THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

THE

NATURAL HISTORY

OF

SELBORNE;

OBSERVATIONS ON VARIOUS PARTS OF NATURE;
AND THE NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

BY THE LATE

REV. GILBERT WHITE, M.A.

FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD.

WITH ADDITIONS BY
SIR WILLIAM JARDINE, BART. F,R.S.E. F.L.S. M.W.S.

AUTHOR OF " ILLUSTRATIONS OF ORNITHOLOGY."

NEW EDITION,
WITH EIGHTEEN ENGRAVINGS, BY BRANSTON.

PRINTED FOR

WHITTAKER, TREACHER, & CO. LONDON;

AND WAUGH & INNES, EDINBURGH.
1833.

LONDON :

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

INTRODUCTION.

" Observatores pauci, qui, scientiae mysteriis initiati, rite
colligunt, collecta examinant, discrimina quserunt, naturae arcana
rimantur." SCOPOLI.

THE attention that, of late years, has been
devoted to the study of Natural History, and its
importance to our commerce, manufactures, and
domestic economy, must render every attempt
to increase or simplify our knowledge of it at
once praiseworthy and desirable ; and, it is
hoped, will be a sufficient apology for the reprint
of a work which has already gone through se-
veral editions.

The Natural History of Selborne, by the Rev.
Gilbert White, appears to have been written at
the suggestion of Mr. Pennant, the Hon. Daines
Barrington, and several distinguished contem-

A2

srsoeroocrrt

iy INTRODUCTION.

porary naturalists, with whom Mr. White was in
frequent correspondence; and who soon perceived
that his abilities, as a careful observer of nature,
might be advantageously employed in researches
connected with the productions of his native
parish. The work consists of a series of letters
addressed to these gentlemen, written in a clear
and elegant, yet somewhat popular, style ; con-
taining very varied information upon most sub-
jects connected with the Natural History of the
age, and is rather the description of an extensive
district than of a particular spot or village.

The present work was originally printed in
1789, four years previous to the author's decease,
in a quarto volume, containing, besides, an
Account of the Antiquities of Selborne. Copies
of the work becoming scarce and expensive, a
reprint was thought necessary, and, accordingly,
it again appeared in 1802, in two volumes octavo,
chiefly under the superintendence of Dr. Aiken,
and some of Mr. White's friends. It was again
reprinted in 1825. In the later editions, it was
thought unnecessary to include that part relative
to the Antiquities, and their place was supplied
by the Naturalist's Calendar, and Miscellaneous
Observations, which had originally been pub-

INTRODUCTION. V

lished in a small volume after the author's death.
These, with some papers on different subjects
connected with natural history, and published in
various Transactions of learned societies, with
some Poems, which were most probably written
for amusement, and without any intention of
publication, are all his writings that have ever
been printed.

As a naturalist, Mr. White ranked very high ;
and we consequently find him in correspondence
with many of the most eminent scientific cha-
racters of that period, and often consulted on
subjects connected with the natural history of
his county, particularly by Mr. Pennant, who
was then engaged with his British Zoology. At
the present time we find his works extensively
quoted, and many of his observations borne out
by more modern experiments. The Fauna of
Great Britain is indebted to him for the first
notice of the Great Bat, (vespertilio noctula,) and
for the discovery and detailed history of the
Harvest Mouse (mus messorius), in addition to
various remarks on different productions, both
animal and vegetable, and the elucidation of
many facts regarding popular superstitions and
abuses.

vi INTRODUCTION.

In the last edition of his works we have the
following biographical sketch of his life, perhaps
the only one extant: — " Gilbert White was the
eldest son of John White of Selborne, Esq., and
of Anne, the daughter of Thomas Holt, rector
of Streatham in Surrey. He was born at Sel-
borne, on July 18, 1720, and received his school
education at Basingstoke, under the Reverend
Thomas Warton, vicar of that place, and father
of those two distinguished literary characters, Dr.
Joseph Warton, master of Winchester school,
and Mr. Thomas Warton, poetry professor at
Oxford. He was admitted at Oriel College,
Oxford, in December, 1789, and took his degree
of Bachelor of Arts in June, 1743. In March,
1744, he was elected Fellow of his College. He
became Master of Arts in October, 1746, and
Was admitted one of the senior Proctors of the
University in April, 1752. Being of an unam-
bitious temper, and strongly attached to the
charms of rural scenery, he early fixed his resi-
dence in his native village, where he spent the
greater part of his life in literary occupations,
and especially in the study of Nature. This he
followed with patient assiduity, and a mind ever
open to the lessons of piety and benevolence,

