that district as it was devour- ing a wood-pigeon. The falco pregrinuSy or haggard-falcon, is a noble species of hawk seldom seen in the southern counties. In winter 1767, one was killed in the neighbouring parish of Farringdon, 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 an half standing weight. This species is -'ery robust, and wonderfully formed for rapine ; its breast was pi imp and muscular ; its thighs long, thick, and brawny ; and its legs remarkably short and well set : the 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 * See my ter ;.': and eleventh letter to that gentleman. The Natural History of Selborne 357 been a female ; but I was not permitted 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 undistinguishing vehemence swallow bones and feathers, and all matters, indiscriminately. This falcon was probably driven from the mountains of North Wales or Scotland, where they are known to breed, by rigorous weather and deep snows that had lately fallen. I am, &c. m •I I I I 1 1 Ili if 'N'.. ■ ;ft./. ■m :i\rM'- ^^'''^■^^"hMm V' ^j^'m^ ^: 7(27i^n^ciCo7i Chu/Tch. il ^en-harrier LETTER LVIII. T(9 the same. |Y 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 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 midway, that does not seem to be matter of accident, but somewhat singular. 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 dew-claw on each hind leg ; the dog has none. When taken out into a field the bitch showed some disposition for hunting, I m J t I i'i , - '■ i 360 T^e Natural History of Selborne and dwelt on 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 manner like foxes, and have a surly, savage demeanour 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 £1 gland. In the islands of 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 breeding 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 sharp-eared, peak- 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 spaniels, 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 remark- able for finding that sort of game. But when we came to offer the bones of patridges 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 vehemence 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 disposed to hunt is no wonder ; but why they reject and do not care to eat their natural game is not so easily accounted for, since the end of hunting seems to be, that the chase pursued ■■ 'The Natural History of Selborne 361 should be eaten. Dogs a^ain will not devour the more rancid water-fowls, nor indeed the tones of any wild fowls ; nor will they touch the foetid bodies of birds that feed >n offal and garbage ; and indeed there may be somewhat of providential instinct in this circumstance of dislike ; for vultures,* and kites, and ravens, and crows, &c., were intended to be messmates with dogs f over their carrion ; and seem to be appointed by Nature as fellow-scavengers to remove all cadaverous nuisances from the face oi the earth. I am, &c. * Hasselquist, in his "Travels to the Levant," 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. i| 1 !■, 1^ i'' in ■■ If a. It H ^f'i I J ■ m 366 T6e Natural History of Selborne down the vapours. He is also of opinion that the dingy, smoky appearance in the sky, in very dry seasons, arises from the want of moisture sufficient to let the light through, and render the atmosphere transparent ; because he had observed 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 muzzles towards the Hanger, supposing that the report would have had a freat effect ; but the experiment did not answer his expectation, le then removed them to the alcove on the Hanger ; when the sound, rushing along the Lythe and Comb-wood was very grand ; but it was at the Hermitage that the echoes and repercussions delighted 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 Comb-wood ponds, and after a pause seemed to take up the crash again, and to extend round Hartley Hangers, and to die away at last among the coppices and coverts of Ward-le-Ham. It has been tcmarked 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 efrect on the imagination. The gentleman above-mentioned has just fixed a barometer ' in his parlour at Newton Valence. The tube was first filled here (at Sel- borne) twice with care, when the mercury agreed and stood exactly with my own ; but, being filled twice again 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 village, 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 below 28. We have supposed Newton House to stand two hundred feet higher than ' This barometer can still be seen at Newton Valence vicarage. The incum- bent at this time and for many years after was the Rev. Edmund White, Gilbert White's nephew. — E. H. N. • HI The Natural History of Selborne ^67; this house : but if the rule holds eood, which says that mercury i*,j a barometer sinks one-tenth of an mch for every hundred feet elevji- tion, 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 hundred. It may not be impertinent to add, that the barometers at Selborne stand three-tenths of an inch lower than the barometers at South Lambeth : whence we may conclude 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, therefore, 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 con- sidered, cannot be less than an hundred miles. I am, &c. M W ii i f a 7/uWaAe^ LETTER LXI. To the same. jINCE the weather of a district is undoubtedly 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 frosts, and a few respecting some very hot summers, that have distinguished themselves from the rest during the course of my observations. As the frost of January 1768 was, for the small time it lasted, the most severe that we had then known for many years, and was remark- ably injurious to evergreens, some account of its rigour, and reason of its ravages, may be useful, and not unacceptable to persons that delight in planting and ornamenting ; and may particularly become a work that professes never to lose sight of utility.* ^ This is the first overt indication White has given of the deliberate intention to write a book. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 369 For the last two or three days of the former year there were con- siderable falls of snow, which lay deep and uniform on the ground without any drifting, wrapping up the more humble vegetation in perfect security. From the nrst day to the fifth of the new year more snow succeeded; but from that day the air became entirely clear, and the heat of the sun about noon had a considerable influence in sheltered situations. It was in such an aspect that the snow on the author's evergreens' 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 uninjured. 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 emergencies ; and if h's plantations are small, to avail himself of mats, cloths, pease-haulm, straw, reeds, or any such covering, for a short time ; or, if his shrubberies are extensive, to see that his people go about with prongs and forks, and carefully dislodge the snow from the boughs : since the naked 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 paradox ; but doubtless the more tender trees and shrubs should never be planted in hot aspects ; not only for the reason assigned above, hut also because, thus circum- stanced, they are disposed to shoot earlier in the spring, and to grow on later in the autumn than they would otherwise do, and so are sufferers by lagging or early frosts. For this reason also plants from in sonic subsequent * This observation * The phrase "the author," which occurs here and passages, indicates the unreality of these later letters. — Ed. has since been abundantly justified. I have myself observed that near the summit of Hind Head in Surrey, over eight hundred feet in height, many trees and shrubs pass uninjured through severe winters, while below seven hundred feet, on the same hill, many individuals of identical species are destroyed by the repeated thawings and freezings. — Ed. 2 A . i, i 370 The Natural History of Selborne 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 experienced the same inconvenience with respect to the more tender shrubs from North America, which they therefore plant under north walls. There should also, perhaps, be a ".'ill to the east to defend them from the piercing blasts from that quarter. This observation might without any impropriety 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 un- seasonable warmth awakens the inhabitants too early from their slumbers; and by putting their juices into motion too soon, subjects them afterwards to inconveniences when rigorous 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 -"dwings 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.* On the 3rd of January, Benjamin Martin's thermometer * within doors, in a close parlour where there was no fire, fell in the night to 20°, and on the 4th, to 18", and on the 7th, to 17^°, a degree of cold which the owner never since saw in the same situation ; and he regrets much that he was not able at that juncture to attend his instrument abroad. All this time the wind continued north and north-east ; and yet on the 8 th 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 conclude that * See Letter XLI. to Mr. Pennant. * Benjamin Martin was a maker of scientific instruments, — Ed. / % wmmmp^ ?^ss I The Natural History of Selborne 371 thaws often originate under ground from warm vapours which arise ; else how should subterraneous animals receive such early intimations of their approach. 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 10°; and a clear sky shall again compel it to descend to its former gage.^ And here it may be proper co observe, on what has been said above, that though frosts advance to their utmost severity by some- what of a regular gradation, yet thaws do not usually come on by as regular a declension of cold, but often take place immediately from intense freezing; as men in sickness often mend at once from a paroxysm. To the great credit of Portugal laurels and American junipers, be it remembered that they remained untouched amidst the general havoc : hence men should learn to ornament chiefly .. 1th such trees as are able to withstand accidental severities, and not subject them- selves to the vexation of a loss which may befai 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, iuurtstines, 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 vegetation 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. ' This is a iirst indication of the importance of radiation, and of the value of clouds as an earth-blanket, since so fully worked out by Tyndall. — Ed. U II V ^^ -\N \ > \ ^rei^e^ m 1 ^^&^^Hfti> B&^^^H ^A ^tsst't' Tj 1%' Hi ^'^^*-v>V T rv „ LETTER LXII. To the same. HERE were some circumstances attending 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 drowned 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 J' 4i v%\ fi 3 74 77)e Natural History of Selborne the earth is perfectly glutted and chilled with water;* and hence dry autumns are seldom followed by rigorous winters. January yth. — 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 filling the hollow lanes. On the 14th the writer was obliged to be much abroad ; and thinks he never before 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 shapesj so striking to the imagination as not to be seen without wonder and pleasure. 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 conscious — poor animals — that the drifts and heaps treacherously betray their footsteps, and prove fatal to numbers of them. From the 14th the snow continued to increase, and began to stop the road wagons and coaches, which could no longer keep on their regular stages ; and especially on the western roads, where the fall appears to have been deeper than in the south. The company at Bath, that wanted to attend the Quetn's birth-day, were strangely incommoded : many carriages of persons who got in their way to town from Bath as far as Marlborough, after strange embarrassments, here met with a ne plus ultra. The ladies fretted, and offered large rewards to labourers if they would shovel them a track to London ; but the relentless heaps of snow were too bulky to be removed ; and so the 1 8th passed over, leaving the company in very uncomfortable circumstances at the Castle and other inns. * The autumn preceding January 1768 was very wet, and particularly the month of September, during which there fell at Lyndon, in the county of Rutland, six inches and a half of rain. And the terrible long frost in 1739-40 set in after a rainy ses'.son, and when the springs were very high. I' The Natural History of Selborne 375 On the 20th the sun shone out for the first time since the frost began ; a circumstance that has been remarked before much in favour of vegetation. All this time the cold was not very intense, for the thermometer stood at 29°, 28°, 25°, and thereabout ; but on the 2ist it descended to 20°. The birds now began to be in a very pitiable 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 greedily devoured what dropped from them ; hares now came into men's gardens, and, scraping away the snow, devoured such plants as they could find. On the 22 nd 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 carriages ran about without the least noise. Such an exemption from din and clatter was strange, but not pleasant ; it seemed to convey an uncomfortable idea of desolation : — " Ipsa silentia terrent." On the 27th much snow fell all day, and in the evening the frost became very intense. At South Lambeth, for the four following nights, the thermometer fell to 11°, 7°, 6°, 6°, and at Selborne to 7°, 6°, 10°, and on the 31st of January, just before sunrise, with rime on the trees and on the tube of the glass, the quicksilver sunk exactly to zero, being 32° below the freezing point ; but by eleven in the morning, though in the shade, it sprang up to idy* — a most unusual degree of cold this for the south of England ! During these four nights the cold was so penetrating that it occasioned ice in warm chambers and under beds ; and in the * 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., thirty-four degrees below the freezing point. The thermometer used at Selborne was graduated by Benjamin Martin. ^ 'i • 11 ■(! 0 ■ t \ ■'I : } i \< II n )i II H Hi uh 376 T/)e Natural History of Selborne 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 encumbered 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 remembered by the oldest house- keepers living. According to all appearances we might now have expected the continuance of this rigorous weather for weeks to come, since every night increased in severity ; but, behold, without any apparent cause, on the ist 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 the thaw persisted ; and on the 3rd swarms of little insects were frisking and sporting in a court-yard at South Lambeth, as if they had felt no frost. Why the juices in the small bodies and smaller limbs of such minute 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 correspond- ents, at Lyndon, in the county of Rutland, the thermometer stood at 19° ; at Blackburn, in Lancashire, at 19° ; and at Manchester 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 turnips 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 damage sustained that befel in January 1768. Those laurels that were 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 ili The Natural History of Selborne 2>11 laurel-hedge, in a high situation, and facing to the north, was perfectly green and vigorous ; and the Portugal laurels remained unhurt. As to the birds, the thrushes and blackbirds were mostly de- stroyed ; and the partridges, by the weather and poachers, were so thmned that few remained to breed the following year. '1 J \h If I I' 1 h If JYewto^i Viccora^e LETTER LXIII. 'To the same. |S the frost in December 1784 was very extra- ordinary, you, I trust, will not be displeased to hear the particulars ; and especially when I . pro- mise to say no more about the severities of winter after I have finished this letter.* The first week in December was very wet, with the barometer very low. On the 7 th, with the barometer at 28*5 " — came on a vast snow, which continued all that day and the next, and most part of the following night ; so that by the morning of the 9th the works of men were quite overwhelmed, the lanes filled so as to be impassable, and the ground covered ' White here pretends to be still writing letters, but the pretence by this time has become sufficiently transparent. — Ed. 1^ '' The Natural History of Selborne 379 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 thermometer ; 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 loth, in the morning, the quicksilver of Dollond's glass was down to half a degree below zero ; and that of Martin's, which was absurdly graduated only to four 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 loth, at eleven at night, though the air was perfectly still, Dollond'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 loth, written to Mr. , and entreated him to hang out his thermometer, made by Adams, and to pay some atten- tion to it morning and evening, expecting wonderful phenomena, 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 disturbed at this unexpected reverse of comparative local cold, that we sent one of my glasses up, thinking that of Mr. must, somehow, be wrongly constructed. But, when the instruments came to be confronted, they went exactly together ; so that for one night at least, the cold at Newton was 18° less than at Selborne ; and, through the whole frost, 10° or 12°.' 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 * Mr. Miller, in his "Gardener's Dictionary," says positively 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 than that in the year above-mentioned. • I have observed an exactly similar fact on Hind Head, where the ther- mometer on frosty nights often stands higher than in the valley below. — Ed. \ \ 1 ifl 1 i| Hi ^il 380 The Natural History of Selborne Jaurel-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 con- firmed, and some rain fell. A circumstance that I must not omit, because it was new to us, is, that on Friday, December the loth, being bright sunshine, the air was full of icy spicuUy 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 evaporations from the snow frozen as they mounted } We were much obliged to the thermometers for the early inform- ation they gave us ; and hurried our apples, pears, onions, potatoes, &c., into the cellar, and warm closets ; while those who had not, or neglected such warnings, lost all their ctore of roots and fruits, and had their very bread and cheese frozen. I must not omit to tell you that, during these two Siberian days, my parlour cat was so electric, that had a person stroked 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 afl^ected by the frost while they were thrashing in a barn, that a mortification followed, from which they did not recover for many weeks. This frost k"led 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 1730-40. .1 TfvOrcd ^c/rd LETTER LXIV. 1^0 the same. IS the efFects of heat are seldom very remarkable in the northerly climate of England, where the summers are often so defective in warmth and sunshine as not to ripen the fruits of the earth so well as might be wished, I shall be more concise in my account ' ^ the severity of a summer season, and so mal •I'-tle amends for the prolix account of the degrees of cold, and the mconveniences 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 tre'^s suffered so much from the heat that the rind on the bodies was scal'.ed and came off; since which the trees have 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 annoyance is seldom of long continuance. During that summer also, I observed that my apples il 382 The Natural History of Selborne 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 Europe, where the heats were so great as to render the juices vapid and insipid. 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 spring.^ Such expedients have a great eflfect 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 honeysuckles, which were one week the most sweet and lovely objects that the eye could behold, became the next the most loathsome ; being e.iveloped in a viscous substance, 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 bri*- evapora- tion, and then in the night fall down again with the dev which they are entangled ; that the air is strongly scented, ana therefore impregnated with the particles of flowers in summer weather, our senses will inform us ; and that this clammy sweet substance is 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.