INTRODUCTION. Vll

which such a study is so well calculated to afford.
Though several occasions offered of settling upon
a college living, he could never persuade himself
to quit the beloved spot, which was indeed a pe-
culiarly happy situation for an observer. Thus
his days passed tranquil and serene, with scarcely
any other vicissitudes than those of the seasons,
till they closed at a mature age> on June 26,
1793."

JARDINE HALL, August, 1829.

EDINBURGH, August, 1830.

To the present edition of the Natural History of Sel-
borne, the publishers have subjoined the Author's " Ob-
servations on Various Parts of Nature," his " Summary
of the Weather," " Naturalist's Calendar/' and the
original alphabetical Index, additions which cannot fail
to render the work more interesting and valuable. They
have also been induced to adopt an alteration, which,
they are persuaded, the reader will consider an improve-
ment. The work has hitherto consisted of two parts ;
the Letters in the first part being addressed to Thomas
Pennant, Esq., and those in the second to the Hon.
Daines Barrington. As both series, however, were
written simultaneously, and occasionally the same sub-
jects discussed in each, it has been deemed proper to
arrange the whole in Chronological order.

It remains only to be added, that an apology would be
due to the student in natural history for the following
posthumous poems of the author being allowed to appear
in this edition, were it not believed that these relics of an
ingenious and amiable mind are likely to afford pleasure
to many readers. They are besides, partly descriptive of
the contemporary view of Selborne which accompanies
the volume, and which has been reduced by Ewbank,
from the interesting sketch of S. H. Grimm, prefixed to
the quarto edition of 1789.

POEMS.

INVITATION TO SELBORNE.

SEE, Selborne spreads her boldest beauties round
The varied valley, and the mountain ground,
Wildly majestic ! What is all the pride
Of flats, with loads of ornaments supplied ? —
Unpleasing, tasteless, impotent expense,
Compared with Nature's rude magnificence.

Arise, my stranger, to these wild scenes haste ;
The unfinish'd farm awaits your forming taste :
Plan the pavilion, airy, light, and true ;
Through the high arch call in the length'ning 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 lawrn the flow'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,
By fancy plann'd ; as once th' inventive maid
Met the hoar sage amid the secret shade :
Romantic spot ! from whence in prospect lies
Whate'er of landscape charms our feasting eyes, —

* A kind of 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.

B 2

4 POEMS.

The pointed spire, the hall, the pasture plain,
The russet fallow, or the golden grain,
The breezy lake that sheds a gleaming light,
Till all the fading picture fail the sight.

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

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

Adown the vale, in lone, sequestered nook,
Where skirting woods imbrown the dimpling brook,
The ruin'd convent lies : here wont to dwell
The lazy canon midst his cloister'd cell,*
While Papal darkness brooded o'er the land,
Ere Reformation made her glorious stand :
Still oft at eve belated shepherd swains
See the cowl'd spectre skim the folded plains.

To the high Temple would my stranger go,f
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, urged on by pope and priest,
Pour'd forth their millions o'er the deluged East:
Luxurious knights, ill suited to defy
To mortal fight Turcestan chivalry.

Nor be the parsonage by the muse forgot —
The partial bard admires his native spot ;
Smit with its beauties, loved, as yet a child,
Unconscious why, its capes, grotesque and wild.
High on a mound th7 exalted gardens stand,
Beneath, deep valleys, scoop'd by Nature's hand.

* The ruins of a Priory, founded by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Win-
chester.

t The remains of a Preceptory of the Knights Templars ; at least it
was a farm dependent upon some preceptory of that order. I find it
was a preceptory, called the Preceptory of Suddington; now called
Southington.