^ ' These are what are known as "foundress wasps" — impregnated queens which struggle through the winter and become mothers of colonies in the succeeding season. The destruction of one such pregnant female in early spring is equivalent to the destruction of an entire nest in summer. — Ed. ■ Honey-dew is now known to be mainly produced by aphides, which White here incidentally notices side by side with it, without suspecting their causal connection. It is possible that a small amount of honey-dew may be exuded by the plants themselves, but by far the greater portion is undoubtedly due to the secretions of plant-lice. — Ed. The Natural History of Selborne 383 On chalky and sandy soils, and in the hot villages about 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 Jt exceed 80" ; nor docs 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 mountains cause currents of air and breezes ; and the vast effluvia from our woodlands temper and moderate our heats. I >- ,.'-i\ m . i! c^ J^C^^XTTTU cAu/TcA i ' I L. ' ..;i' ^n tTtbC^naJ^^^ n£a^,.yySrton LETTER LXV. To the same. [HE summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one, and full of horrible phasnomena ; for, besides the alarming meteors and tremendous thunder-storms that affrighted and distressed the different counties of this kingdom, the peculiar haze, or smoky 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, 2 B !/, i -i > t i u 386 The Natural History of Selborne unlike anything known within the memory of man. By my journal I find that I had noticed this strange occurrence from June 23 rd to July 20th 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 ferru- ginous light on the ground, and floors of rooms ; but was particularly lurid and blood-coloured at rising and setting.^ All the tiir*; the heat was so intense that butchers' meat could hardly be e?tp»- on the day after it was killed ; and the flies swarmed so in the es and hedges that they rendered the horses half frantic, and ridinj_^ ..some. 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 apprehensive ; for, all the while, Calabria and part of the isle of Sicily, were torn and convulsed with earthquakes ; and about that juncture a volcano sprang 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 phasnomena. " As when the sun, new risen, Looks through the horizontal, misty air. Shorn of his beams ; or from behind the moon. In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs ." ' The close resemblance of these phenomena to those which were observed to follow the great eruption of Krakatoa in Java readers it almost certain that they were due to a similar volcanic origin. This is the more likely since White specially notices volcanic activity throughout Europe as concomitants of the lurid sunsets. But the volcanic dust on which these appearances doubtles? depended may more likely have come from some extra-European crater, whose activity coincided with that of the European system. — Ed. r \ ! \ 1 1 \ i , ■ \ '^\ i Az L^ f « ii 11^1 ^an^e Jti/rm LETTER LXVI. To the same. are very seldom annoyed with thunder-storms ; and it is no less remarkable than true, that those which arise in the south have hardly been known to rc;ich this village ; for, before they get over us, they take a direction to the east or to the west, or sometimes divide in two, 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 tempests, and often from the south, yet we escaped them all, as appears by my journal of that summer. The only way that I can at all account for this fact — for r I ,1 n u 388 T6e Natural History of Selborne such it is — is that, on that quarter, between us and the sea, there are continual mountains, hill behind hill, such as Nore-hill, the Barnet, Butser-hill, and Portsdown, which somehow divert the storms, and give them a different direction. High pro:?iontories, 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 turbu- lent 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 morn- ing being 64°, and at noon 70°, the barometer at 29*61°, and the wind north, I observed a blue mist, smelling strongly of sulphur, hanging along our 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 assured 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, which lay next to it. It did but just reach to the middle of the village, where the hail broke my north windows, and all my garden lights and hand-glasses, and many of 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 occasioned a flood as violent as it was sudden ; doing great v.. The Natural History of Selborne 389 damage to the meadows and fallows, by deluging the one and wash- ing 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 two hundred weight. Those that saw the effect which the great hail had on ponds and pools say that the dashing of the water made an extraordinary appearance, the froth and spray standing up in the air three feet above the surface. The rushing and roarmg of the hail, as it approached, was truly tre- mendous. Though the clouds at South Lambeth, near London, were at that juncture thin and light, and no storm was in sight, nor within hear- ing, yet the air was strongly electric ; for the bells of an electric machine at that place rang repeatedly, and fierce sparks were dis- charged. When I first took the present work in hand I proposed to have added an " Annus Historico-naturaliSy or The Natural History of the Twelve Months of the Year ; " which would have comprised many incidents and occurrences that have not fallen in 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, I 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, Gil. White. Selborne, June 2$t/>, 1787. ' 1 U i . I J ■ § 1 r . ^ ,,.i\ f.'mm ! i ■' 1 |h h^ B« ' m ■ •i " I • _^ 1 . hi It i 1 '■■4. JjJfuXt^ jKinvu/me/nt OBSERVATIONS ON VARIOUS PARTS OF NATURE. FROM MR. white's MSS. WITH REMARKS BY MR. MARKWICK. ADVERTISEMENT. [The advertisement to the octavo Edition of Selborne, published in 1 802, and edited by John White, the brother of the author, will explain the manner in which the following Calendar and Observa- tions first came to be printed. I include them here in accordance with a now time-honoured custom.] " The favourable reception with which the works on natural history of my late respected relation, the Rev. Gilbert White of Selborne, have been honoured by the persons best qualified to judge of their merit, has induced me to present them to the public in a collected and commodious form, free from the encumbrance of any extraneous matter. His largest work, entitled 'The Natural History of Selborne,' has probably been supposed by many to be formed upon a more local and confined plan than it really is. In fact, the greater part of the observations are applicable to all that portion of the island in which he resided, and were indeed made in various places. Almost the only matter absolutely local is the account of the antiquities of the village of Selborne ; and this seemed to stand so much apart, that, however well calculated to gratify the lovers of topographical studies, it was thought that its entire omission would be considered no loss to the work, considered as a publication on natural history. Its place is occupied by the 'Naturalists' Calendar, and Miscellaneous Observations,' which appeared in a separate volume since the author's decease, extracted from his papers by Dr. Aitkin. That gentleman has also made some farther selections from the papers, which are now all in my 39^ The Natural History of Selborne possession ; and has undertaken the revision and arrangement of the whole. A very valuable addition to the calendar and observations has been obtained from the kindness of William Markwick, Esq., F.L.S., well known as an accurate observer of nature, whose parallel calendar, kept in the county of Sussex, is given upon the opposite columns. " The editor flatters himself that the publication in its present form will prove an acceptable addition to the library of the naturalist ; and will in particular be usc%l in inspiring youne persons, and those who pass their time in retiren.-^nt, with a taste for the very pleasing branch of knowledge on which it treats. " J. W. "Fleet Street, 1802." H OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. BIRDS IN GENERAL. In severe weather, fieldfares, redwings, 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 devoured every bunch of the latter. Red-starts, fly-catchers, and black-caps, arrive early in April. If these little delicate beings are birds of passage (as we have 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 turbu- lences, 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 frosts and winds return to their stations periodically as if they had met with nothing to obstruct them. The withdrawing and appearance of the short- winged summer birds is a very puzzling circumstance in natural history. I » *. , 'i 398 T6e Natural History of Selborne When the boys bring me wasps' nests, my bantam fowls fare deliciously, and when the combs are pulled to pieces, devour the young wasps in their maggot state with the highest glee and delight. Any msect-eating bird would do the same ; and therefore I have often wondered that the accurate Mr. Ray should call one species of buzzard buteo apivo"^us sive vespivorus, or the honey buzzard, because some combs of 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 T seen a tame kite picking up the female ants full of eggs, with much satisfaction. — 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 creatures come to us from a distant country, they will probably b*^ exposed in their passage, as Mr. White justly remarks, to much greater difficulties from stori-ns and tempests than their feeble powers appear to be able to surmount : on the other hand, if we suppose them to pass the winter in a dormant state in this country, concealed in caverns or other hiding-places sufficiently guaraed from the extreme cold of our winter to preserve their life, and that at the approach of spring they revive from their torpid state and reassume their usual powers of action, it will entirely remove the first difficulty, arising from the storms and tempests they are liable to meet with in their passage ; but how are we to gei 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 eff^ect, and how it operates on the functions of animal life, are questions not easily answered. How could Mr. Whi<-e suppose that Ray named this species the honey ' azzard, because it fed on honey, when he not only named it 1 The Natural History of Selborne 399 in Latin buteo apivorus et vespivorus^ 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 proper food, flesh, sometimes feed on insects I have little doubt, and I think I have observed the common buzzard, falco buteo, to settle on the ground and pick up insects of some kind or other. — Markwick. ROOKS. Rooks are continually fighting, and pulling each other's nests to pieces : these proceedings 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 permitted to finish any nest till the rest have completed their building. As soon as they get a fev; sticks together, a party comes and demolishes the whole. As soon as rooks have finished their nests, and before 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 expressed by the young, while in a helpless state. This gallant deportment of the males is continued through the whole season of incubation. These lairds 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 sufficiently 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. 400 The Natural History of Selborne w THRUSHES. Thrushes during long droughts are of great service in hunting out shell snails, which they pull to pieces for their young, and are thereby very serviceable in gardens. Missel thrushes do not destroy the fruit in gardens like the other species of turdi, but feed on the berries of mistletoe, and in the spring on ivy berries, which then begin to ripen. In the summer, when their young become fledged, they leave neighbourhoods, 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 probably to avoid such insults, that this species of thrush, though wild at other times, delights to build near houses, and in frequented walks and gardens. — White. 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 latter fact, for I remember, many years ago, seeing a pair of these birds fly up repeatedly 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 disturbed their nest, with great violence and loud shrieks. — Markwick. li vt Vt(* T" The Natural History of Selborne 401 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 fell. The earnest and early propensity of the gallinae to roost on high is very observable, and discovers a strong dread impressed on their spirits respecting vermin that may annoy 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 turkeys and guinea fowls, heavy as they are, get up into apple-trees ; pheasants 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 blow- ing. Partridges, it is true, roost on the ground, not having the faculty of perching ; but then the same fear prevails in their minds : for through apprehension from pole-cats and stoats, they never trust themselves to coverts, but nestle together in the midst of large fields, far removed from hedges and coppices, which they love to haunt in the day, and where at that season they can skulk 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 darkness 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 i ght long in peace and security. — White. 2e I * n -i 402 77)e Natural History of Selborne Guinea fowls not only roost on high, but in hard weather resort, even in the daytime, to the very tops of the highest trees. Last winter, when the ground was covered 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 : \ ordered them to be driven down lest they should be frozen to death in so elevated a situation, but this was not effected with- out 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 instance of which I have seen in the Earl of Ashburnham's menagerie, where the summer duck, anas sponsay flew up and settled on the branch of an oak-tree in my presence : 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 his own element, buffeted the fox with its wings about the head till it was drowned. — Markwick. 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 n The Natural History of Selborne 403 from us. While the dam acted this distress, 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 bar':. So wonderful a power is instinct. — White. It is not uncommon to see an old partridge 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 hunting a young pointer, the dog ran on a brood of very small partridges : the old bird cried, fluttered, and ran tumbling along just before the dog's nose till she had drawn him to a considerable distance, when she took wing, and flew still farther ofi^, but not out of the field : on this the dog returned to le, 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 tumbling 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 cer a covey of young partridges, the old birds fly up at the bird of prey, scream- ing and fighting with all their might to preserve their brood. — Markwick. f :1 \n A HYBRID PHEASANT. :k. Lord Stawell sent me from the great lodge in the Hold a curious bird for my inspection. It was found by the spaniels of one of his keepers in a coppice, and shot on the wing. The shape, air, and habit of the bird, and the scarlet ring round the eyes, agreed well with the appearance 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 full grown cock pheasant, yet there were no signs of any spurs on the * Hen pheasants usually weigh only two pounds ten ounces. n -.1 M 404 T6e Natural History of Selborne legs, as is usual with all grown cock pheasants, who have long ones. The legs and feet were naked of feathers and therefore it could be nothing of the grouse kind. In the tail were no 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 pheasant, 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» 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 grouse or blackcock ; it is however to be observed, that Mr. W. remarks, that its legs and feet were naked, whereas those of the grouse are feathered to the toes. — White, I H Mr. 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 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 has just begun ta assume the plumage of the cock. — Markwick. -i 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 i^n The Natural History of Selborne 405 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. When we came to draw it, we found the entrails so soft and tender in appearance, 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 attrition 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 functions of gravels or pebbles, and might grind one another. Land-rails used to abound formerly, I remem- ber, 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 seven and a half ounces, was fat and tender, and in flavour like the flesh of a woodcock. The liver was very large and delicate. — White. 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 1 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 to fly 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. ■-I ! HM ^ 406 The Natural History of Selborne ^ What Mr. White remarks respecting the small shell snails found in its gizzard, confirms my 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 OF THE RING-DOVE. * One of my neighbours shot a ring-dove on an evening as it was returning from feed and going to roost. When his wife 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 provided in this extra- ordinary 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 lon^ be healthy without ; for turkeys, though corn- fed, delight in a variety of plants, such as cabbage, lettuce, endive, &c., and poultry pick much grass ; while geese live for months together on commons by grazing alone. " Nought is useless made; On the barren heath i The shepherd tends his flock that daily crop Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf Sufficient : after them the cackling giose. Close-graziery finds whereviith to ease her tvant." Philips's Cyder. White. That many graminivorous birds feed also on the herbage or leaves of plants, there can be no doubt : partridges and larks frequently feed on the green leaves of turnips, which give a peculiar flavour to their flesh that is to me very palatable : the flavour also of wild ducks and geese greatly depends on the nature of their food ; and their flesh IJ The Natural History of Selborne 407 frequently contracts a rank unpleasant taste from their having lately fed on strong marshy aquatic plants, as I suppose. That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome and conducive to the health of birds seems probable, for many people fat their ducks and turkeys with the leaves of lettuce 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 hawks cannot always seize tl\eir game when they please. We may farther observe, that they cannot pounce their quarry on the ground where it might be able to make a stout resist- ance, since so large a fowl as a pheasant could not but be visible to the piercing eye of a hawk, when hovering over the field. Hence that propensity of cowering and squatting till they are almost trod on, which no doubt was intended as a mode of security ; though long rendered destructive to the whole race of gallinas 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 wood- cock instead of the hawk, which, notwithstanding the report of three guns cloF i by it, continued its pursuit of the woodcock, struck it down, and carried it off, as we afterwards discovered. At another time, when partridge-shooting with a friend, we saw a f 1 1 ■ *■ 1 '* L !^&^ Natural History of Selborne SWALLOWS, CONGREGATING 1 ND DISAPPEAR- ANCE OF. During the severe winds that often prevail late in the spring it is not easy to say how the hirundines subsist ; for they withdraw themselves, and are hardly ever seen, nor do any insects appear for their support. That they can retire to rest and sleep away these uncomfortable periods, as bats do, is a -natter rather to be suspected than proved ; or do they not rather spend their time in deep and sheltered vales near waters, where insects are more likely to be found } Certain it is, that hardly any individuals of this genus have at such times been seen for several days together. September 13, 1791. The congregating flocks of hirundines on the church and tower are very beautiful and amusing. 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 i-he heat of the day preparing for their emigration, and, as it ^'.ere, consulting when and where they are to go. The flight about the church seems to consist chiefly of house-martins, about 400 in number ; but there are other places of rendezvous about the village frequented at the same time. It is remarkable that though most of them sit on the battlements and roof, yet many hang or cling for some time by their claws against the surface of the walls, in 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 s'.;en this morning at Newton vicarage-house, hovering and settling on the roofs and out-buildings. None have been observed at Selborne since October 11. It is very remarkable, that after the hirundines have disappeared for some weeks, a few are occasionally seen again ; The Natural History of Selborne 419 sometimes in the first week in November, and that only for one day. Do they not withdraw and slumber in seme hiding-place in the interval ? For we cannot suppose they had emigrated to warmer climes and so returned again for one day. Is it not more probable that they are awakened from sleep, and, 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 phalaenae and moths are stirring. These swallows looked like young ones. — V/hite. 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 passage 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. 259 of his "History of Selborne"; and of their congregating together on the roofs of churches and other buildings, and on trees, previous to their departure, many instances occur ; particularly I once observed a large stock 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 spreading their wings to the sun, and then flying ofl^ all together, but soon return- ing to their former situation. The greatest part of these birds seem to be young ones. — Markwick. WAGTAILS. While the cows are feeding in the moist low pastures, broods of wagtails, white and grey, run round them, close up to their noses, and under their very bellies, availing themselves of the flies that settle on their legs, and probably finding worms and law^e that are roused by the trampling of their feet. Nature is such an economist, that the most incongruous animals can avail themselves of each other. Interest makes strange friendships, — White. I \ I. i 1' 420 T6e Natural History of Selborne Birds continually avail themselves of particular and unusual circumstances to procure their food ; thus wagtails keep playing about the noses and legs of cattle as they feed, in quest of flies and other insects which abound near those animals ; and great numbers of them will follow close to the plough to devour the worms, &c., that are turned up by that instrument. The redbreast attends the gardener when digging his borders ; and will, with great familiarity and tameness, pick out the worms, almost close to his spade, as I have frequently seen. Starlings and magpies very often sit on the backs of sheep and deer to pick out their ticks.— Markwick. WRYNECK. These birds appear on the grass-plots and walks ; they walk a little as well as hop, and thrust their bills into the turf, in quest, I con- clude, of ants, which are their food. While they hold their bills in the grass they draw out their prey with their tongues, which are so long as to be coiled round their heads. — White. GROSBEAK. 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 havoc among the buds of the cherries, gooseberries, and wall-fruit of all the neighbouring orchards. Upon 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 somewhat hard in its mouth, which it broke with difficulty ; these were the stones of damsons. The Latin ornithologists call this bird Coccothraustes — i.e.y berry-breaker, because 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 sort are rarely seen in England, and only in winter. — White. The Natural History of Selborne 421 I have never seen this rare bird but during the severest cold ai 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 different years. — Markwick. ,. OBSERVATIONS ON QUADRUPEDS. SHEEP. I I U \> The sheep on the downs this winter (1769) are very 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 distinguish one another as before. This embarrassment seems not so much to arise from the loss of the fleece, which may occasion an alteration in their appearance, as from the defect of that no/us odor^ dis- criminating each individual personally ; which also is confounded by the strong scent of pitch and tar wherewith they are newly marked ; for the brute creation recognise each other more from the smell than the sight ; and in matters of identity and diversity 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. St.. '•♦ 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. The Natural History q/ Seiborne 423 CAT AND SQUIRRELS. A BOY has taken three young squirrels in their nest or drey as 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 thaf she nurses and suckles them with the same assiduity and affection as if they were her own offspring. This circumstance corroborates my suspicion that the mention of exposed and deserted children being nurtured by female beasts of prey who had lost their young may not be so im- probable an incident as many have supposed ; and therefore may be a justification of those authors who have gravely mentioned what some have deemed to be a wild and improbable story. So many people went to see the little squirrels suckled by a cat that the foster-mother became jealous of her charge, and in pain for their safety ; and therefore hid them over the ceiling, where one died. 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 hunts- man 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 un- .0 ^ V^ ''^^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1^128 |25 HfflSBI — 6" ^ Hiotographic Sciences Carporalio^ 23 WIST MANI STIUT WItSTIR.N.Y. USM (7I*)«72-4S03 m 424 The Natural History of Selborne harboured ; but though the huntsmen drew Hartley Wood and Long Coppice, and Shrubwood, and Temple Hangers, and in their way back Hartley and Wardleham 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. y cy , OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES. INSECTS IN GENERAL. The day and night insects occupy the annuals alternately : the papilios, muscae, and apes, are succeeded at the close of day by phalsns, earwigs, woodlice, &c. In the dusk of the evening, when beetles begin to buz, partridges begin to call ; these two circum- stances are exactly coincident. Ivy is the last flower that supports the hymenopterous and dip- terous insects. On sunny days quite on to November, they swarm on trees covered with this plant ; and when they disappear, probably retire under the shelter of its leaves, concealing themselves between its fibres and the trees which it entwines. — White. This I have often observed, having seen bees and other winged insects swarming about the flowers of the ivy very late in the autumn. — Mark wick. Spiders, woodlice, lepismae in cupboards and among sugar, some empedes, gnats, 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 sunny day the winter through clouds of insects usually called gnats (I suppose tipuls and empedes) appear sporting and : 'i I 426 The Natural History of Seiborne dancing over the tops of the evergreen-trees in the shrubbery, and striking about as if the business of generation was still going on. Hence it appears that these diptera (which by their sizes appear to be of different species), are not subject to a torpid state in the winter, as most winged insects are. At night, and in frosty weather, 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 frequently observed swarms of little winged insects playing up and down in the air in the middle of 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 own down in hot summer days, which always amuses me -luch, 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 sound is to be heard distinctly the whole 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 convolved. The quivering nations sport." — Thomson's Seasons, White. n i- ^ M • n tii ' 428 T'he Natural History of Selborne CHAFFERS. CocKCHAFFERS seldom abound oftener than once in three or four years ; when they swarm, they deface the trees and hedges. Who'le woods of oaks are stripped bare by them. Chaffers are eaten by the turkey, the rook, and the house- sparrow. The Scarabaus sohtitialis first appears about June 26th : they are very punctual in their coming out every year. They are a small species, about half the size of the MaychafFer, and are known in some parts by the name of the fern chaffer. — White. A singular circumstance relative to the cockchafFer, or as it is called here, the May-bug, {Scarab a us 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 March, it did not show itself above ground till nearly two months afterwards .'' — Markwick. PTINUS PECTINICORNIS. Those maggots that make worm-holes in tables, chairs, bedposts, &c., and destroy wooden furniture, especially where there is any sap, are the larvae of the Ptinus pectinicornis. This insect, it is probable, deposits its eggs on the surface, and the worms eat their way in. In their holes they turn into their pupas state, and so come forth Hi r four Nhdk louse- the Natural History of Selborne 429 wingef" 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 lasting utensils or furniture. If their eggs are deposited on the surface, frequent rubbing will preserve wooden furniture. — White. ii : they small wn in } It is 1 this about rfectly them in the 1 saw make armed nd till 1 posts, s any , it is t their ; forth BLATTA ORIENTALIS.— COCKROACH. A NEIGHBOUR Complained that her house was overrun with a kind of blackbeetle, or, as she expressed herself, with a kind of blackbob, which swarmed in her kitchen when they got up in a morning before daybreak. 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 examination 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 conveyed 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 associate together ; but he is mistaken in that assertion, as Linnaeus suspected he was. They are altogether night insects, (Luci/ng^), 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 flexible. October, 1790. After the servants are gone to bed the kitchen ni 43 o Tk^ Natural History of Selborne hearth swarms with the young crickets and young 'BlatU molendinaria 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 of Blattte molendinariay 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, the males come flying in ai the casements from the neighbouring houses, which swarm ^'ith them. How the females, that seem to have no perfect wings that they can use, can contrive to get from house to house does not so readily appear. These, like many insects, when they find their present abodes overstocked, have powers of migrating to fresh quarters. Since the Blattie have been so much kept under, the crickets have greatly increased in number. — White. I I 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 uncom- fortable months in the profoundest slumbers, and a state of torpidity. When house-crickets are out and running about in a room in the night, if surprised by a candle, they give two or three shrill notes, as it were for a signal to their fellows, that they may escape to their crannies and lurking-holes, to avoid danger. — White. u The Natural History of Selborne 431 i\ CIMEX LINEARIS. August 12, 1775. Cimices lineares are now in high copulation on Eonds and pools. The females, who vastly exceed the males in u!k, dart and shoot along on the surface of the water with the males on their backs. When a female chooses to be disengaged, 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 with- out doubt to be viviparous. — White. ) 1^'. . t' PHAL^NA QUERCUS. Most of our oaks are naked of leaves, and even the Holt in general, having been ravaged by the caterpillars of a small PhaUnay which is of a pale yellow colour. These insects, though a feeble race, yet, from their infinite numbers, are of wonderful effect, being able to destroy the foliage of whole forests and districts. At this season they leave their aurelia^ and issue forth in their fly-state, swarming and covering the trees and hedges. In a field at Greatham I saw a flight of swifts busied in catching their prey near the ground, and found they were hawking after these Phalana, 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 falling out. — White. I suspect that the insect here meant is not the Phalana quercuSy but the Phalana viridata^ concerning which I find the following note in my " Naturalist's Calendar " for the year 1785. f 432 The Natural History of Selborne 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 narrowly, 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 exuvia or remains of the chrysalis, from whence I suppose the moths had issued, and whose caterpillar had eaten the leaves. — Markwick. i ii « 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 struggling 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 Carniola. 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 summer'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 honeysuckle ; it scarcely settles upon the plants, but feeds on the wing in the manner of humming-birds. — White. The Natural History of Seiborne 433 I have frequently seen ; ,e large bee moth, Sphinx stellatarum, inserting its long tongue or proboscis into the centre of flowers, and feeding on their nectar, without settling on them, but keeping constantly on the wing. — Markwick. WILD BEE. There is a sort of wild bee frequenting the garden campion for the sake of its tomentum, which probably it turns to some 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 secure between its chin and its fore legs. 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. ' H WASPS. Wasps abound in woody wild districts far from neighbourhoods ; they feed on flowers, and catch flies and caterpillats to carry to their young. Wasps make their nests with the raspings of sound timber ; hornets with what they gnaw from decayed : these particles of wood 2 e Jl '^ 434 The Natural History of Selborne 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 sucic the honey from flowers, from ivy blossoms and umbellated plants : they carry ofl^ also flesh from butchers' shambles. — White. In the year 1775, wasps abounded so prodigiously in this neigh- bourhood, 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, and the mother of the future swarm. — Markwick. ty 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 tormenting to horses, trying still to enter their nostrils and ears, and actually laying their eggs in the latter of these organs, or perhaps in both. When these aoound, horses in wood- land districts, become very impatient at their work, continually tossing their heads, and rubbing their noses on each other, regardless of the driver, so that accidents often ensue. In the heat of the day, men are often obliged to desist from ploughing. Saddle-horses are ' An The Natural History of Sei borne 435 also very troublesome at such seasons. Country people call this insect the nose-fly. — White. Is not this insect the Oestrus nasa/iso( Linnxus, so well described by Mr. Claik in the third volume of the " Linnaian Transactions," under the name of Oestrus veterinus? — Markwick. ICHNEUMON-FLY. I SAW lately a small ichneumon-fly attack 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 vehemence, 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 carcase would afford ready food for the maggots. Perhaps some eggs might be injecte . into the body of the spider, in the act of stinging. Some ichneumon deposit their eggs in the aurelia of moths and butterflies. — White. In my " Naturalist's Calendar " for 1795, July 21 t, I find the following note : It is not uncommon for some of the species of ichneuiii'^'T-flii'q to deposit their eggs in the chrysalis of a butterfly ; some time ago I put two of the chrysales of a butterflv into ;i Ikic, and covered it with gauze, to discover what species ^ "^ butterfly they would pro- duce ; but instead of a butterfly, one of them produced a numb>«I 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 larv<£; but none more remarkable 'than that of the ichneumon tipuU, which pierces \ i I; 436 T6e Natural Hhtory of Selborne the tender bodies and deposits its eggs in the larva of the Tipula tritici, an insect, 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 'Bombylius medtus is much about in March and the beginning of April, and soon seems to retire. It is an hairy insect, like a 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 together. — White. I have often seen this incect fly with great velocity, stop on a sudden, hang in 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 any other substance. — Markwick. ' .. MUSCiE.— FLIES. In the decline of the year, when the mornings and evenings become chilly, many species of flies {Muscle) retire into houses, and swarm in the windows. At first they are very brisk and alert ; but as they grow more torpid, one cannot help observing that they move with difficulty, 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, beside their sharp hooked nails, have also skinny palms, or flaps to their feet, whereby they are enabled to stick on the glass and other smooth bodies, and to walk on ceilings with their backs downward, by means of the pressure of =3: The Natural History of Selborne 437 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 to the glass, and it is with the utniost difficulty they can draw one foot after another, and disengage their hollow caps from the slippery 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. — White. TIPULyE, OR EMPEDES. May. Millions of empedes, or tipuU, 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 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 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 ist of August, about half an hour after three in the after- noon, the people of Selborne v/ere surprised by a shower of aphides which fell in these parts. They who were walking in the streets at that time found themselves covered with these insects, which settled also on the trees and gardens, and blackened all the vegetables where they alighted. These armies, no doubt, were in a state of emigration, and shifting their quarters ; and might perhaps 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 of Alton. — White. I; I' 438 The Natural History of Selborne 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 settlements, lay a foundation for future colonies. All the females at this time are pregnant : the males that escape being eaten, wander away and die. October 2. Flying-ants, male and female, 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 appearance 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 backward, 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 aureliai of smaller ants, which they seize by violence. — White. In my "Naturalist's Calendar " for the year 1777, on September 6th, I find the following 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 continually dropping to the ground as if from the tret 3, and others rising up from the ground ; many of them were joined together 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 propagate 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 eighth of September, 1785, I again The Natural History of Selborne 439 observed the same circumstance of a vast number of these insects flying near the tops of the elms and dropping to the ground. On the 2nd of March, 1777, I saw great numbers of ants come out of the ground. — Markwick. GLOW-WORMS By observing two glow-worms which were brought into the field to the back in 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. EARTH-WORMS. Earth-worms make their casts most in mild weather about March and April ; they do not lie torpid in winter, but come forth when there is no frost ; they travel about in rainy nights, as appears from their sinuous 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 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 content 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 commerce 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. 440 'I'he Natural History of Selborne 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 ^tpioiKog, does not come forth at all till about April loth, 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 inclemencies. 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 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. SNAKE'S SLOUGH. " T/>ere the snahe throws her enameWd skin." Shakespeare's Mids. Night's Dream, About the middle of this month (September) we found in a field near a hedge the slough of a large snake, which seemed to have been newly cast. From circumstances 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 or I '/vJ I/. ski/ ,' h^ \ MP k ll ) i ill : Mil I if I m 442 T/}e Natural History of Selborne pair of spectacles. The reptile, at the time of changing his coat, 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," — Lucret. 