POEMS.

A Cobham here, exulting in his art ;

Might blend the general's with the gardener's part,

Might fortify with all the martial trade

Of rampart, bastion, fosse, and palisade ;

Might plant the mortar with wide threat'ning bore,

Or bid the mimic cannon seem to roar.

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

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

SELBORNE HANGER.

A WINTER PIECE. TO THE MISS B*****S.

THE bard, who sang so late in blithest strain
Selbornian prospects, and the rural reign,
Now suits his plaintive pipe to sadden'd tone,
While the blank swains the changeful year bemoan.

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

Dim, clust'ring fogs involve the country round,
The valley and the blended mountain ground
Sink in confusion ; but with tempest-wing
Should Boreas from his northern barrier spring,
The rushing woods with deaf'ning clamour roar,
Like the sea tumbling on the pebbly shore.
When spouting rains descend in torrent tides,
See the torn zigzag weep its channel'd sides :
Winter exerts its rage ; heavy and slow,
From the keen east rolls on the treasured snow ;
Sunk with its weight the bending boughs are seen,
And one bright deluge whelms the works of men.

» POEMS.

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 danced, and gentle Anna sang ?
With fairy step where Harriet tripp'd so late,
And, on her stump reclined, the musing Kitty sate ?

Return, dear nymphs ; prevent the purple spring,
Ere the soft nightingale essays to sing ;
Ere the first swallow sweeps the fresh'ning plain,
Ere love-sick turtles breathe their amorous pain ;
Let festive glee th' enliven'd village raise,
Pan's blameless reign, and patriarchal days ;
With pastoral dance the smitten swain surprise,
And bring all Arcady before our eyes.

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

Nov. 1, 1763.

ON THE RAINBOW.

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

ON morning or on evening cloud impress'd,
Bent in vast curve, the watery meteor shines
Delightfully, to th' levell'd sun opposed :
Lovely refraction ! while the vivid brede
In listed colours glows, th' unconscious swain,
With vacant eye, gazes on the divine
Phenomenon, gleaming o'er the illumined fields,
Or runs to catch the treasures which it sheds.

Not so the sage : inspired with pious awe,
He hails the federal arch ; * and looking up,
Adores that God, whose fingers form'd this bow
Magnificent, compassing heaven about
With a resplendent'verge, " Thou mad'st the cloud,

* Gen. ix. 12—17.

POEMS.

Maker omnipotent, and thou the bow ;

And by that covenant graciously hast sworn

Never to drown the world again : * henceforth,

Till time shall be no more, in ceaseless round,

Season shall follow season : day to night,

Summer to winter, harvest to seed time,

Heat shall to cold in regular array

Succeed." — Heav'n taught, so sang the Hebrew bard.f

A HARVEST SCENE.

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

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

But when high noon invites to short repast,
Beneath the shade of sheltering thorn they sit,
Divide the simple meal, and drain the cask :
The swinging cradle lulls the whimpering babe
Meantime ; while growling round, if at the tread
Of hasty passenger alarm' d, as of their store
Protective, stalks the cur with bristling back,
To guard the scanty scrip and russet frock.

ON THE DARK, STILL, DRY, WARM WEATHER,

Occasionally happening in the Winter Months.

TH' imprison'd winds slumber within their caves,
Fast bound : the fickle vane, emblem of change,
Wavers no more, long settling to a point.

* Gen. viii. 22. t Moses.

POEMS.

All Nature nodding seems composed : thick steams,
From land, from flood up-drawn, dimming the day,
" Like a dark ceiling stand :" slow through the air
Gossamer floats, or, stretch'd from 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 poised upon his wings,
Unseen, the soft, enamour'd wood-lark runs
Through all his maze of melody ; the brake,
Loud with the blackbird's bolder note, resounds.

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

The ploughman inly smiles to see upturn
His mellow glebe, best pledge of future crop :
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 float the deluged paths, and miry fields.

* The barometer.

THE

NATURAL HISTORY

OF

SELBORNE.

IN A SERIES OF LETTERS

ADDRESSED TO

THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

AND

THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

THE

NATURAL HISTORY

OF

SELBORNE.