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 changing his garment. As the convexity of the scales of the eyes in the slough is now inward, that circumstance alone is a proof that the skin has been turned : not to mention 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 be blind, and feel 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 intricately 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. I OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES. TREES, ORDER OF LOSING THEIR LEAVES. One of the first trees that becomes naked is the walnut ; the mulberry, the ash, especially if it bears many keys, and the horse- chestnut 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 deep chestnut colour. Tall beeches cast their leaves about the end of October. — W h i t e . M I ^ SIZE AND GROWTH. Mr. Marsjiam 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 one foot from the earth, twelve feet six inches in circumference, and at fourteen feet (the half of the timber length) is eight feet two inches. So if the bark was to be measured as timber, the tree gives 1 16^ 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. Sec, as related in the Phil. Trans. I wish I had ii \ ij 444 '^^^ Natural History of Selborne ' begun with beeches (my favourite trees as well as yours), I might then have seen very large trees of my own raising. But I did not begin with beech till 1741, and then by seed ; so that my largest is now at five feet from the ground, six feet three inches in girth, and with its head spreads a circle of twenty yards diameter. This tree was also dug round, washed, &c." Sratton^ i^th July^ 1790. The circumference of trees planted by myself at one foot from the ground ( 1 790). h. in. Oak in Ash Great fir •73° 1730 1751 + + 5 0 Greatest beech 1751 + 0 Elm Lime 1750 1756 5 5 3 5 The great oak in the Holt, which is deemed by Mr. Marsham to be the oiggest in this island, at seven feet from the ground, measures in circumference thirty-four feet. It has in old times lost several of its boughs, and is tending to decay. Mr. Marsham computes, that at fourteen feet length this oak contains i,coo feet of timber. 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 peep over an opposite roof at the beginning 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 suppo- sition, a tree may advance in height considerably, though the summer shoot should be destroyed every year. — White. The Natural History of Selborne 445 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 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-chestnuts, and maples, once defaced by those insects, never recover their beauty again for the whole season. — White. I 't 1 (f 1 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 sterile abound in foliage, and carry their verdure a long while, and are pleasing objects. — White. BEECH. Beeches love to grow in crowded situations, and will insinuate themselves through the thickest covert, so as to surmount it all : they are therefore proper to mend thin places in tall hedges. — White. 44^ The Natural History of Selborne 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 incurious observers have been taken for the 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 of cynips. Some poplars in the garden are quite loaded with these excrescences. — White. CHESTNUT TIMBER. John Carpenter brings home some old chestnut trees which are very long ; in several 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 shaky, and towards the heart cup-shaky (that is to say, apt to separate 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. Chestnut sells for half the price of oak ; but has sometimes been sent into the king's docks, and passed off instead of oak. — White. The Natural History of Selborne 447 LIME BLOSSOMS. Dr. Chandler tells that in the south of France an infusion of the blossoms of the lime tree, T'/V/Vz, 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 greedilv ^-'.thering the bloom, which they dried and kept for these purpose J. Upon the strength of this information we made some tea of lime blossoms, and found it a very soft, well-flavoured, pleasant, saccharine julep, in taste much resembling the juice of liquorice. — White. BLACKTHORN. This tree usually blossoms while cold north-east winds blow ; so that the harsh rugged weather obtaining at this season is called by the country people blackthorn winter. — White. IVY BERRIES. Ivv BERRIES form a noble and providential supply for birds in winter and spring ; for the first severe frost freezes and spoils all the haws, sometimes by the middle of November ; ivy berries do not seem to freeze. — White. HOPS. The culture of Virgil's vines correspond 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 superfluous shoots, &c., but lately I have observed a h 448 The Natural History of Selborne new circumstance, which was a neighbouring 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 Flectere luctantes inter vintia juvtncos" — Georo. Hops are dioecious plants ; hence perhaps it might be proper, though not practised, to leave purposely some male plants in every garden, that their farina might impregnate 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 hailstorm, 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. 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 vegetate 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 "strawberry 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. The Natural History of Selborne 449 BEANS SOWN BY BIRDS. Many horse-beans sprang up in my Aeld- 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 pease are growing also in the same situation, and probably under the same circum- stances.— 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 female bloom. When they are once induced 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 178 1, 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 exude, which being extravasated, occasion spots, discolour the stems and blades, and injure the health of the plants } — White. ap it ■J.1 K1 n 450 T^e Natural History of Selborne 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 woods, but in narrow hedge-rows and the skirts of coppices. Some truffles, he informed 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 different 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 v/et 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, and is convey able with it : for the turf of my garden- walks, brought from the down above, abounds with those appear- ances, 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. ( pocket ays these ige-rows , lie two latter, he irered by was the ' abound different ning, yet s on the , subsists 1 garden- ; appear- ntinually, nts, and >r obtain, ought in METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. BAROMETER. November 22, 1768. A remarkable fall of the barometer all over the kingdom. 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 sunrise, 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 partial fogs about ; where the fog obtains, little or no frost appears ; but where the 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 seasons seems to come down from above ; for the coming over of a cloud in severe nights raises the I I I 452 The Natural History of Selborne 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 places, the paths and fields are all in a batter. 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 released by the thaw. No wonder then that the surface is all in a float ; since the quantity of moisture by evaporation that arises daily from every acre of ground is astonishing. — 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 aflirms, many dozen so disabled. — White. II 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 supposed 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. REFLECTION OF FOG. When people walk in a deep white fog by night with a lanthorn, if they will turn their backs to the light, they will see their shades impressed on the fog in rude gigantic proportions. This phenome- non seems not to have been attended to, but implies the great density of the meteor at that juncture. — White. The Natural History of Selborne 4.53 HONEY-DEW. June 4, 1783. Fast honey-dews this week. The reason of these seem 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 rre 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 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. n MORNING CLOUDS. After a bright night and vast dew, the sky usually becqmes 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 aware how much ten days dripping weather will influence the growth of grass or corn after a severe dry season. This present 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 loth, there is an agree- able prospect of plenty. — White. fV 454 ^f^^ Natural History of Selborne AURORA BOREALIS. November i, 1787. The N. aurora made a particular appearance, forming itself into a broad, red, fiery belt, which extended from E. to W. across the welkin : but the moon rising at about ten o'clock ii unclouded majesty in the E. put an end to this grand but awful metuorous phenomenon. — White. BLACK SPRING, 1771. Dr. Johnson says, that "in 1771 the season was so severe in the island of Skye, 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 require the male at the usual season." The case was just the same with us here in the south ; never were 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 sur- prising 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. ON THE DARK, STILL, DRY, WARM WEATHER, OCCASIONALLY HAPPENING IN THE WINTER MONTHS. Th^ 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 composed: thick stream From land, from flood up-drawn, dimming the day " Like a dark ceiling stand : " slow thro^ the air tice, rom ten but the lack for so )n." /ere dful sur- any ions The Natural History of Selborne 455 Gossamer floats^ or stretch' d Jrom blade to blade The wavy net-work whitens all the field. Push'd 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, enamoured wood-lark runs Thro' all his maze of melody : — the brake Loud with the black-bird'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 : With glee the gardener eyes his smoking beds : E'en pining sickness feels a short relief. The happy schoolboy 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 gloom; 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 fljat the delug'd paths, and miry fields. i^'^ '^ * The Barometer. 45 6 The Natural History of Selborne w X H < X H b O < CO Q Bd OS O z D S Q Z < CA M s o z < o U < Cd o VO •" 0 "^ ITN m W^ fO vo' N N N 4-00 «<^ N «+- K% -*- ■+ 1 -« 0 VO N VO »«^ N ■+ »«^ - N vo OS OS — lA d •>*■ ''v + N o Z "" "" 0 t^OO CT^^ t^ unvo "^ t^ 0 1-^ N »^ _ QO v£> CTv — VO N «A •4' N ■4- »+■ d «A\d 00 "" o ^ t^ t^ M _ _ «- .^ cr> i-I ■• d i-r\»Air\d >AnvO >A u CA N N •« •* CTvVO "« N vc fn H^ rOLr^NI^'4-"l'^^id>->^ < N N 00 «4 »«^00 N CT^ fn 1^ N oc' N »n «A •4- d »^ d N ""■ ■»♦■ "3 OM^ 0 0 ON«noO O^ ■+VO ^ 0 ■»♦- ■+00 OS ITS irsvo N i^ •" r^ »' N* t^ •.' \o rri rn r^ Lr> J> u e 3 t-~. 00 *0 rn N l^ N M — OM^ — ■ N rn J «■ — «■ .^ d d N ■+ -♦- N 0 0 0 ^ "^00 ro 0 moo "^^0 ■'♦-VO t^ M^ r»^ 0 so" N """ d N N d 4- 4- "-' »^ N 1 < 1^00 N t^ ""■+—"« -t- K^OO vTMiu OS — 00 r^vo 00 vo — 0 + d«^d""dd-"«^""' + Ov »A 2 '^'-0 N 0 NOO •" l^ir>0\0 ir\ .« 00 »«^>0 N t«^ ■+ •+ u^ 1^ VO* n' tn d •" .^ »; N d •4-vo' N M ^ 00 +1^0 N t^t^>- OS -"l-OO Osi^ r^oo ■'t-vo f«^ "" •+VO vo 1^ trid •" »" rnr^i + d 4-"" M C ■4- «<^oo -^—oo 000 ov'<^r^ vo ■+ "■ 00 osoo ^ •+ OS I~^ 4- -4- «^ N vo' d -' •4- -■ vo" vo" 1 N K^ ■+ i^VO t^OO Ov 0 "" N K^ OOOOOOOOQOOOQOOO ^O^^Ov r^ t^ i-^ t^ t^ 1^ r^ t^ t^ 1^ t^ i^ SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. i 1768 begins with a fortnight's frost and snow; rainy during February. Cold and wet spring : wet season from the beginning 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. 1769. January and February, frosty and rainy, with gleams of fine weather in the intervals. To the middle of March, wind and To the end of March, dry and windy. To the middle of ram. April, stormy, with rain. To the end of June, fine weatther, 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 October, frosty mornings, with fine days. The next fortnight rainy ; thence to the end of November dry and frosty. December, 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 sun- shine. The first fortnight in July, dark and sultry ; the latter part of the month, heavy rain. August, September, and the first fort- night in October, in general, fine weather, though with frequent interruptions of rain ; from the middle of October to the end of the year almost incessant rains. ii II n r> 'I P^ ■J 45 8 The Natural History of Selborne 1 77 1. 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 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 of 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, hard frost. To the end of the first week in March, misty, showery weather. Bright spring days to the close of the month. Frequent showers to the latter end of April. To the end of June, warm showers with intervals of sunshine. To the end of August, dry weather with a few days of rain. To the end of the first fortnight in November, 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 15 th 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 third week in July ; thence to the 24th of August, sultry, with thunder and occasional showers. To the end of the third 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 (motacilla boarula) ^"a^k", wagtail. ap. . . .r ^**'" ' (motacilla alba) ap. Missel thrush (turdus viscivorus) sings . Bcarsfoc. (helleborus fcetidus) fl. . Polyanthus (primula polyantha) fl. Double daisy (bellis perennis plena) fl. . Meicreon (daphne mczereum) fl. . Pansy (viola tricolor) fl. . . . Red dead-nettle (lamium purpureum) fl. Groundsel (senecio vulgaris) fl. Hazel (corylus avellana) fl. . Hepatica (anemone hepatica) fl. . Hedge-sparrow (sylvia modularis) sings , Common flies (musca domcstica) seen) in numbers . . . . ) Jan. I-I2 Jan. i-i8 . Jan. 1-14, . Jan. I, Feb. 18 . Jan. 2 ... Jan. 2-1 1 Jan, 2-14 . Jan. 2, Feb. 14 . Jan. 2, Apr. 12 . Jan. 2, Feb. I Jan. 3, Feb. 16 . Jan.. 3 Jan. 3-21 . . , Jan. 3-15 . Jan. 3, Feb. 28 . Jan, 4, Feb, 18 . Jan. 5-12 . Jan. 5, Feb. 3 . Jan. 3 — 31, and again Oct. 6. Oct. 16, Feb. 9. Mar. 3, Apr, 10, Feb, 28, Apr, 17. Jan. 16, May 31. Jan. 24, Mar. 26. Dec. 12, Feb. 23. Feb. 19, Apr. 14. Mar. I, May 5. Jan. I, Apr. 9. Mar. 17, Apr. 29. Jan. 2, Apr. 4. Jan. I, May 10. Jan. I, Apr. 5. Jan. I.. Apr. 9. Jan. 21, Mar. 11. Jan. 17, Apr. 9. Jan. 16, Mar. 13. May 15. 468 The Natural History of Selborne ^ t Greater titmouse (parus major) sings Thrush (turdus musicus) sings Insects swarm under sunny hedges Primrose (primula vulgaris) fl. Bees (apis melliiica) ap. Gnats play about .... Chaffinches, male and female (fringilla) ccelebs) seen in equal numbers. ) Furze or gorse (ulex europaeus) fl. Wall-flower (cheiranthus cheiri j seu) fruticulosus of Smith) fl. . ) Stock (cheiranthus incanus) fl. Emberiza alba (bunting) in great flocks . Linnets (fringilla linota) congregate Lambs begin to fall .... Rooks (corvus frugilegus) resort to their) nest trees .... J Black hellebore (helleborus niger) fl. Snowdrop (galanthus nivalis) fl. . White dead-nettle (lamium album) fl. . Trumpet honeysuckle, fl. , . . Common creeping crowfoot (ranun-) cuius repens) fl, . . ) House-sparrow (fringilla domestica) chirps Dandelion (leontodon taraxacum) fl. Bat (vespertilio) ap. . Spiders shoot their webs Butterfly ap Brambling (fringilla montifringilla) ap. Blackbird (turdus merula) whistles Wren (sylvia troglodytes) sings Earthworms lie out Crocus (crocus vernus) fl. Skylark (alauda arvensis) sings Ivy casts its leaves Helleborus hiemalis fl. Common dor or clock (scarabasus ster- corarius) .... WHITE. Jan. 6, Feb. 6 Jan. 6-22 . Jan. 6. Jan. 6, Apr. 7 Jan. 6, Mar. 19 . Jan. 6, Feb. 3 Jan. 6-1 1 . Jan. 8, Feb. i . Jan. 8, Apr. i Jan. 8-12 . Jan. 9, Jan. 9 Jan. 9-1 1 . Jan. 10, Feb. 11 . Jan. 10 Jan. 10, Feb. 5 . Jan. 13 Jan. 13. Jan. 13 Jan. 14 Jan. 16, Mar. 11 . Jan. 16, Mar. 24. Jan. 16 Jan. 16 . j Jan. 16 Jan. 17 Jan. 17 Jan. 18, Feb. 8. Jan. 13, Mar. 18 . Jan. 21 Jan. 22 Jan. 22-24 • Jan. 23 . j MARKWICK.. Feb. 17, Mar. 17. Jan. 1 5, Apr. 4. Jan. 3, Mar. 22. Jan. 31, Apr. 11 ; [last seen Dec. 30. Dec. 2, Feb. 3. Jan. I, Mar. 27. Feb. 21, May 9. Feb. I, June 3. Jan. II. Jan. 6, Feb. 21. Jan. 23. Apr. 27. Jan. 18, Mrsr. i. Mar. 23, May 10. Apr. 10, May 12. Feb. 17, May 9. Feb. I, Apr. 17. Feb. 6, June i ; [last seen Nov. 20. Feb. 21, May 8 ; last seen Dec. 22. Jan. 10 — 31. Feb. 15, May 13. Feb. 7, June 12. Jan. 20, Mar. 19. Jan. 12, Feb. 27 ; [sings till Nov. 13. Feb. 28, Apr. 17. Feb. 12, Apr. 12 ; [last seen Nov. 24. The Natural History of Selborne 469 Peziza acetabulum ap. . Helleborus virid fl. Hazel (corylus avellana) fl. . Woodlark (alauda arborea) sings Chaffinch (fringilla coelebs) sings Jackdaws begin to come to churches Yellow wagtail (motacilla flava) ap. Honeysuckle (lonicera periclymenum) 1 Field or procumbent speedwell (vero-) nica agrestis) fl. . . . ) Nettle butterfly (papilio urticae) ap. White wagtail (motacilla alba) chirps Shell-snail (helix nemoralis) ap. . Earthworms engender . Barren strawberry (fragaria sterilis) fl. Blue titmouse (parus cxruleus) chirps Brown wood-owls hoot Hen (phasianus gallus) sits . Marsh titmouse begins his two harsh) sharp notes . . . . ) Gossamer floats . . . . ' Musca tenax ap. . Laurustinc (viburnum tinus) fl. Butcher's broom (ruscus aculeatus) fl. Fox (canis vulpes) smells rank Turkey-cocks strut and gobble Yellow-hammer (emberiza citrinella)) sings .....) Brimstone butterfly (papilio rhamni) ap. , Green - woodpecker (picus viridis)) makes a loud cry . . . j Raven (corvus corax) builds . Yew-tree (taxus baccata) fl. . Coltsfoot (tussilago farfara) fl. Rooks (corvus frugilcgus) build . Partridges (perdix cincrea) pair WHITE. an. 23. an. 23, Mar. 5. an. 23, Feb. i an. 24, Feb. 21 an. 24, Feb. 1 5 an. 25, Mar. 4 an. 25, Apr. 14 an. 25 an. 27, Mar. 15 !an. 27, Apr. 2 | [an. 28 [an. 28, Feb. 24 _an. 30. Feb. I, Mar. 26 Feb. I Feb. 2. Feb. 3 Feb. 3. Feb. 4, Feb. 4, Feb. 5 Feb. 5 Feb. 7 Feb. 10 Feb. 12 Apr. I. Apr. 8. MARKWICK. Feb. 1 3, Apr. 2 - Feb. 13, Mar. 23 Feb. 14-17 I Feb. 14, Mar. 27 Feb. 15, Mar. 23 Feb. 16, Mar. 6 . Feb. !7 Jan. 27, Mar. 11. Jan. 28, June 5. Jan. 21, Feb. 26. [last seen Sept. 8. Apr. 13, July 3; Jan. I, Apr. 9. Feb. 12, Mar. 29. Mar. 5, Apr. 24 ; [last seen June 6. Mar. 16. Apr. 2, June 11. Jan. 13, Mar. 26. Apr. 27. Mar. 8, hatches. Jan. I, Apr. 5. Jan. I, May 10. May 19, young [brought forth. Feb. 18, Apr. 28. Feb. 1 3, Mar. 8 ; IastseenDec.24. Jan. I, Apr. 17. Apr. 1, has young ones June i. Feb. 2, Apr. 11. Feb. 18, Apr. 13. Feb. 28, Mar. 5. Feb. 16, Mar. 20. i I M 470 T/)e Natural History of Selborne WHITE. MARKWtCK. Peas (pisum sativum) sown . Feb. 17, Mar. 8 . Feb. 8, Mar. 31. House -pigeon (columba domestica)) has young ones ... • ) Feb. 18 Feb. 8. Field-crickets open their holes Feb. 20, Mar. 30. Common flea (pulex irritans) ap. . Feb. 21-26. Pilewort (ficaria verna) fl. . . Feb. 21, Apr. 13 Jan. 25, Mar. 26. Goldfinch (fringilla carduelis) sings Feb. 21, Apr. 5 . Feb. 28, May 5. Viper (coluber berus) ap. . Feb. 22, Mar. 26 1 Feb. 23, May 6, last seen Oct. 28. Wood-louse (oniscus asellus) ap. . Feb. 2 3, Apr. i . Apr. 27, June 17. Missel thrushes pair .... Feb. 24. Daffodil (narcissus pseudonarcissus) fl. . Feb. 24, Apr. 7 . Feb. 26, Apr. 1 8. Willow (salix alba) fl Feb. 24, Apr. 2 . Feb. 27, Apr. 11. Frogs (rana temporaria) croak Feb. 25 Mar. 9, Apr. 20. Sweet violet (viola odorata) fl. Feb. 26, Mar. 31 Feb. 7, Apr. 5. Phalaena tinea vestianella ap. Feb. 26. Stone-curlew (otis oedicnemus) clamours Feb. 27, Apr. 24 June 17. Filbert (corylus sativus) fl. . Feb. 27 Jan. 25, Mar. 26. Ring-dove cooes ..... Feb. 27, Apr. 5 . Mar. 2, Aug. 10. Apricot-tree (prunus armeniaca) fl. Feb. . Feb. 28, Apr. 5. Toad (rana bufo) ap. . Feb. 28, Mar. 24 Mar. 15, July i. Frogs (rana temporaria) spawn Feb. 28, Mar. 22 Feb. 9, Apr. 10, tadpoles Klar. 19. Ivy-leaved speedwell (veronica hede- rifolia) fl Mar. I, Apr. 2 . Feb. 16, Apr. 10. Peach (amygdalus persica) fl. Mar. 2, Apr. 17 . Mar. 4, Apr. 29. Frog (rana temporaria) ap. . Mar. 2, Apr. 6 . Mar. 9. Shepherd's purse (thlaspi bursa pastoris)fl. Mar. 3 Jan. 2, Apr. 16. Pheassint (phasianus colchicus) crows . Mar. 3-29 . Mar.. I, IVIay 22. Land-tortoise comes forth . Mar. 4, May 8 Lungwort (pulmonaria officinalis) fl. Mar. 4, Apr. 16 . Mar. 2, May 19. Podura, fimetaria ap. . Mar. 4. Aranea scenica saliens ap. . Mar. 4. Scolopendra forficata ap. . . . Mar. 5-16. Wryneck (jynx torquilla) ap. Mar. 5, Apr. 25 { Mar. 26, Apr. 23, last seen Sept. 14. Goose (anas anser) sits on its eggs . Mar. 5 Mar. 21. Duck (anas boschas) lays Mar. 5 Mar. 28. Dog's violet (viola canina) fl. Mar. 6, Apr. 18 . Feb. 28, Apr. 22. --4 The Natural History of Selborne 471 WHITE. MARKWICK. Peacock butterfly (papilio io) ap. . Mar. 6 1 Feb. 13, Apr. 20, Trouts begin to rise .... Mar. 7-14. [lastseenDec.25. Field beans (vicia faba) planted Mar. 8 Apr. 26, emerge. Blood-worms appear in the water . Mar. 8. [ones. Crow (corvus corone) builds Mar. 10 July I, has young Oats (avena sativa) sown Mar. 10-18 Mar. 16, Apr. 13. Golden-crowned wren (sylvia regulus)) sings j Mar. 12, Apr. 30 Apr. 15, May 22, seen Dec. 23, Jan. 26. Asp (populus tremula) fl. . . . Mar. 12 Feb. 26, Mar. 28. Common elder ( sambucus nigra) I. Mar. 13-20 Jan. 24, Apr. 22. Laurel (prunus laurocerasus) fl. Mar. 15, May 21 Apr. 2, May 27. Chrysumela Gotting ap. . . . Mar. 15. Black ants (formica nigra) ap. Mar. 15, Apr. 22 Mar. 2, May 18. Ephemerae bisetje ap Mar. 16. Gooseberry (ribes grossularia) 1. . Mar. 17, Apr. 11 Feb. 26, Apr. 9. Common stitchwort (stellaria holo-) stea) fl ) Mar. 17, May 19 Mar. 8, May 7. Wood anemone (anemone nemerosa) fl. Mar. 17, Apr. 22 Feb. 27, Apr. lo. Blackbird (turdus merula) lays Mar. 17 . 