LETTER I.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

THE parish of Selborne lies in the extreme eastern
corner of the county of Hampshire, bordering on
the county of Sussex, and not far from the county
of Surrey ; is about fifty miles south-west of London,
in latitude 51, and near midway between the towns
of Alton and Peter sfield. Being very large and
extensive, it abuts on twelve parishes, two of which
are in Sussex, viz. Trotton and Rogate. If you
begin from the south, and proceed westward, the
adjacent parishes are Emshot, Newton Valence,
Faringdon, Harteley, Mauduit, Great Ward-le-ham,
Kingsley, Hedleigh, Bramshot, Trotton, Rogate,
Lysse, and Greatham. The soils of this district
are almost as various and diversified as the views
and aspects. The high part to the south-west con-
sists of a vast hill of chalk, rising three hundred
feet above the village ; and is divided into a sheep
down, the high wood, and a long hanging wood,
called the Hanger. The covert of this eminence is
altogether beech, the most lovely of all forest trees,
whether we consider its smooth rind or bark, its

12 VILLAGE OF SELBORNE.

glossy foliage, or graceful pendulous boughs.* The
down, or sheep-walk, is a pleasing park-like spot, of
about one mile by half that space, jutting out on the
verge of the hill-country, where it begins to break
down into the plains, and commanding a very
engaging view, being an assemblage of hill, dale,
woodlands, heath, and water. The prospect is
bounded to the south-east and east by the vast
range of mountains, called the Sussex Downs ; by
Guild-down, near Guildford, and by the Downs
round Dorking, and Ryegate in Surrey, to the north-
east ; which altogether, with the country beyond
Alton, and Farnham, form a noble and extensive
outline.

At the foot of this hill, one stage, or step from
the uplands, lies the village, which consists of one
single straggling street, three quarters of a mile in
length, in a sheltered vale and running parallel
with the Hanger. The houses are divided from the
hill by a vein of stiff clay, (good wheat land,) yet
stand on a rock of white stone, little in appearance
removed from chalk ; but seems so far from being
calcareous, that it endures extreme heat. Yet, that
the freestone still preserves somewhat that is ana-

* The beech is certainly a beautiful tree, either when
planted singly or in clumps ; but I cannot agree with our
author, in thinking it the "most lovely of all forest trees." The
ash and birch, and perhaps the Huntingdon willow, are cer-
tainly more elegant and graceful : the former, I think, has
been termed by Gilpin, the " Venus " of British trees. The
plane and horse-chestnut will outvie it in a dense and deep
rich foliage, while the oak will far outstrip all in an imposing
and venerable aspect. The beech was formerly much more
planted than at present. It was admirably suited for the
landscape gardening of the last century ; and the wood was
of more value, being much in request for various parts of
machinery, which the extensive use of iron has now super-
seded.—W. J.

VILLAGE OF SELBORNE STREAMS. 13

logous to chalk, is plain, from the beeches, which
descend as low as those rocks extend, and no farther,
and thrive as well on them, where the ground is
steep, as on the chalks.

The cart-way of the village divides, in a remark-
able manner, two very incongruous soils. To the
south-west is a rank clay, that requires the labour
of years to render it mellow ; while the gardens to
the north-east, and small enclosures behind, consist
of a warm, forward, crumbling mould, called black
malm, which seems highly saturated with vegetable
and animal manure ; and these may perhaps have
been the original site of the town ; while the woods
and coverts might extend down to the opposite
bank.

At each end of the village, which runs from south-
east to north-west, arises a small rivulet : that at
the north-west end frequently fails ; but the other
is a fine perennial spring, little influenced by drought
or wet seasons, called Well-head.* This breaks out
of some high grounds adjoining to Nore Hill, a
noble chalk promontory, remarkable for sending
forth two streams into two different seas. The one
to the south becomes a branch of the Arun, running
to Arundel, and so falling into the British Channel ;
the other to the north. The Selborne stream makes
one branch of the Wey ; and, meeting the Black-
down stream at Hedleigh, and the Alton and Farn-
ham stream at Tilford- bridge, swells into a consi-
derable river, navigable at Godalming ; from whence

* This spring produced, September 14, 1781, after a severe
hot summer, and a preceding dry spring and winter, nine gallons
of water in a minute, which is five hundred and forty in an hour,
and twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty, or two hundred
and sixteen hogsheads, in twenty-four hours, or one natural day.
At this time many of the wells failed, and all the ponds in the
vales were dry.