1 Apr. • 14, young ones May 19. Raven (corvus corax) sits Mar. 17 Apr. I, builds. Wheatear (sylvia oenanthe) ap. Mar. 18-30 Mar. 13, May 23, last seenOct. 26. Musk-wood crowfoot (adoxa moscha- tellina) fl Mar. 18, Apr. 13 Feb. 23, Apr. 28. Mar. 30, May 16, Willow-wren (sylvia trochilus) ap. Mar. 19, Apr. 13 sits May 27, last seen Oct. 23. Fumaria bulboso fl Mar. 19. Elm (ulmus campestris) fl. . Mar. 19, Apr. 4 . ( Feb. 17, Apr. 25. Mar. 18 — 25, sits Turkey (meleagris gallopavo) lays . Mar. 19, Apr. 7 ■ • Apr. 4, young ones Apr. 30. House pigeons (columba domestica) sit . Mar. 20 Mar. 20, young hatched. Marsh marigold (caltha palustris) fl. Mar. 20, Apr. 14 Mar. 22, May 8. Buzz-fly (bombylius medius) ap. . Mar. 21, Apr. 28 Mar. 1 5, Apr. 30. Sand-martin (hirundo riparia) ap. . Mar. 21, Apr. 12 Apr. 8, May 16, lastseenSept. 8. 472 The Natural History of Selborne % Snake (coluber natrix) ap. . Horse ant (formica herculeana) ap. Greenfinch (loxia chloris) sings Ivy (hedera helix) berries ripe Periwinkle (vinca minor) fl. . Spurge laurel (daphne laureola) fl. Swallow (hirundo rustica) ap. Black-cap (sylvia atricapilla) heard Young ducks hatched . . . . Golden saxifrage (chrysosplenium up-) positifolium) fl. . . . [ Martin (hirundo urbica) ap. . Double hyacinth (hyacinthus orientalis) fl. . . , . Young geese (anas anser) Wood sorrel (oxalis acetosella) fl. . Ring-ousel (turdus torquatus) seen Barley (hordeum sativum) sown . Nightingale (sylvia luscinia) sings . Ash (fraxinus excelsior) fl. . Spiders' webs on the surface of the ground Chequered daflx)dil (fritillaria mele- agris) fl. .... Julus terrestris ap. . . . Cowslip (primula veris) fl. . Ground-ivy (glecoma hederacea) fl. Snipe pipes .... Box-tree (buxus sempervirens) fl. . Elm (ulmus campestris) 1. Gooseberry (ribes grossularia) fl. . WHITE. Mar. 22 — 30 j Mar. 22, Apr. 18 1 Mar. 22, Apr. 22 Mar. 23, Apr. 14 Mar. 25 Mar. 25, Apr. i . Mar. 26, Apr. 20] Mar. 26, May 4 Mar. 27 Mar. 27, Apr. 9 . Mar. 28, May 1 1 Mar. 29, Apr. 22 Mar. 29 Mar. 30, Apr. 22 Mar. 30, Apr. 17 Mar. 31, Apr, 30 Apr. I, May i | Apr. I, May 4 Apr. I. Apr. 2-24 . Apr. 2. Apr. 3-24 . Apr. 3-15 . Apr. 3. Apr. 3 Apr. 3 Apr. 3-14 . MARKWICK. Mar. 3, Apr. 29, last seen Oct. 2. Feb. 4, Mar. 26, last seen Nov. 1 2. Mar. 6, Apr. 26. Feb. 16, May 19. Feb. 6, May 7. Apr. 12 — 22. Apr. 7 — 27, last seen Nov. 16. Apr. 14, May 18, seen Apr. 14, May 20, last seen Sept. 19. Apr. 6, May 16. Feb. 7, Mar. 27. Apr. 14, May 8, last seen Dec. 8. Mar. 13, Apr. 24. Mar. 29, Apr. 19. Feb. 26, Apr. 26. Oct. II. Apr. 12, May 20. Apr. 5, July 4, last seen Aug. 29. Mar. i6,May8. Apr. 15, May i. Mar. 3, May 17 Mar. 2, Apr. 16. Mar. 27, May 8. Apr. 2, May 19. Mar. 21, May i. The Natural History of Selborne 473 Currant (ribes hortense) fl. . Pear-tree (pyrus communis) fl. Lacerta vulgaris (newt or eft) Dogs' mercury (mercurialis perennis) fl. Wych elm (ulmus glabra seu montana) of Smith) fl I Ladysmock (cardamine pratensis) fl. Cuckoo (cuculus canorus) heard Blackthorn (prunus spinosa) fl. Death-watch (termes pulsatorius) beats Gudgeon spawns . Red-start (sylvia phxnicurus) ap. Crown imperial (fritillaria imperialis) fl. Tit-lark (alauda pratensis) sings . Beech (fagus sylvatica) I. . . . Shell-snail (helix memoralis) comes out in troops .... Middle yellow wren, ap. . Swift (hirundo apus) ap. . . . Stinging-fly (conops calcitrans) ap. Whitlow grass (draba verna) fl. Larch-tree (pinus-larix rubra) 1. . Whitethroat (sylvia cinerea) ap. . Red ant (formica rubra) ap. . Mole cricket (gryllus gryllotalpa) churs. Second willow or laughing wren, ap. Red rattle (pedicularis sylvatica) fl. . Common flesh-fly (musca carnaria) ap. . Lady-cow (coccinella bipunctata) ap. . Grasshopper lark (alauda locusts voce)ap. Willow-wren, its shivering note heard . WHITE, MARKWICK. Apr. 3-5 . Apr. 3, May 29 . Apr. 4 . j Apr. 5-19 . Apr. 5 Apr. 6-20 . Apr. 7-26 . I Apr. May 10 Apr. 7 Apr. 7. Apr. 8-28 . I Apr. 8-24 . Apr. 9-19 . I Apr. 10, May 8 , Apr. 1 1, May 9 . Apr. II. Apr. 13, May 7 , Apr. 14, May 17. Apr. 14 Apr. 14 Ap. 14, May 14 Apr. 14 Apr. 14. Apr. 14-19-23. Apr. 15-19 Apr. 15. Apr. 16. Apr. 16-30. Apr. 17, May 7 Mar. 24, Apr. 28. Mar. 30, Apr. 30. Feb. 17, Apr. 15, last seen Oct. 9. Jan. 20, Apr. 16. Apr. 19, May 10. Feb. 21, Apr. 26. Apr. 1 5, May 3, last heard June 28. Mar. 16, May 8. Mar. 28, May 28. Apr. 5, sings Apr. 1 5, last seen Sept, 30. Apr. I, May 13. Apr. 14 — 29, sits June 16 — 17. Apr. 24, May 25. May 1 7, June I lap. Apr. 28, May 19. Jan. 15, Mar. 24. Apr. I, May 9. Apr. 14, May 5, sings May 3 — 10, last seen Sept. 23. Apr. 9, June 26. Apr. 10, June 4. Apr. 28, May 14. 474 ^^ Natural History of Selborne y< Middle willow - wren (rcgulus non) cristatus-mcdius) ap. . . ) Wild cherry (prunus ccrasus) fl, . Garden cherry (prunus ceriisus) fl. . Plum (prunus domestica) fl. . Harebell (hyacinthus non scriptus seu) scilla nutans of Smith) fl, . ) Turtle (columba turta) cooes Hawthorn (cratxgus seu mespilus oxy-) cantha of Smith) fl. . . ) Male fool's orchis (orchis mascula) fl. . Blue flesh-fly (musca vomitoria) ap. Black snail or slug (Umax ater) abound . Apple-tree (pyrus malus sativus) fl. Large bat, ap Strawberry, wild wood (fragaria vcsca) sylv.) fl. . . . . . ) Sauce alone (erysimum alliaria) fl. Wild or bird cherry (prunus avium) fl. Apis hypnorum, ap Musca mcridiana, ap. . Wolf-fly (asilus) ap Cabbage-butterfly (papilio brassicx) ap. Dragon-fly (libcllula) ap. . Sycamore (acer pscudoplatanus) fl. Bombylus minor, ap Glowworm (lampyris noticula) shines . Fern-owl or goatsucker (caprimulgus ) europxus) ap. . . . [ Common bugle (ajuga rcptans) fl. Field-crickets (gryllus compestris) crink Chaffer or May-bug (scarabxus melo-| lontha) ap. . . . . ) Honeysuckle (lonicer? -Dericlymenum) fl. Toothwort (lathraea squamaria) fl. Shell-snails copulate . . . . Sedge warbler (sylvia salicaria) sings WHITE. Apr. 17, May 2 . Apr. 18, May ix Apr. 18, May 11 Apr. 18, May 5 . Apr. 19-25 . Apr. 20-27 • I Apr. 20, June 1 1 Apr. 21 Apr. 21, May 23. Apr. 22 Apr. 22, May 25 Apr. 22, June 11. Apr. 23-29 Apr." 23 • . Apr. 24 Apr. 24. Apr. 24, May 28. Apr. 25. Apr. 28, May 20 Apr. 30, May 21 1 Apr. 30, June 6 May I. May I, June 11 May 1-26 . May I May 2—24. May 2-26 . May 3-30 . May 4-12. May 4, June 17 May 4 MARKWICK, Mar. 30, May 10. Mar. s 5, May 6. Mar. 24, May 6. Mar. 27, May 8. May 14, Aug. 10, seen. Apr. 19, May 26. Mar. 29, May 13. Feb. I, Oct. 24, ap. Apr. 1 1, May 26. Apr. 8 — 9. Mar. 31, May 8. Mar. 30, May 10. Apr. 29, June 10. Apr. 18, May 13, last scenNov. 10. Apr. 20, June 4. June 19, Sept. 28. May 16, Sept. 14. Mar. 27, May 10. May 2, July 7. Apr. 24, June 21. June 2 — 30. The Natural History of Selborne 475 Mealy tree (viburnum lantana) fl. Fly-catcher (stoparolas muscicapa) grisola) ap. . . . . ) Apis longicornis, ap Sedge warbler (sylvia salicaria) ap. Oak (quercus robur) fl. . . . Admiral-butterfly (papilio atalanta) ap. Orange-tip (papilio cardamines) ap. Beech (fagus sylvatica) fl. . . . Common maple (accr campestrc) fl. Barberry tree (bcrbcris vulgaris) fl. Wood argus-buiterfly (papilio xgcria) ap. Orange lily (lilium bulbiferum) fl. Burnet-moth (sphinx iilipendulae) ap. . Walnut (juglans rcgia) 1. . . . Laburnum (cytisus laburnum) fl. . Forest-fly (hippobosca equina) ap. Saintfoin (hedysarum onobrychis) fl. Peony (paeonia officinalis) fl. Horse chestnut (.tscuIus hippocasta-) num) fl. . . . . i Lilac (syringa vulgaris) fl. . . . Columbine (aquilcgia vulgaris) fl. Medlar (mespilus germanica) fl. . Tormentil (tormcntilla crccta scu offici-) nalis of Smith) fl. . . [ Lily of the valley (convallaria majalis) fl. Bees (apis mellifica) swarm . Woodroof (aspcrula odorata) fl. Wasp, female (vcspa vulgaris) ap. Mountain ash (sorbus scu pyrus aucu-) paria of Smith) fl. . . . [ Birds'-nest orchis (ophrys niaus avis) fl. White-beam tree (crata;gus stu pyrus) aria of Smith) 1. . . . ) Milkwort (polygala vulgaris) fl. Dwarf cistus (cistus helianthcmum) fl. . Gelder rose (viburnum opulus) fl. WHITE. May 5-17 . May 10-30 May 10, June 9. May 11-13 May 1 3-1 5 May 13. May 14 May 15-26 May 16 May 17-26 May 17. May 18, June il May 18, June 13 May i8 May 18, June 5 . May 18, June 9 . May 19, June 8 . May 20, June 1 5 May 21, June 9 . May 21 May 21-27 May 21, June 20 May 7 • M May 22, July 22 May 22-25 May 23. , ] May 23, June 8 May 24, June 1 1 May 24, June 4 May 24, June 7 May 25 May 26 MARKWICK. Apr. 25, May 22. Apr. 29, May 21. Aug. 2. Apr. 29, June 4. Mar. 30, May 19. Apr. 23, May 28. Apr. 24, May 27. Apr. 28, June 4. June 14, July 22. M.iy 24, June 26. Apr. 10, June i. May I, June 23. May 21, July 28. Apr. 18, May 26. Apr. 19, June 7. Apr. 1 5, May 30. May 6, June 13. Apr. 8, June 19. Apr. 17, June 11. Apr. 27, June 13. May 12, June 23. Apr. 14, June 4. Apr. 2, June 4, last seen Nov. 2. Apr. 20, June 8. May 18, June 12. May 3. Apr. 13, June 2. May 4, Aug. 8. May 10, June 8. Ill 47 6 The Natural History of Selborne Common elder (sambucus nigra) fl. Cantharis noctiluca, ap. . . . Apis longicornis, bores holes in walks Mulberry tree (morus nigra) 1. Wild-service tree (cratxgus seu pyrus) torminalis of Smith) fl. . . ) Sanicle (sanicula europaea) fl. Avcns (gcum urbanum) fl. . Female fool's orchis (orchis morio) fl. . Ragged Robin (lychnis flos cuculi) fl. . Burnet (poterium sanguisorba) fl. Foxglove (digitalis purpurea) fl. . Corn-flag (gladiolus communis) fl. Serapias longifol, fl Raspberry (rubus idxus) fl. . Herb Robert (geranium Robcrtianum) fl. Figwort (scrophularia nodosa) fl. . Gromwell (lithospermum officinale) fl. Wood spurge (euphorbia amygdaloides) fl. Ramsons (allium ursinum) fl. Moiise-ca;- scorpion grass (myosotis) scorpio.'dcs) fl. . . . ) Grai'shoppcr (gryllus grossus) ap. . Rose (rosa hortcnsis) fl. . . . Mouse-ear hawkweed (hieracium pilo-| sella) fl \ Buckbean (menyanthes trifoliata) fl. Rose-chaffer (scarabxus auratus) ap. Sheep (ovis aries) shorn Water-flag (iris pseudo-acorus) fl. . Cultivated rye (sccale cereale) fl. . Hounds' tongue (cynoglossum officinale)) fl. . . . . . [ Hellcborine (serapias latifolia) fl. . Green-gold fly (musca caesar) ap. . Argus butterfly (papilio moera) ap. Spcarwort (ranunculus flammula) fl. Birdsfoot trefoil (lotus corniculatus) fl. WHITE. May 26, June 25 May 26. May 27, June 9. May 27, June 13 May 27 May 27, June 13 May 28 May 28 May 29, June i . May 29 May 30, June 22 May 30, June 20 May 30, June 13. May 30, June 31 May 30 May 31 May 31 unc I une I une I une 1-14. une 1-2 1 . une I, July 16 . une I une 2-8 une 2-23 une 2 une 2 une 2 unc 2, Aug. 6 une 2. une 2. une 3 une 3 MARKWICK. May 6, June 17. May 20, June 1 1. May 13, June 19. Apr. 23, June 4. May 9, June 1 1. Apr. 17, May 20. May 12, June 8. Apr. 30, Aug. 7. May 23, June 15. June 9, July 8. May 10, June 16. Mar. 7, May 16. May 12, June 20. May 10 — 24.. Mar. 23, May 13. Apr. 21, June 4. Apr. 1 1, June i. •Mar. 25, 'uly 6, last see' v. 3. June 7, J Apr. 19, June 12. Apr. 20, June 8. Apr. 18, Aug. 4. May 23, June 17. May 8, June 9. May 27. May 1 1, June 7. July 22, Sept. 6. Apr. 25, June 13. Apr. 10, June 3. The Natural History of Selborne 477 Fraxinella or white dittany (dictamnus) albus) fl. . . . . f Phryganea nigra, ap. . Angler's May-fly (ephemera vulg.) ap. Lady's finger (anthyllis vulneraria) fl. Bee-orchis (ophrys apifcra) fl. Pink (dianthus deltoidcs) fl. Mocic orange (philadelphus coronarius)fl Libellula virgo, ap. . Vine (vitus vinifera) fl. Portugal laurel (prunus lusitanicus) fl. Purple-spotted martagon (lilium mar-| tagon) fl ) Meadow cranes-bill (geranium pra-) tense) fl. . . . . ) Black bryony (tamus communis) fl. Field pea (pisum sativum arvense) fl. Bladder campion (cucubalus behen seu) silene inflata of Smith) fl. . ) Bryony (brionia alba) fl. Hedge-nettle (stachys sylvatica) fl. Bittersweet (solan um dulcamara) fl. Walnut (juglans rcgia) fl. Phallus impudicus, ap. Rosebay willow-herb (cpilobium an- 1 gustifolium) fl. . . . I Wheat (triticum hybernum) fl. Comfrey (Symphytum oflicinale) fl. Yellow pimpernel (lysimachia nemo-) rum) fl. . . . . ) Tremclla nostoc, ap. . Buckthorn (rhamnus catharticus) 1. Cuckow-spit insect (cicadiaspumaria)ap Dog-rose (rosa canina) fl. Puff-ball (lycoperdon bovista) ap. Mullein (verbascum thapsus) fl. . Viper's bugloss (echium anglicum seu) vulgare of Smith) fl. . . ) Meadow hay cut WHITE. June 3-1 1 . June 3. June 3-14. June 4 June 4, July 4. June 5-19 . June 5 June 5-20. June 7, July 30 June 8, July i June 8-25 . June June June June June June June June June June June June June June June June June June June June June 8, Aug. I. 8 9 9 9 10 II 12 12, July 23. 12 13, July 22 13 . 15, Aug. 24. 16 . 16 . 17, 18 17, Sept. 3 , 18 . 19 . 19, July 20 MARKWICK. June 9, July 24. June I, Aug. 16. May 26, July 6. May 16, June 23. June 18, July 29. June 3, July i6. June 18, July 19. May 15, June 21. May 1$, June 21. May 4, July 13. May 13, Aug. 17. May 28, June 24. May 1$, June 20. Apr. 18, June i. June 4, July 28. June 4 — 30. May 4, June 23. Apr. 10, June 12. May 25. June 2 — 21. May 24, June 21. May 6, Aug. 19. June 10, July 22. May 27, July 3. June 13, July 7. f 478 The Natural History of Selborne #11 I \ ' 1). ''*ii Stag-beetle (lucanus cervus) ap, . Borage (borago officinalis) il. Spindle-trep (euonymus europaeus) fl. Musk thistle (carduus nutans) fl. . Dogwood (cornus sanguinea) fl. Field scabious (scabiosa arvensis) fl. Marsh thistle (carduus palustris) fl. Dropwort (spiraea fllipendula) fl. . Great wild valerian (Valeriana offici-) nalis) fl. . . . . ) Quail (perdix coturnix) calls Mountain willow-herb (epilobiummon- tanum) fl Thistle upon thistle (carduus crispus) fl. Cow-parsnip (heracleum sphondylium)fl. Earth-nut (bunium bulbocastanum seu) flexuosum of Smith) fl. . . j Young frogs migrate . CEstrus curvicauda, ap. Vervain (verbena officinalis) fl. Corn poppy (papaver rhoeas) fl. . Self-heal (prunella vulgaris) fl. Agrimony (agrimonia eupatoria) fl. Great horse-fly (tabanus bovinus) ap. Greater knapweed (centaurea scabiosa) fl Mushroom (agaricus campestris) ap. Common mallow (malva sylvestris) fl. Dwarf mallow (malva rotundifolia) fl. St. John's wort (hypericum perforatum)) fl. .....) Broom-rape (orobanche major) fl. Henbane (hyoscyaraus niger) fl. . Goat's-beard (tragopogon pratense) fl. Deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna) fl Truffles begin to be found . Young partridges fly . Lime-tree (tilia europxa) fl. Spearthistle (carduus lanceolatus) fl. WHITE. June 19 June 20 June 20 June 20, July 4 . June 21 June 21 June 21-27 June 22, July 9 . June 22, July 7 . June 22, July 4 | June 22 June 23-29 June 23 June 23 June 23, June 24. June 24 June 24 June 24 June 24 June 24, June 25 June 26, Aug. 30 June 26 June 26 June 26 June 27, June 27 June 27 June 27 June 28, June 28, June 28, June 28, Aug. 2 -29 Aug. 2. July 4 July 29. July 31 July 31 July 12 MARKWICK. June 14 — 21. Apr. 22, July 26. May II, June 25. June 4, July 25. May 28, June 27. June 16, Aug. 14. May 15, June 19. May 8, Sept. 3. May 22, July 21. July 23, seen Sept. I— 18. June 5 — 21. May 22, July 22. May 27, July 12. May 4—31. June 10, July 17. Apr. 30, July 15. June 7—23. June 7, July 9. June 7, Aug. 14. Apr. 16, Aug. 16. May 27, July 13. May 12, July 20. June 15, July 12. May 9, July 25. May 13, June 19. June 5 — 14. May 22, Aug. 14. July 8—28. June 12, July 30. June 27, July 18. The Natural History of Selborne 479 g. 16. 5^ '3- y 20. y 12. 25- e 19. I' H- J 30- r 18. Meadow-sweet (spiraea ulmaria) fl. Greenweed (genista tinctoria) fl. . Wild thyme (thymus serpyllum) fl. Stachys germanic, fl. . Day-lily (hemerocallis flava) fl. Jasmine (jasminum oflicinale) fl. . Holly-oak (alcea rosea) fl. . Monotropa hypopithys, fl. . Ladies' bedstraw (galium verum) fl. Galium palustre, fl. . . . Nipplewort (lapsana comm'inis) fl. Welted thistle (carduus acanthoides) fl, Sneezewort (achillea ptarmica) fl. Musk mallow (malva moschata) fl. Pimpernel (analgallis arvensis) fl. Hoary-beetle (scarabxus solstit) ap. Corn saw-wort (serratula arvensis seu) carduus arvensis of Smith) fl. . j Pheasant's eye (adonis annua seu) autumnalis of Smith) fl. . | Red eyebright (euphrasia seu bartsia) odontites of Smith) fl. . . ) Thorough wax (bupleurum roi-'mdifol.) fl, Cockle (agrostemma githag L . Ivy-leaved wild lettuce ( inanthes muralis) fl Feverfew (matricaria seu pyrethrum) parthenium of Smith) fl. . ) Wall pepper (sedum acre) fl. Privet (ligustrum vulgare) fl. Common toadflax (antirrhinum linaria) fl Perennial wild flax (linum perenne) fl. Whortleberries, ripe (vaccinium ulig) Yellow base rocket (reseda lutea) fl. Blue-'jottle (centaurea cyanus) fl. Dwarf carline thistle (carduus acaulis) fl Bull-rush, or cat's-tail (typha latifolia) fl Spiked willow-herb (lythrum salicaria) fl Black mullein (verbascum niger) fl. WHITE. June June June June June June June June June June June June June June June June 28 . 28 . 28 . 29, July 20. 29, July 4 29, July 30 29, Aug. 4 29, July 23. 29 . 29. 29 . 29. 30 • 30 • 30 • 30, July 17. July I July 1 July 2 July 2. July 2 July 2 July 2 July 3 July 3 . July 3 July 4 July 4-24 Julys Julys I. July 5-12 I. July 6 I. July 6 July 6. MARKWICK. June 16, July 24. June 4, July 24. June 6, July 19. May 29, June 9. June 27, July 21. July 4, Sept. 7. June 22, Aug. 3. May 30, July 24. June 22, Aug. 3. June 9, July 14. May 4, June 22. June 15, July 15. Apr. II, July 15. June 20, Aug. 10. May 14, July 25. June 2, July 25. June 19, July 24. June 8, July 12. June 3, July 13. June 21, Aug. 3. Apr. 21, July 6. July 19. May 15, Oct. 14. June 30, Aug. 4. June 29, July 21. June 24, Aug. 17. !i III T, 480 The Natural History of Selborne WHITE. MARKWICK. Chrysanthemum coronarium, fl. . July 6 May 28, July 28. Marigolds (calendula officinalis) fl. July 6-9 Apr. 20, July 16. Little field madder (sherardia arvensis) fl. July 7 Jan. 1 1, June 6. Calamint (melissa seu thymus cala- mintha of Smith) fl. July 7 July 21. 1 Black horehound (ballota nigra) fl. July 7 June 16, Sept . 