14 SOILS — OAKS.

it passes to Guildford, and so into the Thames at
Weybridge ; and thus at the Nore into the German
Ocean.

Our wells, at an average, run to ahout sixty-three
feet, and, when sunk to that depth, seldom fail ;
but produce a fine limpid water, soft to the taste,
and much commended by those who drink the pure
element, but which does not lather well with soap.

To the north-west, north, and east, of the village,
is a range of fair enclosures, consisting of what is
called a white malm, a sort of rotten, or rubble stone,
which, when turned up to the frost and rain, moulders
to pieces, and becomes manure to itself.*

Still on to the north-east, and a step lower, is a
kind of white land, neither chalk nor clay, neither
fit for pasture nor for the plough, yet kindly for hops,
which root deep into the freestone, and have their
poles and wood for charcoal growing just at hand.
This white soil produces the brightest hops.

As the parish still inclines down towards Wolmer
Forest, at the juncture of the clays and sand, the
soil becomes a wet, sandy loam, remarkable for tim-
ber, and infamous for roads. The oaks of Temple
and Blackmoor stand high in the estimation of pur-
veyors, and have furnished much naval timber ;
while the trees on the freestone grow large, but are
what workmen call shakey, and so brittle as often
to fall to pieces in sawing. f Beyond the sandy

* This soil produces good wheat and clover.

f The common larch is very soon lost when planted above
a substratum of red sandstone. In the Vale of the Annan,
wherever the sloping banks have a substratum of this rock, or
one composed of a sort of red sandstone, shingle, or gravel,
the outward decay of the tree is visible at from fifteen to
twenty-five years of age. The internal decay commences
sooner, according to the depth of the upper soil, in the centre
of the trunk, at the root, in the wood being of a darker colour

BROAD-LEAVED ELM. 15

loam the soil becomes a hungry lean sand, till it
mingles with the forest ; and will produce little
without the assistance of lime and turnips.

LETTER II.

TO THE SAME.

IN the court of Norton farm-house, a manor farm
to the north-west of the village, on the white malms,
stood within these twenty years a broad-leaved
elm, or wych hazel, ulmus folio latissimo scabro * of
Ray, which, though it had lost a considerable lead-
ing bough in the great storm in the year 1703,
equal to a moderate tree, yet, when felled, contained
eight loads of timber; and being too bulky for a
carriage, was sawn off at seven feet above the butt,
where it measured near eight feet in the diameter, f

extending by degrees in circumference and up the stem, until
the lower part of it becomes entirely deprived of vegetation, and
assumes a tough and corky appearance. This extends to the
whole plant, which gradually decays and dies. On the same
soil the oak grows and thrives well.

The "freestone " to which Mr. White refers, is the white or
grey, and may have a different effect on these trees. — W. J.

* The ulmus montana, Sir J. E. Smith, and the most com-
mon in Scotland. There are four additional species admitted
into the Flora of Great Britain, which are now to be generally
met with in the plantations that have been made within the last
twelve or fifteen years.— W. J.

f The dimensions here alluded to are insignificant, when
compared with those of a wych elm recorded by Mr. Evelyn,
growing in Sir Walter Baggot's park, in the county of Stafford,
which, after two men had been five days felling, lay 40 yards
in length, and was at the stool 17 feet diameter. It broke in
the fall, 14 loads of wood ; 48 in the top : yielding 8 pair of

16 THE PLESTOR.

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
olden times, a vast oak,f with a short squat body,

naves, 8660 feet of boards and planks ; it cost £10. 17s. the
sawing. The whole esteemed 97 tons. — EVELYN'S Sylva II.
189.

Pitte's elm, in the Vale of Gloucester, was, in 1783, about
80 feet high, and the smallest girth of the principal trunk was
16 feet.— W.J.

Dr. Plot mentions an elm growing on Blechington Green,
which gave reception and harbour to a poor great-bellied wo-
man, whom the inhospitable people would not receive into their
houses, who was brought to-bed in it of a son, now a lusty
young fellow. — PLOT'S Oxfordshire. — W. J.

* We have the following explanation of the Plestor in the
Antiquities of Selborne. It appears to have been left as a
sort of redeeming offering by Sir Adam Gordon, in olden
times an inhabitant of Selborne, well known in English history
during the reign of Henry III., particularly as a leader of the
Mountfort faction. Mr. White says : — " As Sir Adam began
to advance in years, he found his mind influenced by the pre-
vailing opinion of the reasonableness and efficacy of prayers for
the dead ; and, therefore, in conjunction with his wife Con-
stantia, in the year 1271, granted to the prior and convent
of Selborne all his right and claim to a certain place, placeat
called La Pleystow, in the village aforesaid, * in liberam, puram,
et perpetuam elemosinamj' (for free charitable purposes.) This
pleystow, locus ludorum, or play-place, is in a level area near
the church, of about 44 yards by 36, and is known now by
the name of the Plestor. It continues still, as it was in old
times, to be the scene of recreation for the youths and children
of the neighbourhood ; and impresses an idea on the mind, that
this village, even in Saxon times, could not be the most abject
of places, when the inhabitants thought proper to assign so spa-
cious a spot for the sports and amusements of its young people."
—W.J.

f Two species of oak only are admitted into the British
Flora, quercus robur, and sessiliflora. Several others, however,

LARGE OAKS. 17

and huge horizontal arms, extending almost to the
extremity of the area. This venerable tree, sur-
rounded 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 1703 overturned it
at once, to the infinite regret of the inhabitants,
and the vicar, who bestowed several pounds in set-
ting 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, to show to what a
bulk planted oaks also may arrive ; and planted this
tree must certainly have been, as appears from
what is known concerning the antiquities of the
village.*

On the Blackmoor estate there is a small wood

have been introduced, and grow well ; the quercus robur is
nevertheless superior to all of them. The other species are said
to be more susceptible of the dry rot. — W. J.

* The celebrated Cowthorpe oak, upon an estate near
Wetherby, belonging to the Right Hon. Lady Stourton, mea-
sures, within three feet of the surface, 16 yards in circumference,
and close by the ground, 26 yards. Its height is about 80 feet,
and its principal limb extends 16 yards from the boll. The
Greendale oak, at a foot from the ground, is in circumference
33 feet 10 inches. The Shire oak covers nearly 707 square
yards ; the branches stretching into three counties, — York, Not-
tingham, and Derby. The Fairlop oak in Essex, at a yard from
the ground, is 36 feet in circumference. Damory's oak, in Dor-
setshire, at the ground, was in circumference 68 feet, and, when
decaying, became hollow, forming a cavity capable of containing
20 men. An oak felled at Withy Park, Shropshire, in 1697, was
nine feet in diameter, without the bark. The Baddington oak,
in the Vale of Gloucester, was 54 feet in circumference at
the base ; and Wallace's oak, in Torwood, in the county of
Stirling, must have been at least 11 or 12 feet in diameter.
— W. J.

18 THE RAVEN TREE.

called Losel's, of a few acres, that was lately fur-
nished with a set of oaks of a peculiar 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 ad-
vantage, that many of them answered the descrip-
tion at sixty feet. These trees were sold for £20
a-piece.

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 distinguished by the title of- the Raven Tree.
Many were the attempts of the neighbouring youths
to get at this eyrie : the difficulty whetted their
inclinations, 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 those birds
usually sit. The saw was applied to the butt, the
wedges were inserted into the opening, the woods

* Dr. Plot mentions a table of one solid plank of above 75 feet
long, and a yard broad through the whole length, to be seen in
Dudley Castle hall, in the park of which the oak grew. — Nat.
Hist, of Staffordshire.— W. J.

CURIOUS FOSSIL SHELL. 19

echoed to the heavy blows of the beetle, 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.