1 Wood betony (betonica officinalis) fl. . July 8-19 . June 10, Ju y , -:. | Round-leaved bell-flower (campanula) rotundifolia) fl. . . . j July 8 . . June 12, July 29. All-good (cheropodium bonus hen- ricus) fl. .... July 8 . . Apr. 21, June 15. Wild-carrot (daucus carota) fl. July 8 . . June 7, July 14. Indian cress (epopxolum majus) fl. July 8-20 . June 11, July 25. Cat-mint (nepata cataria) fl. Cow-wheat (melampyrum bylvaticum) seu pratense of Smith) fl. . ) July 9. July 9 May 2, June 22. Crosswort (valantia cruciatia seu galium I cruciatum of Smith) fl . . ) July 9 Apr. 10, May 28. Cranberries, ripe .... July 9-17. Tufted vetch (vicia cracca) fl. July 10 May 31, July 8. Wood vetch (vicia sylvat.) fl. July 10. Little throatwort (campanula glome-) rata) fl. .... I July II July 28, Aug. 18. Sheep's scabious (jasione montana) fl. . July II June 10, July 25. ■ Pastinaca sylv. fl. .... July 12, White lily (lilium candidum) fl. . July 12 June 21, July 22. Hemlock (conium maculatum) fl. July 13 June 4, July 20. Caucalus anthriscus, fl. . . . July 13- Flying ants, ap July 13-Aug. II . Aug. 29, Sept. 19. Moneywort (lysimach'a nummularia) fl. July 13 . June 14, Aug. 16. Scarlet martagon (lilium chalcedoni-) cum) fl. . . . . ) July 14-Aug. 4 . June 21, Aug. 6. Lesser stitchwort (stillaria graminea) fl. . "ly H May 8, June 23. Fool's parsley (aethusa cynapium) fl. uly 1+ June 9, Aug. 9. Dwarf elder (sambucus ebulus) fl. uly 14-29. Swallows and martins congregate . uly 14, Aug. 29 . Aug. 12, Sept. 8. Potato (solanum tuberosum) fl. \ uly 1+ June 3, July 12. Angelica sylv. fl. .... uly 15. Digitalis ferrugin, fl July 15-25. The Natural History of Selborne 481 WHITE. MARKWICK. Ragwort (senecio jacobxa) fl. Golden rod (solidago virgaurea) fl. Star thistle (centaurca calc trapa) fl. Tree primrose (Oenothera biennis) fl. Peas (pisum sativum) cut Galega oflicin. fl. . . . . Apricots (prunus armeniaca) ripe . Crown's allheal (stachys palustris) fl. Branching willow-herb (cpilobium) ramos.) fl I Rye-harvest begins .... Yellow centaury (chlora perfoliata) fl. . Yellow vetchling (lathyrus aphaca) fl. . Enchanter's nightshade (circxa lute-) tiana) fl j Water hemp agrimony (eupatorium| cannabinum) H. . . . \ Giant thToatwort(campanulatrachelium)fl Eyebright (euphrasia oflicinalis) fl. Hops (humulus lupulus) fl. . Poultry moult . . . . . Dodder (cuscuta curopxa scu cpithy-* mum of Smith) fl. . . i Lesser centaury (gentiana scu chironia > ccntaurium of Smith) fl. . » Creeping water parsnep (si am nodi-) florum) fl j Common spurrey (spergula arvensis) fl. WiM clover (trifolium pratense) fl. Buc 'leat (polygonum fagopyrum) fl. Whea, arvest begins . . . . Great b..rr-reed(sparganium erectiim)fl. Marsh St. John's-wort (hypericum> clodes) fl ) Sun-dew (d-osera rotundifolia) fl. March cinqucfoil (comarum palustre) fl, Wild cherries ripe ... Lancashire asphodel (anthcricum ossi-) fragum) fl I July 1 5 July 15 July 16 July 16 July 17, Aug. 1 + July 17. July 17, Aug. 21 July 17 July 17. July 17, Aug. 7 . July 18, Aug. i; . July 18. July 18 July 18 . July 19 July 19 July 19, Aug. 10 July 19. I July 20 ! I July 20 i I July 20 1 July 21 ; July 21 J uly 2 1 July 21, Aug. 23 July 22 i July 22-31 . July 22 1 July 22 July 22. ! July 22 June 22, July 13. July 7, Aug. 29. July 16, Aug. 16. June 12, July 18. July 13, Aug. 15. July 5, Aug. 16. June 12, July 14. June 15, Aug. 13. June 20, July 27. July 4, Aug. 6. July 13, Aug. 14. May 28, July 19. July 20, Aug. 17. July 9, Aug. 7. June 3, July 19. July 10, Sept. II. Apr. 10, July 16. May 2, June 7. June 27, July 10. July 1 1, Aug. 26. June 10, July 23. June 16, Aug. 10. Aug. I. May 27, July 12. June 21, July 29. 2 H ^i J ' .)i i % ^1 1^1 \, 482 The Natural History of Selborne Hooded willow-herb (Scutellaria galeri-) culata) fl \ Water dropwort (cenanthe Hstulos) fl. Horehound (marrubium vulg.) fl. . Seseli caruifol. fl. . . . Water plantain (alisma plantago) fl. Alopecurus myosuroides, fl. . Virgin's bower (clematis vitalba) fl. Bees kill the drones Teasel (dipsacus sylvestris) fl. Wild marjoram (origanum vulgarc) fl. Swifts (hirundo apus) begin to depart Small wild teasel (dipsacus pilosus) fl Wood sage (teucrium scorodonia) fl. Everlasting pea (lathyrus latifolius) fl. Trailing St. John's-wort (hypericum) humifusum) fl. . . . ) White hellebore (vcratrum album) fl. . Camomile (anthcmis nobilis) fl. Lesser field scabius (scabiosa colum-^ baria) fl ) Sunflower (helianthus multiflorus) fl. Yellow loosestrife (lysimachia vulgaris) fl Swift (hirundo apus) last seen Oats (avena sativa) cut Barley (hordeum sativum) cut Lesser hooded willow-herb (Scutellaria \ minor) fl. . . . ) Middle flcabane (inula disintcrica) fl. Apis manicata, ap. . . . Swallow-tailed butterfly (papilio ma-* chaon) ap. . . . 1 Whame or burrel-fly (oestrus bovis) lays 1 eggs on horses ... I Sow thistle (sonchus arvcnsis) fl. . Plantain fritillary (papilio cinxia) ap. Yellow succory (picris hieracioides) fl. Musca mystacea, ap. Canterbury bells (campanula medium) fl WHITE. Aug. 9 July 23 uly 23. uly 23, uly 24. uly 24 uly 25. uly 25, uly 25. uly 26 uly 26 uly 27-29 uly 28, 29. uly 28 uly 28 uly 29 uly 30 uly 30 uly 30 uly 31, Aug uly 31 uly 31, Aug -16 1-26 Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. Aug. 2 Aug. 3-19. Aug. 3 Aug. 3. Aug. 4 Aug. 5 MARKWICK. June 2, July 31. May I, July 31. July 13, Aug. 14. July 16, Aug. 3. July 17, Aug. 29. Aug. 5. June 17, July 24. June 20, July 30. May 20, June 22. July 18 — 22. June 21, Aug. 20. July 13, Aug. 9. July 4, Aug. 22. July 2, Aug. 7. Aug. II. July 26, Aug. 19. July 27, Sept. 4. Aug. 8, Sept. 7. July 7, Aug. 3. Apr. 20, June 7, last seen Aug. 28. June 17, July 21. June 6 — 25. June 5, Aug. 1 1. ( The Natural History of Selborne 483 WHITE. Mentha longifo). fl Carlinc thistle (carlina vulgaris) fl. Venetian sumach (rhus cotinus) fl. Ptinus pectinicornis, ap. . . . Burdock (arctium lappa) fl. . Fell-wort (gentiana amarella) fl. . Wormwood (artemisia absinthium) fl. . Mugwort (artemisia vulgaris) fl. . St. Barnaby's thistle (ccntauria solstit.) fl. Meadow saffron (colchicum autum-) nale) fl [ Michaelmas daisy (aster tradescantia) fl Meadow rue (thalictrum flavum) fl. Sea holly (cryngium marit.) fl. China aster (aster chinensis) fl. Boletus albus, ap. ... Less Venus looking-glass (campanula) hybrida) fl ) Carthamus tinctor. fl Goldfinch (fringilla carduelis) young) broods, ap [ Lapwings (tringa vanellus) congregate . Black-eyed marble butterfly (papilio) semele) ap [ Birds rcassume their spring notes . Devil's bit (scabiosa succisa) fl. Thistle-down floats . . . . Ploughman's spikenard (conyza squar-) rosa) fl. .... I Autumnal dandelion (leontodon autum-) nale)fl. . . . . ) Flies about in windows Linnets (fringilla linota) congregate Bulls make their shrill autumnai noise . Aster amellus, fl. . . . . Balsam (impatiens balsamina) fl. . Milk thistle (carduus marinus) fl. . Hop-picking begins ... Beech (fagus sylvatica) turns yellow Aug. 5. Aug. 7 Aug. 7 Aug. 7. Aug. 8 Aug. 8, Sept. 3. Aug. 8 . ■ . Aug. 8 Aug. 10. Aug. 10, Sept. 13 Aug. 12, Sept. 27 Aug. 14. Aug. 14. Aug. 15, Sept. 28 Aug. 14 Aug. 15 . Aug. 15. Aug. 15 Aug. i;, Sept. 12 Aug. 15. Aug. 16. Aug. 17 Aug. 17, Sept. lo. Aug. 18. Aug. 18 Aug. 18. Aug. 18, Nov. I . Aug. 20. Aug. 22. Aug. 23 Aug. 24 Aug. 24, Sept. 17 Aug. 24, Sept. 22 MARKWICK. July 21, Aug. 18. June 5, July 20. June 17, Aug. 4. July 22, Aug. 21. July 9, Aug. 10. Aug. 1 5, Sept. 29. Aug. II, Oct. 8. Aug. 6, Oct. 2. May 10. May 14. June 15. Sept. 25, Feb. 4. June 22, Aug. 23. July 25- Aug. 22 Nov. 8. May Apr. Sept. Sept. 22, 21, I- s- July July -29. 26. 18. 'i' 1, I 484 T^he Natural History of Selborne m WHITE. MARKWICK. Soapwort (saponaria ofiicinalis) fl. Ladies' traces (ophrys spiralis) fl. . Small golden black-spotted butterfly) (papilio phlxas) ap. . . I Swallow (hirundo rustica) sings Althxa frutex (hibiscus syriacus) fl. Great fritillary (papilio paphia) ap. Willow red under-wing moth (phalxna) pacta) ap \ Stone curlew (otis oedicnemus) clamours Phalxna russula, ap. . . . . Grapes ripen Wood-owls hoot ..... Saflron butterfly (papilio hyale) ap. Ring-ousel appears on its autumnal [ visit .....) Flycatcher (muscicapa grisola) last seen . Beans (vicia faba) cut . . . . Ivy (hedera helix) fl. . Stares congregate . . . . Wild honeysuckles fl. a second time Woodlark sings Woodcock (scolopax rusticola) returns . Strawberry-tree (arbutus unedo) fl. Wheat sown Swallows last seen. (N.B. The house-| martin the latest) . . . j Redwing (turdus iliacus) comes Fieldfare (turdus pilaris) returns . Gossamer fills the air . Chinese holly-oak (alcea rosea) fl. Hen chaflinches congregate . Wood-pigeons come Aug. 25 Aug. 27, Sept. 12 Aug. 29. Aug. 29 Aug. 30, Sept. 2 . Aug. 30. Aug. 31. Sept. I, Nov. 7 . Sept. I. Sept. 4, Oct. 24 . Sept. 4, Nov. 9. Sept. 4 Sept. 4-30. Sept. 6-29 . Sept. II Sept. 12, Oct. 2 . Sept. 12, Nov. I . Sept. 25. Sept. 28, Oct. 24. Sept. 29, Nov. \\\ Oct. I Oct. 3, Nov. 9 . Oct. 4, Nov. 5 . Oct. 10, Nov. 10 Oct. 12, Nov. 23 Oct. 15-27. Oct. 19 Oct. 20, Dec. 31. Oct. 23, Dec. 27. July 19, Aug. 23. Aug. 18, Sept. 18. Apr. 1 1, Aug. 20. July 20, Sept. 28. June 17. Aug. 31, Nov. 4. Aug. 5, Sept. 26. Sept. 4 — 30. Aug. 9, Oct. 14. Sept. 18, Oct. 28. June 4, Mar. 21. Oct. I, Nov. I, young ones Apr. 28,lastseenApr. May 21, Dec. 10. Sept. 23, Oct. 19. Nov. 16. Oct. I, Dec. 18, sings Feb. i o, March 21, last seen April 13. Oct. 13, Nov. 18, last seen May i. July 7, Aug. 21. The Natural History of Selborne 485 Royston Crow (corvus cornix) returns . Snipe (scolopax gallinago) returns . Tortoise begins to bury himself . Rooks (corvus frugilegus) return io\ their nest-trees . . . ) Bucks grunt Primrose (primula vulgaris) H. Green whistling plover, ap. . Helvclla mitra, ap Greenfinches flock . . . . Hepatica, fl Furze (ulex europxus) fl. . . . Polyanthus (primula polyanthus) fl. Young lambs dropped . . . . Moles work in throwing up hillocks Helleborus foetidus, fl Daisy (bcllis perennis) fl. . . . Wall-flower (chciranthus cheiri seul fruticulosus of Smith) fl. . f Mezereon, fl Snowdrop, fl. . . . . . In sese vertitur annus. WHITE. Oct. 23, Nov. 29 j Oct. 25, Nov. 20] Oct. 27, Nov. 26. Oct. 31, Dec. 25 Nov. I. Nov. 10 Nov. 13, 14. Nov. 16. Nov. 27. Nov. 30, Dec. 29 Dec. 4-21 . Dec. 7-16 . Dec. 11-27 Dec. 12-23. Dec. 14-30. Dec. 15 Dec. 15 Dec. 15. Dec. 29. MARKWICK. Oct. 13, Nov. 17, last seen Apr. 15. Sept. 29, Nov. 1 1, last seen Apr. 1 4. June 29, Oct. 20. Oct. 7, Dec. 30. Feb. 19. Dec. 16 — 31. Dec. 31. Dec. 12, Feb. 21. Dec. 26 — 31. Nov. 5. 11 POEMS.' The Invitation to Selborne. See Selhorne spreads her boldest bear.ties round. The varied valley, and the mountain ground, IVildly majestic! what it 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 zvild scenes haste: The unfinished farm awaits your forming taste : Plan the pavilion, airy, light, and true; Thro' the high arch call in the lengthening view ; Expand the forest sloping up the hill; 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 fiow'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, To spend in tea the cool, refreshing hour, Where nods in air the pensile, nest-like bower ; * Or where the Hermit hangs the straw-clad cell,f Emerging gently from the leafy dell ; ' Reprinted from the edition of i8i 3. * A kind of an arbour on the side of a hill. t A grotesque building, contrived by a young gentleman, who used on occasion to appear in the character of a hermit. 1 I 488 The Natural History of Selborne By Fancy plann'd i 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 s 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 blozv. Whence is this taste, the furnished hall forgot. To feast in gardens, or the 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, sequestered nook. Where skirting woods embrown the dimpling brook. The ruined '^nnvent Hess here wont to dwell The lazy c. . midst his cloistr'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 cowFd 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 deluged East : * The ruins of a priory, founded by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester. f 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 preceptor)-, called the Preceptory of Sudington ; now called Southington. The Natural History of Selborne 4.89 Luxurious knights^ ill suited to defy To mortal Jight Turcestnn 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 GeneraPs with the Gardener's part ; Might fortify with all the martial tradt Of rampart, bastion, fosse, and palisade ; . Might plant the mortar with wide threat' iiing bore. Or bid the mimic cannon seem to roar. Now climb the steep, drop now your eye below, Where round the blooming village orchards grozv ; There, like a picture, lies my lowly seat, A rural, shelter'd, unobserv'd retreat. Me far above the rest Selbornian scenes. The pendent forest, 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. 1 ■ ' i Selborne Hanger. A Winter Piece. < \i To the Miss Batties. The Bard, who sang so late in blithest strain Selbornian prospects, and the rural reign. Now suits his plaintive pipe to sadden'd tone. While the blank swains the changeful year bemoan, Hoto fall'n the glories of these fading scenes! The dusky beech resigns his vernal greens. 490 '^ke Natural History of Selborne Th yellow maple mournt in sickly hue^ And russet woodlands crowd the darkening view. DifHy clttsfring fogs involve the country rounds The valley and the blended mountain ground Sink in confusion: but with tempest-wing Should Boreas from his northern barrier springs The rushing woods with deafning clamour roar. Like the sea tumbling on the pebbly shore. When spouting rains descend in torrent tides. See the tern Zig.-ag weep its channePd sides : Winter exerts its > '^e : heavy and slow. From the keen east r<.!'.s tn the treasured snow ,• Sunk with its weight the bending boughs are seen, And one bright deluge tvhelms 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 szvallnw sweeps the freshening plain. Ere love-sick turtles breathe their amorous pain Let festive gtc th' cKlir'-n^d village raise. Pan's blameless reign, and patriarchal days ; With tastoral dame the smitten swain ,.: prise. And brin^ all A^'ad^ ijure our eyes. Return, blithe maidens; with you bring along Free, n.itive humoui^, all he :h-o-ms of song. The feeling heart, and unafect,d ease. Each nameless grace, and ei^ry power to please. , Nov. I, 1763. The Natural History of Selborne 49 1 On the Rainbow. "Look upon the rainbow, and praise him that made it ; very beautiful is the brightness thereof." — Ecclcs. xliii. 1 1. On morning or on evening cloud impress' J, Bent in viist curve, the watery meteor shines Delightfully, to th* levelVd sun opposed: Lovely ref ruction! while the vivid brede In listed colours glows, th' unconscious swain With vacant eye gazes on the divine Phenomenon, gleaming o'er the illumined f elds. Or ruKs to catch the treasures which it sheds. Not so the sage, inspired with pious awe; He hails the federal arch ,• * and looting up. Adores that God, whose fngfs form'd this bow Magnificent, compassing hcaz'n about, With a resplendent verge, " Thou madest the cloua, " Maker omnipotent, and thou the bow ; " And by that covenant graciously hast szvoni " Never to drown the world again ;t 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 " Succeeds — Heaven-taught, so sang the Hebrew bard. % \ % A Harvest Scene. Wai'd by the gentle gleamings of the morn. Soon glad, the reaper, provident of want. Hies cheerful-hearted to the ripen' d field ; Nor hastes alone ; attendant by his side * Gen. ix. 12- t Gen. viii. 22. X Moses. 492 The Natural History of Selborne His faithful viift^ sole partner of his caresy Bears on her breast the sleeping babe; behind. With steps unequal, trips her infant train ; Thrice happy pair, in love and labour joined ! All day they ply their task { with mutual chat, Beguiling each the sultry, tedious hours. Around ihm falls in rows the severed cort. Or the shocks rise in regular array. But when high noon invites to short repast. Beneath the shade of shelt'ring thorn they sit. Divide the simple meal, and drain the cask: The swinging cradle lulls the whimp'ring babe. Meantime ; while growling round, if at the treaa 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 Eariy and Late Blowing of the Vernal and Autumnal Crocus. Say, what impels amidst surrounding snozv CongeaPd the Crocus* flamy bud to grow ; Say, what retards amidst the summer's blaze Th' autumnal bulb; till p...'' declining days? The God of Seasons ! whose pervading power Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower; He bids each flower his quickening word obey. Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay. The Natural History of Selborne 493 On the Dark, Still, Dry, Warm Weather, Occasionally Happening in the Winter Months. Th* imprisoh'd winds slumber witkin their caves Fast bound : the fickle vane, emblem of change, Wavers no more, long-settling to a point. All nature nodding senses composed; thick streams Frum land, from flood up-drawn, dimming the day, " Like a dark ceiling standi " slow thro* the air Gossamer floats, or stretched 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, admidst the Torricellian tube.''' While high in air, and pois'd upon his wings Unseen, the soft, enamoured 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 he" mate. Haunts her tall nest-trees, and with sedulous care Repairs her wicker eyrie, tempest torn. The plough-man idly smiles to see upturn His mellow glebe, best pledge of future crop : 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. * The Barometer. i li^i \ ' n •1- i- I 494 ^'^^ Natural History of Selborne For days, for weeks, prevails the placid calm. At length some drops prelude a change: the sun With ray refracted bursts the parting gloom ; When all the chequered sky is one bright glare. iMutters the wind at eve : the horizon rouna With angry aspect scowls: down rush the showers. And float the delug'd taths, and miry fields. APPENDIX »; h 1 hN I: APPENDIX Marginalia from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's copy of'' White's Selborne" here printed for the first time, with the assent of Mr. Ernest Hartley Coleridge. The figures in brackets refer to the pages of this present edition. The Works in Natural History of ^e late Rev. Gilbert White, London, 1802. FoL I.p.Ci [56].— But with regard to their migration, what difficulties attend that supposition ! That such feeble bad fliers (who the summer long never flit but from hedge to hedge) should be able to traverse vast seas and continents in order to enjoy milder seasons amidst the regions of Africa! Note. — Surely from Dover to Calais, and from Gibraltar (or even Toulon) to the coast of Barbary, cannot be called a traverse of vast seas. Vol. I. p. 168 [140]. — Bullfinches, when fed on hempseed, often become wholly blacic. Note. — I saw a canary bird at Blumenbach*s in Gottingen, which the Professor had changed to a bright black by the same food. Vol. I. p. 194 [159]. — Virgil, as a familiar occurrence, by way of simile, describes a dove haunting the cavern of a rock in such engaging numbers, that I cannot refrain from quoting the passage ; and John Dryden has rendered it so happily in our language, that without farther excuse I shall add his translation also : " Sijialis sptlunca subito commota Columba, Cut domut. et dukes latcbroso in fumice nidi, Ftrtur in arva volans, plausumaue exterrita pennis Dat tecto ingenttm--mcx acre tapsa quielo, Radit iter liquidum, celerei neque commovet alas," 2 I '1 • ( ■ V ■ i \m f a' ,'i I ■' 11 I^(H J14Jyj^H| I 498 appendix " Ai ivlitn a dove her rocky hold forsakes, Rous'd, m a /right her sounding tvings she shakes ; The cavern rings "with clattering : — out she flies, ytnd leaves her callmo care, and cleaves the skies} ^1t Jirst she flutters; — but at length she springs To smoother Jiight. and shoots upon her wings," Note. — Curiosa felicitas, indeed a very odd way of translating a passage happily, except the four last words, and it wants live only of having as many faults as words, and many of them gross and glaring faults. — S. T. C. (Of course, I leave the " in " " with " " and " " she " " her " " a " and " the " out of the reckoning.) Vol. I. p. 239 [195]. — Let mc hear from your own observation whether skylarks do not dust. I think they do ; and if they do, whether they wash also. Note. — Skylarks dust, but not wash. Vol. I. p. 292 [231]. — Thus is instinct in animals, taken the least out of its way, an undistinguishing, limited faculty ; and blind to every circumstance that does not immediately respect self-preservation, or lead at once to the propagation or support of their species. Note. — This is an inadequate explanation. I would rather say, that instinct is the wisdom of the species, not of the individual ; but that let any circumstance occur regularly through many generations that then its ez'ery-time-felt incon- venience would by little and little act through the blind sensations on the organic frame of the animals, till at length they were born wise in that respect, and by the same process do they lose their not //mate but conmiQ wisdom : thus hens hatched in an artificial oven, as in Egypt, in three or four generations (the same process having been repeated in each) lose the instinct of brooding. I trust that this Note will not be considered as lessening the value of this sweet delightful book. — S. T. Coleridge, July 7, 18 10, Keswick. Vol. I. p. 326 [253]. — The remark that I shall make on these cobweb-like appearances, called gossamer, is, that, strange and superstitious as the notions about them were formerly, nobody in these days doubts but that they are the real production of small spiders, which swarm in the fields in fine weather in autumn, and have a power of shooting out webs from their tails so as to render themselves buoyant and lighter than air. Note. — Permit me to observe, as a certain yet hitherto unnoticed etymology of this word, that it is "God's Dame's Hair," and in Monkish Latin (where 1 found it) called Fila Maria;, Capilla Matris Dei. Thus Gossip — i.e., God's Sib. Vol. I. p. 332 [258]. — It would be matter of some curiosity, could one meet with an intelligent person among them, to inquire whether, in their jargon, they still retain any Greek words : the Greek radicals will appear in