LETTER TIL

TO THE SAME.

THE fossil shells of this district, and sorts of
stone, such as have fallen within my observation,
must not be passed over in silence. And, first, I
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
cardo passing for a head and mouth. It is in
reality a bivalve of the Linnsean genus of mytilis,
and the species of crista galli : called by Lister,
rastellum ; by Rumphius, ostreum plicatum minus; by
D'Argenville, auris porci, s. crista galli; and by those
who make collections, cock's comb. Though I ap-
plied to. several such in London, I never could meet
with an entire specimen ; nor could I ever find in
books any engraving from a perfect one. In the
superb museum at Leicester House, permission was
given me to examine for this article ; and though I
was disappointed as to the fossil, I was highly gra-
tified with the sight of several of the shells them-
selves in high preservation. This bivalve is only
known to inhabit the Indian Ocean, where it fixes
itself to a zoophyte, known by the name gorgonia.
c 2

20 FREESTONE.

Cornua ammonis are very common about this vil-
lage. As we were cutting an inclining path up the
Hanger, the labourers found them frequently on that
steep, just under the soil, in the chalk, and of a
considerable size. In the lane above Wellhead, in
the way to Emshot, they abound in the bank, in a
darkish sort of marl ; and are usually very small and
soft : but in Clay's Pond, a little farther on, at the
end of the pit, where the soil is dug out for manure,
I have occasionally observed them of large dimen-
sions, perhaps fourteen or sixteen inches in dia-
meter. But as these did not consist of firm stone,
but were formed of a kind of terra lapidosa, or hard-
ened clay, as soon as they were exposed to the rains
and frost, they mouldered away. These seemed as
if they were a very recent production. In the chalk-
pit, at the north-west end of the Hanger, large
nautili are sometimes observed.

In the very thickest strata of our freestone, and
at considerable depths, well diggers often find large
scallops, or pectines, having both shells deeply
striated, and ridged and furrowed alternately. They
are highly impregnated with, if not wholly composed
of, the stone of the .quarry.

LETTER IV.

TO THE SAME.

As, in last letter, the freestone of this place has
been only mentioned incidentally, I shall here be-
come 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

FREESTONE. 21

loam instead of mortar ; the sand of which fluxes,*
and runs, by the intense heat, and so cases over the
whole 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
chiselled 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.f On the ground abroad this
fire-stone will not succeed for pavements, because,
probably, some degree of saltness prevailing within
it, the rain tears the slabs to pieces. J Though this
stone is too hard to be acted on by vinegar, yet
both the white part, and even the blue rag, ferment
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 resist rain
and frost, and are excellent for pitching of stables,
paths, and courts, and for building of dry walls

* There may, probably, be also in the chalk itself, that is
burnt for lirne, a proportion of sand ; for few chalks are so pure
as to have none.

f To surbed stone is to set it edgewise, contrary to the pos-
ture it had in the quarry, says Dr. Plot. — Oxfordsh. p. 77- But
surbedding does not succeed in our dry walls ; neither do we
use it so in ovens, though he says it is best for Teynton
stone.

J " 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.

22 SANDSTONE.

against banks, a valuable species of fencing, much
in use in this village ; and for mending of roads.
This rug is ragged 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 com-
posed of a small 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 excel-
lent for dry walls, arid is sometimes used in build-
ings. 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
embellishment carries an odd appearance, and has
occasioned strangers sometimes to ask us pleasantly,
— "Whether we fastened our walls together with
tenpenny nails ?"

MANOR OF SELBORNE. 23

LETTER V.

TO THE SAME.

AMONG 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 for fur-
longs 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 affright the ladies when
they peep down into them, from the paths above,
and make timid horsemen shudder while they ride
along them ; but delight the naturalist with their
various botany, and particularly with their curious
filices, with which they abound.

The manor of Selborne, were 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 were as plentiful. There are few quails,
because they more affect open fields than enclosures ;
after harvest some few land-rails are seen.