hand, foot, head. appendix 499 water, earth, &c. It is possible that amidst their cant and corrupted dialect many mutilated remains of their native language might still be discovered. Uote. — This has been done by a learned German (Grellmann), who has made it evident that they are the remains of an expelled nation from between Persia and Hindostan. Vol. J. p. 333 [258]. — Gypsies are called in French, Bohemians; in Itnlian and modern Greek, Zingani. Note. — The Zingani in Calibria and Apulia arc not gypsies, but Christian Greeks with a very strange religion. Vol. I. p. 358 [278]. — Thus far it is plain that the deprivation of masculine vigour puts a stop to the growth of those parts or appendages that are looked upon as its insignia. Note. — Blumenbach told me that the abscission of the horns of the stag and male deer had the effect of castration. Vol. II. p. 7 [308]. AViy, ivliat imfels, amidst uirrounding tiioiu CongtaFd. the crocus' flamy bud to g/oiv ? Say, luliat retards, amidst the summer s blaze. Til' .lutumnal bulb, /;// fule, declining days l' The Cod of Seasons, luhose pervading foivcr Controls the sun, or shids the fleecy shower : • He bids each flmuer his quick' ning -word obey ; Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay. Note. — A noble paraphrase of " / don't know." Vol. II. p. 10 [310]. — Some birds have movements peculiar to the season of love : thus ringdoves, 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, &c. jfofg^ This matter has disappointed mc. I have myself made and collected a better table of characters of flight and motion. Vol. II. p. loi [376]. — Why the juices in the small bodies and smaller limbs of such minute beings are not frozen is a matter of curious inquiry. Note. The more apposite question, perhaps, would be: the juices having been frozen, is it not plain from this that the vital principle subsists in the solids ? The juices in a frozen caterpillar arc mere ice, and it breaks like a cylinder of thin glass of the same size, and yet thaw it with your breath and the animal crawls. Vol. 1 1. p. 106 [380]. — A circumstance that I must not omit, because it was new to us, is that on Friday, December 10, being bright sunshine, the air was full of icy 500 ^Appendix spicttlay floating in all directions, like atoms in a sunbeam let into a dark room. We thought them at first particles of the rime failing from my tall hedges ; but were soon convinced to the contrary, by making our observations in open places where no rime could reach us. A' . — This is not uncommon in Westmoreland and Cumberland. I myselt noticed it often in hard frosts. have Vol. 11. p. 1 1 1 [382]. — The occasion of this clammy appearance seems to be this: that in hot weather the effluvia of flowers in fields and meadows and gardens arc 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 impregnated with the particles of flowers in summer weather, our senses will inform us ; and that this clammy sweet substance is of the vegetable kind wc may learn from bees, to whom it is very grateful : and wc may be assured that it falls in the night, because it is always first seen in warm still mornings. Note. — This is now known to be the saccharine excrement of the Aphides. It is a true sugar^ no wonder therefore, that though not directly vegetable, the bees are fond of it. Food of the Ringdove. Vol. II. p. 178 [406]. — One of my neighbours shot a ringdove on an evening as it was returning from feed and goin[ to roost. When his wife had picked and drawn it, she found its craw stufl^ed 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 provided in this extraordinary manner. Note. — A plate of greens found in the craw of a ringdove ! ! A peck of turnip- tops would, when boiled, make little more. Vol. 1 1, p. 181 [407]. — 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 and carried it off, as we afterwards discovered. Note. — A most extraordinary fact of this kind I was myself witness to, in Germany, in the excessive, cold, vile winter of 1799. ^ ^ocin of house sparrows pounced down on a bone, as it was a-gnawing by a large dog near a dunghill and by united force carried it off. The dog drew back frightened, and growled. On the day before, near Zelle, I saw a crow attack another crow, kill it and eat it. S. T. Coleridge. -s. xAppendix SOI ^ ^ 2 •K» O .«-» w ;»* « &: < •>N» CU 5 w ;:i ti. "»»k u< ^ < ^ ^ 1 < s tt) ft I! JOTS H 2 c "-a Boo 3 i S U U u e a, s §^ ^gi: w O u o c o u c ^ 2 .2 13 3 0k . u O 00 CO 1-^ On 00 j4 e o •fl jj B n la e <« S o sec o o o > J3 60 u c ** .!£ 3 *^ is -<5 60 _ U C O •^w s Sr o '■go C.S " Js ; g.is w oe< IS ~. c t,^ « ^ o 2 O S o B 3 O > O (/> s u no C o u __ W S N ? ^'^ B e c o rj 3 fiU - S 1^" •^ S > o O a O "fl *J «J - c 3 a.s?? O (O ■* ^-5 •?a.^ g o •£ a u o < ST •C C TJ 2 .y c (A u 13 cS n 60 ^ A a C o ^ S c w O •« o u "O *^ "O < .J Lon ea I ui c N N H Ob OS o < r^ 1^ 00 Q ** ** *M 502 tAppendix at .1 ^5 I It < s U) The Antiquities, Naturalist's Calendar, Observations on Various Parts of Nature, and Poems included : Illus- trated : 2 volumes, 4to. Published at two guineas. The Antiquities, Naturalist's Calendar, Observations on Various Parts oj Nature, and Poems included : Illus- trated : 2 volumes, 8vo. The Naturalises Calendi . Miscella- neous Observations, and Poems in- cluded : Illustrated : 2 volumes, 8vo. in tt I s The Rev. J. Mitford The Rev. J. Mitford Dr. Aikin, W. Mark- wick, F.L.S., and the Rev. J. Mitford PUBLISHERS. White, Cockranc&Co.; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Or me& Brown ; J. Mawman; S. Bag- ster ; J. & A. Arch ; J. Hatchard; R. Baldwin ; and T. Hamilton White, Cockrane&Co.; Longman, Hurst, Rees,Orme&Brown ; J. Mawman ; S. Baf ster ; J. & A. Arch , J. Hatchard; R. Baldwin; and T. Hamilton J. & A. Arch ; Long- man, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown ; Lackington & Co.; J.Mawman,Baldwin, Cradock Sc Joy ; J. Hatchard & Son ; S. Bagster ; Ogle, Duncan & Co. ; W. Mason ; J. Seldon ; R. Saunders ; and Hurst Sc Robinson PLACE. London London London DATE. 00 eo N 00 ^Appendix 503 c * .. s ^ ^ - ^ .. .. ."' ^^ ^ A *-» ^ '■^ »* •^ 5 'J ClO 1: -2 •- /> c > < U o •« c « — 'g E - mO c c ^ 00. a-* ^ {/I c u •r '"etf .i js •"^ ii £ c o. = "->«« -^ r Q c (9 U C S O C O tn O cB j3 SS O ffiff! i« h C c ™ (J " > TS O -O U tn h ^2 .«■§* o -° c o O >^ .. E N 3 s " > u a -.Ml ;S - c c -o e o c2 o O <« 2cj c ^ O in 1 B O C o o u C/3 d<-> ^ y tn ^^ O (A 3 s o' *** « • *• " «^ § . E s « 3 •I K,"? I": O.^ 2 s t a ^ 0, c •4 b = < 2 o -. ^ -a o s» w: o s; •s a a « ^.^ 2 « S ^ N^ X \ 3 n u 60 W. ^ _ ii 5» C C id v5 u n u (A u c c i< <« 60 «« 2 u u M h d 60 s •J ^ J3 .S o 60 C .S o s o s o s c o B c J3 00 3 XI U On 504 tAppendix I .2 M < a " Arranged for young persons " : i volume, 1 2 mo. The Antiquities, and the Naturalist's Calendar included : Illustrated : i volume, 8vo. Commonly called " Rcnnie's edition." Form's volume i. of the " British Library " : Observations en Various Parts of Nature, and the Naturalist's Calendar included : Illustrated : i volume, i6mo. Observations on Various Parts of Nature, and the Naturalist's Calendar in- cluded: Illustrated: ivolume,i6mo. Observations on Various Parts of Na- ture, and the Naturalist's Calendar included : Illustrated : I volume, i6mo. 1 S Lady Dover The Rev. W. Herbert, Robert Sweet, and Professor J. Rennic Capt. Thomas Brown, F.L.S., M.K.S., &c. Capt. Thomas Brown, F.L.S., M.K.S, &c. Capt. Thomas Brown, F.L.S., M.K.S., &c. u ID X X 2 J. Sc A. Arch, and fifteen others James Chambers W. Orr W. Curry, jun. & Co. Allen Bell & Co. and Simpkin & Marshall Fraser & Co. W. Curry, jun. & Co. Fraser & Co. Orr 8c Smith W. Curry, jun. 8c Co. PLACE. e o 13 § London Edinburgh London Dublin London Edinburgh Dublin Edinburgh London Dublin DATE. 00 00 00 mm 00 1^ 00 i 1 V -^ O *• ^ ,-> p; ^ <; *-» 1 1 •^ ^ s i! •r) s :a Ci •» s ll' S; i« -5 O rf o u ^ » tii i3 B o JS • H 44 a. ^ n te< o tj c u • n o n D.C .c ^ » ^ 1 B U s .£ 60 C a e o B O •T3 ^ U) VO r^ 00 ■* ^Appendix 505 ^^i" ^1S •2 ^i". ^11 ^31 Is: ^ ^ w s t/ HI ^31 si's •S d « b; •• III bser-'ations on turf, and th< included : 11 i6mo. ^■s J ■2 c « •1- ■iiii fi s.s » • SCO ^ '•'2 d ^^ 5 ^ 1 B ^ ""H d ^ 2.5 - ^ "i •« ^ 1 M 0 0 h h 0 £ . B . 1 rf . u 1^ JB a ts ^J »J >, §ui i^ » sw? 2UJ B.^' B*4 na ,=' J b2 i^ ^S a ^u; ^S ^J ^«,^ ^ 2 "^5 ^c«' H.H S.H .1 = 'S.H n It, u'^ 3 0* 0 £ •«3 5^ 0 E "a CO 1 ^ *r3 •*>*»•*>•«« 1 • • •»■ JO u Fras Henry a: a 0 -^ ' M J= to C go s .* a C S 0 m 0 ^ 0 0 I'S I'S 1 'S e e .S 0 .£ 0 1 "i 0 c -3 J ■V k-i ! '' ' U -} td u 1 VO VO •c r^ 0 K^ »n .* OO ii-; '''■> 00 QO ■" *■ im i i 5o6 appendix » ::5i ^ 4^ ^ S < S w " Arranged for young persons " : Illus- trated : I volume, 8vo. " Arranged for young persons " : Illus- trated : I volume, izmo. Illustrated: i volume, 8vo. Observations on Various Parts of Na- ture^ and the Naturalist's Calendar included : Illustrated : i volume, i6mo. Observations on Various Parts of Na- turey and the Naturalises Calendar included : Illustrated : i volume, i6mo. The Antiquities, the Naturalist's Ca- lendar, and Miscellaneous Obser- vations included : Illustrated : i volume, 8vo. 1 . C u Lady Dover The Rev. Leonard Jenyns,M.A,F.L.S., &c. Capt. Thomas Brown, F.L.S., M.K.S., &c. Capt. Thomas Brown, F.L.S., M.K.S., &c. Edward Blyth and Robert Mudie Ul X ea 3 0. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge '/I o s u « John Van Voorst John Chidley John Chidley d O U o ti', < a. o c o -4 if o u § c o London B O e ►3 London a 00 00 •*• 00 00 00 o 00 ^Appendix 50: " 2 ^ It .. -a .. o «) -a bo • 3 h "« J; % ^ u ^'^^ t* *• s ^^ J « J- '^ O »v u NO •^ en en • in -p .. 1^ ^? o £"=' o o "^ Iv « > u v> _ rt "ft C «« to ^ 6^ V^ '5! S .5{ > o CX4 s u -o 3 u > ? 2 .2 ''*' c75 c o 13 00 o 3 •£-0 13 T3 3 So s» § 3 -5Cj - O - ^^ 2 «* C 4-« ?• S "" ^ ^ 3 ?» ►$ — t3 O o a: o n d o U s o o o U e M (« c o n d U O u O c o •73 C o c o e o c o 13 c o c o 13 B O c o 13 s o s: o ■• ■=> J= '13 S " O S! -n •a T3 3 5 w o g fc jT— vo I E W Oh -*j13 1> ( I 1^ ~ a <: " ^ ^ "*» > S I s e . » •' (/» • 13 O o u N E n c c 13 e o „ f^ fo ■^ -J- VO ir\ tj^ ir% 1/^ ITN iri op 00 00 00 00 00 ** VM ** •^ ■^ ^rr 508 appendix •^3 St •■5 5 g is en < s a) Miscellaneous Observations, and the Naturalist's Calendar included : Illustrated : I volume, 8vo. Miscellaneous Observations, and the Naturalist's Calendar included : Illustrated : i volume, 8vo. " Arranged for young persons " : Illus- trated : I volume, 8vo. " Arranged for young persons " : Illus- trated : I volume, i6mo. A re-issue of the 1851 and 1854 editions. One of "Bell and Daldy's Pocket Volumes " : i volume, i6mo. " Arranged for young persons " : Illus- trated : I volume, 8vo. u. I 0 The Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A. The Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A. Lady Dover > 0 Q >^ li I 3 ■ Lady Dover U. Ill X (A ea George Routledge &Co. Routledge, Warnc & Routledge Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Harper Brothers H. G. Bohn Q P9 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge U < 0, London London London New York c 0 -0 c 0 London § •c s DATE. 00 0 00 0 00 0 VO 00 VO 00 N so 00 VO 00 1 appendix 509 T3 3 ^'^ . .2 o > •I ^ o ^ i* 3 5 ^ $ O - t3 **• "O Si ^ « § h i: .■-> "^ s .S O ./> 00 •I ^ o ^ § s 5 (3 O o - Si ?» «< ft w 1- .5 "^ ^ CA c o . b p u > a* 00 3 B O 3 ^ „ o > o •• " U "Co . •• 00 •5 ^ «i ^1 I , "a 0 - 1 2 2 5 TJ "B c 0 « 13 „ 3 O c*- ^ § "75 .«> <: •- o p » u o « > o T3 O o > JS h O o > o o m r « c/j . W • (J S-j .*! O O O u o «y -"^ 1- 'SI <-• ^ {/I J3 i-i n3 -o C U » 3 St 00 20s a o u o a. 00 00 . s u 3 E 4, .. 5 " fc « M O 3 Cfl «n3 b u E J^ ^^ h ^ • en , • ^ o u Oh ,>c/5 CI c < -o 3 o w 60 U ^ 2 u M •-I O o o c o c o ►J c o T3 c o Mo O u £ i w c y 60 O 60^ o u O 3 c o 4i4 o e U 60 (U C 60 •S TJ o u SI 2U C/5 C o T3 B O c o -a c o c o -a c o c o -o c o c o -a c o ><- 0 ^^ N ir» ir\ ir\ VO VO r^ t^ 1^ t-^ t^ 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 •" *^ "" *^ "■ "" '^ 5IO appendix t^ g 5 ^ bo 95 REMARKS. 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James F.L.S Cb c/: tfj 60 u c C 01} u e 0 U CJ ■n 13 60 w u 4-* 0 u E-i TS U -a •a c u 'J C/) If s . i> 0 for Pro an Kno ge Rout & Sons 3 2 ^ c <« 0 • — 0 0 0 c •-• *< Soci Chi a c C 0 c 0 T3 c 0 c 0 1 c 0 n3 c 0 c 0 T3 C 0 C 0 s 0 c 0 C 0 1^ 0 T^ 00 00 00 00 8s OS ON 00 00 00 00 ! °° 00 00 i 1 en c .2 ki 3 O -3 U The Antiquities, and the Naturalist's Calendar included : Illustrated : i volume, Svo. Observations on Nature, and the Natu- ralist's C/»/i'W//r included : Illustrated from photographs : 2 volumes, Svo. in g Q M Frank Buckland and Lord Selborne Professor Thomas Bell, F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. The Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A. Sir William Jardine, Bart., F.R.S.E., F.L.S., &c. Frank Buckland and Lord Selborne John Burroughs U w a: B B. d B M "e Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge George Routledge & Sons George Routledge & Sons d a u n s Macmillan & Co. 0. c o -d c o c o -a a o B O n3 c o a o -a c o B O -a e 0 1 J DATE. 00 00 OS CO OS oo 00 tm § 2 J I ^Appendix 515 M 60 O o cm $ - - iT a -^ ^ ^^ .. SO, o CO B 3 o ■■ > r 2 O u •. S " •2 ,rt *« 5 C — S> n u * i ■^^ tn £ •• L" 5 u S TJ J; Si St ^ ^ CO -a Z tCcSs -S B 11 cu o XL. O d e c o u c u •c ^ o u M u u e u U (A 4-1 atf M M w J *• O ri <« »; .• > rt Pi . ^ u o bL) S o u a. e o c o 00 > ad O a .J u u. O tn u P 5 o« i < a < < a! o c u ■5 u I— I S" *-" < I w a o a 2 O B TJ .> ^ S « u c B u z 2x 5h u 50 * ... < a z u u a, ^ r^ ^ c a •- a a w 5 5 2 ^ "> W *T3 u > |3 _ [jj n u. Ji O . ^5 od o u s ° s "^ x 5 £b ■« « « M O •*. u w So W 2 « O 3 I ' O So < w OS-" o -d - £ C ^3 CA) O " ^? C/3 'J S « ^ ^ ':f W ga ^ od ^ < 3 I *t CL, s H ;= S DC ^ 3 -; : " o 2 3 U 0< J:"- s _, .« J B g SU T'l ■-S ? 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C w I- o ^ u c J*, y » « "o N 5 s €«5 :s c £25" M.<5 ""^ e ;k.^ oo 5 ^ ^ D o 2 . Q R O 1 <*- > u u u , JS CO n u CO ^eg'S£.?g^s.§ss.£ c " 2 I 5 r^ *-t r; " n» ii, — . *w C r* ,< i; S? "« u 7. " -2 o- o -S N ="5 5S J ? « - o - 5 M^a " i») 11 6£Ja .sJ .§l^^i^7 INDEX Abbey gardens, 292, and note. Adams, keeper of Wnlmer Forest, 28. Adanson on the migration of swall vs. 138. jEstrtis bovis, 413. Alauda pratemis, 195. Alresford, a shower of cobwebs at, 253. Alton, 3, 4, 5 19, 23, 389, 423, 437. Ambresbury [Amesbury], 80. American animals, 100. Andover, 59. Anecdote of a Danish duck killed at Trotton, 194. Animals destroy their young, 209, and note. Animals fatter in cold weather, 178. Animals, sociality of, 255, 256 note, 281. Ann, Queen, at Wolmcr Forest, 28. "Annus Primus Historico-Naturalis," 117, 120, and note, 122, 182, and note, 184, 191. Ant, 438. Ant, horse, 438. Antiquities of Selborne, 38 note. Aphides, or smother-fly, a shower of, 343, 344 note, 437. Arbours in Wolmer Forest, 33. Aristotle quoted, 64. Arum, or cuckoo-pint, 66. Arun, 5. Arundel, 5. Ash-tree, 445. Ash-tree, a rupture, 266. Ash-tree, shrew, in the Plestor, 266, 267 note. Asses used for ploughing, 250. "Astley's," 29. Auk, little, 140, 311. Aurora borealis, 454. Ayles Holt, or Alice Holt Forest, 36, 39, 40, 42. "Baker's Chronicle," 319. Banks, Mr., 98. Barker, Mr. [brother-in-law to White], 94. Barnabas, St., ancient custom on the feast of, 33. Barnet, 388. Barometers, 366, and note, 451. Barragons, 23. Barrington, Daines, 78, 118, 163 note. Harrington's "Miscellanies," 337. Bat, 51, and note, 94, 108, and note, 131, 287, Bat, large, 108, iji. Bat, tame, 51. Beans sown by birds, 449. Beans, horse, 449. Bee- birds, 193. Beech, 4, 445. Bees, 263, 295, 449. Bees, wild, 433. Belon quoted, 193. Bentley, 40, 42. Bere Forest, 136. Besoms made by foresters 261, and note. Bilberry, or cranberry, 306. Bin's, or Bean's Pond, 35, 306, and note. Binstcd, 40, 42. Binswood, 36. Birds' cessation of song, 143. Birds, congregations of, 190, 201. Birds destroyed by frost, 377. Birds, dispersion of, 300, and note. Birds, distinguishing marks of sex, 182. Birds, exhibition of stuffed, 48. Birds, fatter in moderate frost, 178. Birds' flight, 309. Birds, foreign, 118. Birds found in Selborne, 146. Birds, how they swim, 410. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ;^u£ 1^ = M\M 1 \25 1 1.4 ^ M .1 < w w J "> Photograiiiic Sciences Corporation ^ as WIST MAIN STRUT WltSTU.N.Y. 14500 (71«)t7a-4S03 Si8 Index Birds in general, 397. Birds influenced by colour in the choice of food, 397. Birds' manner of drinking, 144. Birds' nests, 353. Birds' nocturnal cry, 314. Birds' notes, 312. Birds, observation on, 397. Birds of passage,summer,70,i64,andwi?/<'. Birds of passage, winter, 166. Birds of song, 170, 179. Bird?, soft-billed, that winter in Eng- land, 147, 165. Birds' tamencss in the season of nidifi- cation, 250. Birds that dust, 185. Birds that sing at night, 166. Birds that wash, 185. Birds with young, the spirit of, 207. Birds' nest ophrys, 307. Birds* nest, or yellow monotropa, 306. Bishop's Waltham, sand-martins build- ing in scafFold holes at, 236. Black act, 31. Black Bear Inn, Reading, 144. Blackbird, 66, 143, 170, 171, 172. Blackcap, 45, 70, 115, 145, 164, 170, 174, 177, 224, 397, 398. Black-dolphin, or turnip-fly, 127. Black-down, 5. Black game seen at Selbornc, 27. Blackmoor, 6, 8. Blackmoor Farm, 33. Black spring of 1 771, 454. Blackthorn, 447. Bleaberries, or whortle, 306. Blindworm, 77. Blue titmouse, or nuii, 148, 149. Boar, wild, 40. Bombylius medius, 436. Bosphorus, 193. "Bostal," the, 12 note. Botany, 301. Boiany of Selbornc, 30;, Boy, an idiot, his strange propensity for bees, 263. Bradley, a shower of cobwebs at, 253. Brambling, greater, or snow-fleck, 107. Bramshot, 4, 25, 408. Breadalbane's,Lord,seat in Scotland, 1 52. Brighthelmstone [Brighton], bustards found on the downs near, 186. Brighthelmstone [Brighton], swallows found at, 44. Brimstone Lodge, 33. Brisson quoted, 332. Buck's head, 87. Buffalo, 42. Bug, harvest, 126. Bullfinch, 66, 140, 171. Bull's head, or miller's thumb, 50, 80. Bunting, 59, 171, 187. Bunting, reed, 182 note. Burning heath, 32. Bustard, 125, 186. Butcher-bird, 86, 138, Butser Hill, 388. Buzzard, 22;, 310. ."buzzard, honey, 153, and note, 398. Calculus agogropila, 1 30. Canary, 55. Cancer doctress, 80. C/ine, 65, and note. Carex cespitosa, 35, and note. Carp, 36, 144. Castration, effect of, 277, 278 note. Cat and leveret, 281. Cat and squirrels, 423. Cat, effect of cold on a, 380. Cats' fondness offish, 116. Catsfield, 419. Chafers, 195, 428. Chafer, fern, 133, 144, 428. Chaffinch, 58, 66, 140, 170, 189, 190. Chai^nches, flocks of, 58, 66, 189. Chalk hills, 222, and note, 223 note. Chandler, Dr., quoted, 447. Cherwcll, wagtails on the banks of the, 174. Chestnut timber, 446. Chichester, 88, 136, 186. Index 519 Chiff-chafF, or smallest willow-wren, 69, and note, 70, 164, 171, 412. Chinese dog, 359. Cimex linearis, 431. Cinquefoil, marsh, or purple comarum, 306. Clay's Pond, 12. ClifF, fall of a, 320. Clouds, morning, 455. Cobwebs, a shower of, 252. Coccus vitis vinifera, 342. Cockroach, 429. Coins found in Walmer Pond, 37. Cole-mouse, 148. Colour influences birds in the choice of food, 397. Colour of animals affected by food, 66. Comarum, purple, or marsh cinquefoil, 306. Condensation by trees, 269, 270 note. Congregations of birds, 190, 201. Cook's, Captain, last voyage, 360. Coots, 311. Cornish choughs, 138, 186. Cornua ammonis,common about Selborne, 12. Cows will not fatten alone, 255. Cranmer Lake, 36. Cranberry, or bilberry, 306. Crane, 311, 314. Cressi Hall, the heronry at, 92, and»o/^, 95. Cricket, field, 323. Cricket, house, 327, 430, Cricket, mole, 329. Crocus, 308. Crops, 250. Cross-bill, 50, 166, 186, 225. Crow, 138, 144, 310. Crow, Royston, or grey, 166, 195. Crow's note, 313. Cuckoo, 70, 164, 175, 176 note, 178, and notes, 186, 272, and note. Cuckoo's notes, 197. Cucumbers set by bees, 449. Cumberland, Duke of, and Wolmer Forest deer, 28. Curlew, stone, 66, 67 note, 68, and note, 70, 87, 88, 104, 109, 124, 164, 363, 412. Dabchick's flight, 311. Dartmoor, ring-ousels on, 103, 120. Dawr>, 89, 91, 202, 225, 310. Deafness of White, 251. Deer, 30, 424. Deer, fallow, 40, 62. Deer, glands of, 62 note. Deer, moose, 113, 11^ note, 117. Deer, red, 28, 40. Deer stealers, 28, 30, 31, 40. Derham, Mr., quoted, 45, 76, 100. Diver, or loon, 311, 408. Doe brought up with cows, 256. Dog, Chinese, 359. Dogs, 359. Dove's coo, 313. Dove, ring, 156, 158, 172, 195, 250, 310, 406. Dove, stock, or wood-pigeon, 138,- 155, 156, 158, 166, 195. Dove, turtle, 70, 164. Dragon-fly, 186. Dripping weather after drought, 453. Duck, Danish, killed at Trotton, 194. Duck's quack, 314, Duck, wild, 27, 35, 50, 140, 166, 211, 311,314- Eagle, 193. Eagle's notes, 313. Eagle-owl, 107. Earth-worm, 284, 285 notes, 439. Echoes, 293, 366. Eel, 36, 50, 143, and note. Eft, or lizard, 92, 95, 442. Eft, water, or newt, 76, jy note, 82, and notes, 87 note. Eglintoun's, Earl of, seat near Glasgow, 152. Ekmarck quoted, 198. Elder, dwarf, 307. Ellis, John, F.R.S., quoted, 76. 20 Index Elm, wych, 7, and note. Elmer (artist), 40. Empedes or tipula, 437. Employment of Selborne villagers, 23. Emshot, 4, 12. Entomology, 94, '26. Evergreens, the effect of frost on, 368, 369 note. Exhibition of stuffed birds, 48. Fairy rings, 450. Falcon, peregrine, 49, and note, 53, and note, 356. Fallow-deer, 40, 62, and note. Faringdon, 4. Farnham, 4, 5, 40, 78, 92, 437. Faunists, their methods, 198, and note. Fcllwort, or gentian, 307. Fern-chafer, 133, 144, 428. Fern-owl, goat-sucker, or night-jar, 71, 93, and note, 96, and note, 133, 144, '65. 179. *73. 3". 4>3- Fern-owl's note, 3 1 3, and note. Ferret, 65. Field-cricket, 323. Fieldfare, 44, 59, 107, 112, 166, 190, 397. Field-mouse, 209, 353. Finch, chaf, 58,66, 140, 170, 171, 189, 190. Finch, gold, 170, 177. Finch, green, 170, 310. Fish, 36, 50, 79, 143, 144. Fish, gold and silver, 345. Flappers, or young wild ducks, 140, 211. Fleas, 238, and note. Flies {musca), 436. Flight of birds, 309. Flycatcher, 45, and note, 50,71, 115, 146, 165, 208, 397, 398. Fly, turnip, or black-dolphin, 127. Fog, 269. Fog, reflection of, 452. Folk-lore, 267 note. Foreign birds, 1 1 8. Forest, Ayles Holt, or Alice Holt, 36, 39, 40, 42. Forest, Wolmer, 6, 16, 25, 35, 39, 211, 236, 363, 408, Forest-fly, or side-fly, 214. Forest grantees, 39. Forest lane, 19. Fossil shells, 11. Fossil wood, 26, 363. Fothergill's, Dr., experience of tender shrubs in North America, 370. Fowls, 398, 401. Fowls, domestic, their notes, 314. Foxes, 36. Freestone, 4, 6, 15, 16. Frinsham [Frensham], 40, 42, 137. Frinsham [Frensham], Pond, 332. Frogs, 74, 76, and note. Frost, its effect on animals and birds, 178. 37°. 375. Frost, its effect on evergreens, 368, 369 note. Frost, partial, 451, Frosts, severe, 61, 368, 373, 378. Frozen rooks, 452. Frozen sleet, 452. Fyfield, letter from, 192. Galley Lane, echo in, 294. Gallina, 310. Game found at Selborne, 20. Garden produce, 291. Gardens, abbey, 292. Gasterosteus acuUatus, 79. Gasterosteus pungitius, 79. Gentian, or fellwort, 307. German silk-tail, or wax-wing, 54, and note, 166. Gibralta, birds from, 123. Gibralta swift, 124, and note, 247. Gipsies, 257, 258 note. Glow-worm, 439. Goat-sucker, fern-owl, or night-jar, 71, 93, and note, 96, and note, 133, 144, 165, 179. *73. 3'J. 4'3- Goat-sucker's note, 3 1 3, and note. Godalming, 5. Gold and silver fish, 345. Index 521 Golden-crowned wren, 72, 147, 165, Hazel, wych, 7, and note. 171, 172. Heat, intense, 386. Golden-thrush, 193. Heat, its effect on wall-fruit, 381. Goldfinch, 170, 177. Heath-fires, 32. . Goose, 311, 314, 401. Hedgehog, iii. Goose's note, 314. Hedge-sparrow, 143, 148, 165, 170. Goose, wild, 166. Hedleigh [Headley], 4, 5, 25. Goose Green, 40. . Heliotropes, 317. Gossamer, 252. Hellebore, 306. Grange Farm, 388. Helleborine, 307. Grantees of forests, 39. Hen-harrier, or blue hawk, 143, 3 10,407. Grasses, the study of, 303. Herissant on the cuckoo, 272. Grasshopper-lark, or warbler, 69, and Heron, and heronies, 92, 96. note, 70, 115, 142, 164, 171. Heron's flight, 310. Greatham, 4, 25, 33. Himantopus, 331. Greatham Manor Farm, 32. Hippobcsca hirundinis, 214, 247, 248, 340. Great Lodge, 40. Hirundines, 43, 44, and note, 50, 55, Great Ward le ham [Worldham], 4 ,36, 59, 70, 96, and note, 108, 115, 120, 320. 124, 134, 135, 138, 140, 141, 142, Greenfinch, 170, 310. 144, 164, 170, 171, 172, 174, 179, Grossbcak, 50, 166, 420. 181, 184, 185, and note, 187, 192, Guild-down, 4. 193, 203, 213, 215, 224, 226, and Guildford, 4, ;. note, 235, 241, 249, 286, 299,.3ii, Guinea fowl, 401. 314. 337. 339. 349. and note, 356, 398,416,417,418. Hail-storm, 388. Headley, Bishop of Winchester, 31. Hampshire, 3, 66, 91. Hogmer Lake, 36. Hanger, the, 4, 20, 135, 153, 154, 366. Hogs will live to a considerable age, 279. Hanger, the hermitage in the, 93. Hollow lanes, 19, 389. Hares, 20, 107. Hollow lanes filled with snow, 374. Hartcley-Manduit, 4, 36, 388. Holt, Ayles, or Alice, Forest, 36, 39, 40, Hartelcy Park, 320. 42. Harvest-bug, 126. Honey-buzzard, 153, and Jiote, 398. Harvest-mouse, 46, and note^ 53, and Honey-dews, 382, and note, 453. note, 60, 143. Hoopoe, 49, 193. Hassclquist on birds settling on board Hops, 6, 447. ship, 60. Hornet, 433. Hasselquist on the stilt-plover, 333 . Horns, Lord Pembroke's collection of, Hawk, 193, 250, 407, 408. 118. Hawk, blue, or hen-harrier, 143,310, 407. Horse, 255, 370, 423. Hawk, ring-tail, 274. Horse and hen, affection between, 256. Hawk, sparrow, 143, 154, 315. Horse-ant, 437. Hawk's notes, 3 1 3. Hounds, 28, 423. Hawkley Hanger slips, 320. Housc-crickct, 327, 430. Haze, or smoky fog in the summer i 783, House-martin, 44, 50, §6, 70, 89, and 385. note, 97, 115, 120, 134, 135, 140, if 522 Index 14+, 164, 171, 187, 215, 287, 337, 349,418. House-sparrow, 116, 143. Howe, General, 40. Humming in the air, 426. Hungerford, 8o. Hux ham's, Dr. "Observations de ACre," 365. Hybcrnaculum of a water rat, 108. Hybrid pheasant, 403. ICHNEUMON-FLY, 435. Ichthyology, 89. Ides, Yesbrandt, his "Travels," 360. Idiot boy's propensity for bees, 263. Inhabitants of Selborne, 22. Insects, 126. Insects, and vermes, observations on, 42 5. Insects, dipterous, 214. Insects in general, 425. Instinct, 352, 401. Ireland, unexplored, 150, and note. Iron ore, 16. Ivy berries, 447. Jackdaw, 89, 91, 202, 225, 310. Jack-snipe, 166. Jarbird, or nuthatch, 71, 353. Jay, 310. John's Hill, King, 36. Johnson, Dr., quoted, 454. Jumpers, 127. Kestrel, or vvindover, 143, 310. Kine, 36. King-fisher, 311. King John's Hill, 36. Kingsley, 4, 25, 40, 42. Kite, 193, 225, 310, 398. Kramer quoted, 191. Kuckalam, 184. Leicerti, 78. Ladies' traces, 307. Lakes, 35, 36. Lake Cranmer, 36. Lake Hogmer, 36. Lake Wolmer, 36, 37, and note. Lampern, 50, 80. Landrail, or daker-hen, 20, 71, 164, 404. Landslip at Hawkley, 320. Land-springs, or levants,233,and/r0/^,32O. Lanes, hollow, 19, 389. Lanes, hollow, filled with snow, 374. Language of birds, 312. Lapwing, 140, 202. Lark, grasshopper, 69, and note^ 70, 1 1 5, 142, 164, 171. Lark, sky, 170, 171, 185, and note, 190, 195, 225, 311, 397. Lark, tit, 138, and note, 170, 171, 174, 187,311,397. Lark, willow, 83, and note. Lark, wood, 143, 166, 170, 171, 172, 177. 3"- Lathyrus, wild, 307. Laurel, spurge, 307. Leicester House Museum, 12. Leprosy, 289. Leveret suckled by a cat, 281. Lever's Sir Ashton, Museum, 231 note, 261 note. Lewes, Sussex, 136, 186, 433. Lime blossoms, 447. Linnaeus quoted, 46, 58, 77, 117, 143, 191, 250,435. Linnet, 59, 170, 177, 187, lyo. Lippock [Liphook], 28. Lister, Dr., quoted, 254. Lizzards, 92, 95, 442. Loaches, 80. Lodge Hill, 36. Loon, or diver, 311, 408. Losel's Wood, 8. Lucretius, quotations from, 297, 442. Lysse [Liss], 4, 25. Magpie, 250, 310, 400. Malm, black, 5, and note. Malm, white, 6, and note, 7. Marlborough, ladies snowed up there on the Queen's birthday, 374. Index 523 Marshatn, Mr., quoted, 443. Marsh-titmouse, 144, 148, 149, 171. Martin, Benjamin, 370, and note. Martin, house, 44, 50, 56, 70, 89, and note, 97, 115, 120, 134, 135, 140, 144, 164, 171, 187,215, 287, 337, 349, 418. Martin, sand, or bank, 70, 164, 226 note, 235, 249, 311, 416. Mauduit Hatch, 36. May-fly, 432. Maypole, 146. Maze], 80, and note. Merret quoted, 76. Merton College wall, 96, and note. Meteorological observations, 451. Metheglin, 264, and note. Mczereon, 307. Migration, 44, 56, and note, 89, 96, 103, 107, 115, 119, 123, 134, 135, 138, 147, 158, 181, 186, 189, 190, 192, 198, 224, 246, 247 note, 249, 287, and note, 337, 349, 397, 405, 412, 416,417. Migration and food supply, 198, and note. Miller's thumb, or bull's head, 50. Milton quoted, 194, 256, 327, 386. Missel-bird, misseI-thrush,or storm-cock, 55, 138, 170, 250, 311, 400. Mist, called London smoke, 452. Mole-cricket, 329. Monogamous birds, 11;. Monograph on the house-martin, 215. Monograph on the sand-martin, 235. Monograph on the swallow, 226. Monograph on the swift, 241. Monographers, 120. Monotropa, yellow, or birds' nest, 306. Moor-hen, 311. Moose-deer, 113, 11^ note, 117. Mostyn's, Sir Roger, doves, 156. Mount Carburn, 433. Mouse, common, 144. Mouse, field, 209, 353. Mouse, harvest, 46 note, 53, and note, 60, 1+3. Mouse, water, 108. Museum, Leicester House, 12. Museum, Sir Ashton Lever's, 231 note, 261 note. Museum, the countryman's, 48, 65. Music, its effect on men, 353. Mussulmenrubthemselveswithsand,i8;. " Natural History of Gibraltar," by Rev. John White, 342. " Naturalist's Summer Evening Walk," lOI. Naturalists who devote themselves to one district, 184. Nautili, 14. Nests, birds', 353. Newhaven, swallows seen there in November, 203. Newt, water, or eft, 76, yy note, 82, and notes, 87 note. Newton Lane, 269. Newton Valence, 4, 366. Nightingale, 7c, 142, 164,166,170, 124. Nightingales, where found, 194. Night-hunters, 40. Night-jar, gooat-sucker, or fern owl, 71, 93, and note, 96, and note, 133, 144, 165, 179, 273, 311,413. Night-jar's note, 313, and note. Nocturnal cry of birds, 314. Nore Hill, 5, 320, 388. Norton Farm-house, 7, 388. Nose-fly, 434. Notes of birds, 312. Notes of domestic fowls, 314. Nuthatch, or jarbird, 71, 353. Oak-tree, 6, 8, 10, 42. Oak, the great, in the Holt, 444. Oak, the Plestor, 8. Oak, the raven's, 10. Oak timbers for the navy, 6. Oakhanger, 22, 35, 36. Oakwoods, 36. " Observations de Acre," Dr. Huxham's, 365- 524 Index Observations in severe weather, 378. Observations, meteorological, \%\, Observations on birds, 397. Observations on insects and vermes, 425. Observations on quadrupeds, 422. Observations on vegetables, 443. Odiham, swifts build in a chalk-pit near, 242. Oestrus curvitauda, 127, and note^ 434. Oil, a remedy for viper bites, 77. " On the dark, still, dry, warm, weather, occasionally happening in the winter, months," 454 One-berry, or true love, 306. Ophrys, birds' nest, 307. Oppian quoted, 64. Ormshead [Great Orme's Head], 156, and note. Osprey, 137. Ostrtea carinata, 1 1 note. Otter, 116. Ousel, ring, 55, 60, 86, 89,92, 98, 103, 107, 119, 134, 136, 138, 166, 186, •95. *25. Ousel, water, 186. Owl, barn, or white, 50, 116, 212. Owl, brown, 50, 213. Owl, churn, 94. Owl, eagle, 107, Owl, fern, goat-sucker, or night-jar, 71, 93, and note, 96, and note, 133, 144, 165, 179, 273, 3>i, 413- Owl's, fern, note, 3 1 3, and note. Owl's flight, 310. Owl's hoot, 196, 197, 213, 313. Oxen will not fatten alone, 255. Ox-eye, or great titmouse, 144, 148, and note, 149, 171. Oxford, 95. Parrot, 310. Parrot's notes, 313. Partridge, 20, 27, 116, 401, 402. Peacock, 129, 401. Peacock's note, 314. Peak of Derby, ring-ousels on, 1 20. Pease, 449. Pectines, or scallops, 14. Pembroke's, Lord, horn-room, 1 1 8. Perch, 36. Peregrine-falcon, 49, and note, 53, and note, 356. Perfoliated yellow-wort, 306. Periwinkle, less, 306. Peters/ield, 3. Pettichap, 355. t'kalana quercus, 431. Phlaana viridata, 431, Pheasant, 20, 36. Pheasant, hybrid, 403. Philips's, John, "Cyder," quoted, 319. Pigeon's flight, 310. Pigeons, origin of tame, i;;, and note, 156. Pigeon, wood, or stock-dove, 138, 155, 156, 158, 166, 195. Plants found at Selborne, 305. Plants, their philosophical strdy, 301, 302 note. Pleastor, the, 8, and note, 266. Plover, stilt, or black-winged stilt, 33>- Plot, Dr., on echoes, 295. Plot, Dr., on subterraneous trees, 26, and note. Pochard, 166. Polecat, 65. Ponds, 35. Ponds on chalk hills, 270. Poplar, galls -f L-^mbardy, 446. Population of Sclborue, 22. Portsdown, 388, Potatoes, 292. Poultry, 398, 401. Poultry, the language of, 314. Priory, 116. Ptinus pectinhornis, 428. Quadrupeds, observations on, 422. Quail, 20, 59. Quakers, 23. Queen's bank, 28. Index 525 Rabbits, 32, 422. Rainfall, 20, and notey 94, 191, 365. Rana arior^a, 76. Rat, water, 46, and note, 1 08. Raven, 10, 172, 310. Raven's note, 313. Raven tree, 10. Ray quoted, 46, 60, and note, 64, 66, 70, 7^^7^j '04. *9*. 398- Ray's superiority to most naturalists, 199. Reaumur quoted, 214. Redbreast, 144, 148, 165, 170, 174, 177. Red deer, 28, 40. Redstart, 50, 71, 143, 145, 164, 170, **+. 397, 398- Redwing, 44, i66, 178, 190, 198, 397. Reed-bunting, 182 note. Reed-sparrow, lesser, 108, 164, 166, 170, 174, 177, 182, and note, 189. Repules, 73, 77, 87, 104, 205, 225, 275. Revesby, 100, and note, 104. Richmond, 52. Ring-dove, 156, 158, 172, 195, 250, 310, 406. Ringmer, letter from, i8^, 221. Ring-ousel, 55, 60, 86, 89, 92, 98, 103, 107, 119, 134, 136, 138, 166, 186, 195,225. Ring-tail hawk, 274. Rogatc, 4, 25. Rook, 172, 202, 225, 310, 364, 399. Rooks attempt to sing, 313. Rooks frozen, 452. Rook, white, 65. Rookery at Ringmer, 225. Royston-crow, or grey crow, 166, 195. Rupert, Prince, 39. Ruptured children, curing, 266. Rush-lights, 259. Rust balls, 16. Rutland, rainfall in, 191. St. John's wort, 306. Salad, 292. Salad oil a remedy for viper bites, 77. Sa/icaria, species of, 66, 103. Sand-martin, or bank-martin, 70, 164, 27,6 note, 235, 249, 311, 416. Sandpiper, 85, 86 not/. Saxifrange, opposite golden, 307. Scallops, or pectincs, 14. Scarabausfuilo, 98. Scopoli, Dr. John Antony, quoted, I2i, 122, 124. Scopoli on the house-martin, 120. Scopoli on the wood-cock, 120. Scopoli's "Annus-Pnmus Historico- Naturalio," 117, 120, and »ff/^, 122, 182, and note, 184, 191. Scopoli's " Entomologia," 117, 185. Scotland, defective maps of, 151. Sedge-warbler, 100, 103, 104, and notes, 141, 174. Seed lying dormant, 448. Selborne high wood, 1 58. Selborne manor, 20. Selborne parish, 20, 253. Selborne parish, its extent, 20. Selborne parish, its situation, 3. Selborne streams, 5. Selborne village, 4, 20, 22. Severe weather, 177, 181, 194, 368, 373. 378. Sexual distinctions of birds, 182. Shakespeare quoted, 174, 440. " Shaky " trees, 6, 446. Sheep, 32, 223, 422. Sheep-down, 4, 98. Shells, fossil, 11. Short Heath, 36, 416. Short Lithe, 323. Shrew ash in the Plcstor, 266, 267 note. Shrew-mouse, water, 108. Silk-tail, or wax-wing, 54, and note, 166. Skylark, 170, 171, 185, and note, 190, 195, 225, 311.397- Sleet, frozen, 452. Slug, 440. Smother-fly, or aphides, 343, 344 note,^$j. Snail, 440. Snakes, 77, 78, and note, 104, 275. Snake's slough, 440. 526 Index Snake, water, 78. Snipe, 27, 35,46, 50, 71, i+o, 166, 174, 3»o- Snipe, Jack, 166. Snow, deep, 61, 374. Snow-flake, 66. Snow-fleck, or greater brambling, 107. Sociality of animals, 255, 256 note, 281. Soft-billed birds that winter in England, 147, 165. Soil, 4, 5, 6, 40. Soils of Wolmcr Forest, 40. Song-birds, 170, 179. Sound, 295. Sow, great fecundity of one, 279. Sparrow-hawk, 143, 154,315. Sparrow, hedge, 143, 148, 165, 170. Sparrow, house, 116, 143. Sparrow, reed, 108, 164, 166, 170, 174, 177, 182, and nott^ 189. Spkynx ocellata, 432. Spicula, icy, 380. Spider, 254. Spinning, 23. Spirit in birds with young, 207. Spring Gardens exhibition of stufl^ed birds, 48. Springs, land, or levants, 2 3 3, and «o/r,320. Squirrel, 353, 423. Stag-hounds, 28, 423. Stawell, Lord, 42, 403. Starling, 202, 311. Stickleback, 50, 79. Stillingfeet, Mr., quoted, 45, 59. Stilt-plover, or black-winged stilt, 331. Stoat, 65. Stork-dove, or wood-pigeon, 138, 155, 156, 158, 166, 195. Stone, free, 4, 6, 15, 16. Stone, rag, 16. Stone, sand, or forest, 16. Stone, yellow, 16. Stone-chatter, 140, 165, 187. Stone-curlew, 66, 67 note, 68, and note, 70, 87, 88, 104, IC9, 124, 164, 363, 412. Stonehengc, 89. Storm-cock, missel-bird, or missel- thrush, 55, 138, 170, 250, 311, 400. Storm, the great, of 1703, 7. Storms, thunder, 385, 387. Strawberry, 448. Streams, 5. Subterraneous trees, 26. Summary of the weather, 456, 457. Summer birds of passage, 70, 164, and note. Summer of 1783 at Selborne, 385. Sunbury, 52, 55, 60. Sundew, long-leaved, 306. Sundew, round-leaved, 306. Superstitions, 265. Sussex, 3, 66, 91, 136, 186. Sussex downs, 4, 145, 186, 222, and note, ti'i note. Swallow, 43, 56, 59, 70, 96, 109, 115, 134, 138, 140, 142, 164, 170, 172, 174, 177, 179, 181, 185, and note, 187, 192, 203, 204 note, 226, and note, 249, 286, 311, 356, 418. Swallows, congregating and disappear- ance of, 418. Swallow's note, 313. Swallows, young fed on the wing, 120, 228, and note. Swammcrdam quoted, 74, 76. Swan, 143, 160. Swift, 44, 50, 70, 108, 134, 140, 141, 164, 185, and note, 241, and note, .249. 299. 3 ««» 339- Swift collects materials for its nest on the wing, 242 note. Swift, its difl^erence from the swallow, 243, and note. Swift, the great Gibraltar, 124, and note, 247. Swimming of birds, 410. Sycamore, 446. Tameness of birds in the season of nidi- fication, 250. Teal, 35, 50, 140, 166, 211. 14 Index 527 Teaiel, siuall, 307. Temple, 6. Tench, 36. Thames, 5. Thaw, 371,451. Thistle, 448. Thomson auoted, 37, 426. Thrush, 66, 143, 170, 17a, 178, 400. Thrush, golden, 193. Thrush, missel, missel-bird, or storm- cock, 55, 138, 170, J 50, 311, 400. Thunder, 385, 387. Tilford Bridge, 5. Timber, 6, 42, 444, 446. Tipttlte, or empedes, 437. Tisted Park, 1 38. Titlark, 138, and note, 170, 171, 174, "87. 3". 397- Titmouse, blue, or nun, 148, 149. Titmouse, great, or ox-eye, 144, 148, and note, 149, 171. Titmouse, long-tailed, 148. Titmouse, marsh, 144, 148, 14.9, 171. Toads as a cure for cancer, 80, 89. Toads' method of procreation, 74. Toad, tame, 74. Toids, the venom of, 74. Tooth-wort, 307. Tortoise, 187, and note, 205, 225, and note,i%6, 335. Tortoise knows a friend, 206. Tortoise, its objection to rain, 206. Toy, the, near Hampton Court, the bridge at, 8. •'Travels of Ysbrandt Ides from Mus- covy to China," 360. Trees, flowing of sap, 445. Trees green in November, 195. Trees, order of losing their leaves, 443. Trees, renovation of leaves, 445. Trees, size and growth, 443. Trees, subterraneous, 26. Trees, water distilled by, 269, 270 note. Tremella nostoc, 4.50. Tring, witches drowned at, 266. Trotton, 4, 25, 194. Trout, 50. True-love, or one-berry, 306, Truffles, 307, 450. Turkey's note, 314. Turnip-fly, or black-dolphin, 127. Turtle-dove, 70, 164. Vegetables, increase in their consump- tion, 291. Vegetables, observations on, 443. Vermes, and insects, observations on, 425. Vine, 341. Viper, 77, 275. Vipers, remedy against their bite, 77. Vipers swallowing their young, 78, and note. Virgil quoted, 159, and note, iij, 29;. Vulture, 193. Wagtail, 59, 140, 143, 147, 165, 174, 311,419. Wagtail, grey, 147, 165. Wagtail, white, 59, 147, 165. Wagtail, yellow, 59, 147, 165. Waldon Lodge, 23. Walls fastened with tenpenny nails ? 18. Waltham blacks, 28, and note, 30. Waltham Chase, 31, and note. Ward le Ham [Worldham], 4, 36, 320. Wasp, 382, and note, 398, 433. Water distilled by trees, 269, 270 note. Water-lilies as food for moose-deer, 1 14. Water-newt, or eft, 76, 77 note, Si, and notes, 87 note. Water-ousel, 186. Water-rat, 46, and note, 108. Water shrew-mouse, 108. Water-snake, 78. Wax-wing, or silk-tail, 54, endnote, 166. Weasel, 65, 143. Weather, 8, 20, 22, 61, 94, 115, 177, 181, 194, 250, 286, 368, 373, 378, 381, 385, 387, 45»- Weather, summary of the, 456, 457. Weaver's Down, 18. 528 Index Well-head, 5, and notet la. Weill, $, and note. Wey, 5, 4a. Wcybridge, Jt Wheat, 449. Wheatear, 59, 140, 149, 165, 187, aa4. Whetham Hill, 330. Whinchat, 140, 149, 165, 187, aa;. White hares, 107. White's deafness, a;i. White's method of work, 173. White's proposed "Natural History," '79- White's, John, description of birds cross- ing the Straits, 193. White's, John, /*/r«W9 >fy^^r»rf, lai, laa note. White's, John, natural history of Gib- raltar, 342. Whitethroat, 50, 70, 115, 145, 164, 170, 171, 177, 224, 311. Whortle, or bleaberries, 306. Widgeon, 50, 166. Wild-boar, 40. Wild-bull, 42. Wild-duck, 27, 35, 50, 140, 166, 211, 3". 3H- Wildfowl, 27, 35, 37, 50, 311. Wild-goose, 166. Wild, swan, 143, 166. Willow-lark, 83, and note. Willow-wren, 69, and note, 70, 71, 83, 115, 143, 164, 170, 171, 208, 412. Willow-wren, yellow, 45, and note. Willughby, Mr., 60, 175. Winchester, Hoadley, Bishop of, 31. Windover, or kestrel, 143, 310. Windsor, 28. Winter birds of passage, 166. Wishanger Common, 416. Wishanger Pond, 417. Witchcraft, 266. Wolmer Forest, 6, 16, 2;, 3;, 39, 211, 236, 408. Wolmer Forest, arbours, 33. Wolmer Forest, fossil trees, a6, 363. Wolmer Forest, red deer, a8. Wolmer Forest, the bounds of, 36. Wolmer Forest, wild fowl, 27. Wolmer Pond, 28, 36, 37, and note. Woodchat, 105, and note. Woodcock, 20, 120, 166, 174, 190, 194, 198, 199. Wood, fossil, 26, 363. Woodlark, 143, 166, 170, 171, 172, 177, 3". Wood, Losel's, 8. Woodpecker, 310. Woodpecker's laugh, 313. Wood-pigeon, or stock-dove, 138, 155, 156, 158, 166, 195. Wood-wren, 45. Worm, earth, 284, 28; notes, 439. Worm, glow, 439. Wren, 144, 148, 165, 170, 172, 174, 177. Wren, golden-crowned, 72, 147, 165, 171, 172. Wryneck, 70, 147, 164, 420. Wych-elm, 7, and note. Yellow-hammer, 170, 174, 177. Yellow-wort, pcrfoliated, 306. Yeoman prickers, 28, 423. ZiNOANI, 250. Printed by Ballantvni, Hanson & Co. London & Edinburgh i^