The parish of Selborne, by taking in so much of
the forest, is a vast district. Those who tread the

RAIN.

bounds are employed part of three days in the busi-
ness, 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 consi-
derable, as may be supposed in so woody and moun-
tainous 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

Inch. Hund.

x1 roiii iviay i
fell

A/ /«?j 10 me enc

i 01 int

From Jan. 1

1780, to Jan.

1781

From Jan. ]

1781, to Jan.

1782

From Jan.

1782, to Jan.

1/83

From Jan.

1783, to Jan. 1

1784

From Jan.

1784, to Jan.

1785

From Jan.

1785, to Jan.

1786

From Jan. '.

1786, to Jan. 1

1787

28
27
30
50
33
33
31
39

37!
32
71
26!

71

80
55

57

The village of Selborne, and large hamlet of Oak-
hanger, with the single farms, and many scattered
houses along the verge of the forest, contain upwards
of six hundred and seventy inhabitants.

* 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, I should
have said the mean rain at Lyndon was 16£ inches for the year;
if from 1740 to 1750, 18£ inches. The mean rain before 1763
was 20-£; from 1763 and since, 25£ : from 1770 to 1780, 26.
If only 1773, 1774, and 1775 had been measured, Lyndon
mean rain would have been called 32 inches," — increasing from
16 6 to 32.

POOR. 25

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 them-
selves greatly by spinning wool, for making of
barragons, a genteel corded stuff, much in vogue at
that time for summer wear ; and chiefly manufac-
tured at Alton, a neighbouring town, by some of
the people called Quakers. The inhabitants enjoy
a good share of health and longevity ; and the parish
swarms with children.

LETTER VI.

TO THE SAME.

SHOULD I omit to describe with some exactness
the Forest of Wolmer, of which three-fifths perhaps
lie in this parish, my account of Selborne would be
very imperfect, as it is a district abounding with many
curious productions, both animal and vegetable ; and
has often afforded me much entertainment, 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 pro-
ceed eastward — by the parishes of Greatham, Lysse,

26 FOREST OF WOLMER.

Rogate, and Trotton, in the county of Sussex ; by
Bramshot, Hedleigh, and Kingsley. This royalty
consists entirely of sand, covered with heath and
fern; but is somewhat diversified with hills and
dales, without having one standing tree in the whole
extent. In the bottoms, where the waters stagnate,
are many bogs, which formerly abounded with sub-
terraneous 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

* See his Hist, of Staffordshire.

f Old people have assured me, that, on a winter's morning,
they have discovered these trees, in the bogs, by the hoar
frost, which lay longer over the space where they were con-
cealed, than on the surrounding morass. Nor does this seem
to be a fanciful notion, but consistent with true philosophy.
Dr. Hales saith, " That the warmth of the earth, at some
depth under ground, has an influence in promoting a thaw, as
well as the change of the weather from a freezing to a thaw-
ing state, is manifest, from this observation ; viz. Nov. 29,
1731, 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 under ground : 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." — See HALES'S Htemastatics,

WOLMER FOREST — GAME. 27

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.*

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 excur-
sions ; and in particular, in the dry summer of 1740
and 1741, and some years after, they swarmed to
such a degree, that parties of unreasonable sports-
men 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, or black
game. When I was a little boy, I recollect one

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 ?

* The remains of trees are found in most of the marshes
in Great Britain; but the mosses in the north of England,
and all those of Scotland, contain trees often of immense size.
These are generally oak, birch, different willows, or alder, and
the Scotch fir, pinus sylvestris. Being imbedded to considerable
depths, they are sometimes in a perfect state, and completely
saturated with the soil in which they lie. In the Highlands, the
Scotch fir abounds, and retains so much resin as to be used for
lights during winter, for which purpose it is dug out, dried, and
split into narrow lengths. — W. J.

28 WOLMER FOREST — RED DEER.

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
grey hen was sprung by some beagles, in beating for
a hare. The sportsman cried out, " A hen pheasant!"
but a gentleman present, who had often seen black
game in the north of England, assured me that it
was a grey hen.*

Nor does the loss of our black game prove the
only gap in the Fauna Selborniensis, or " Natural
History of Selborne ;" 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 ap-
pearance. 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 Fo-
rest in succession, for more than an hundred years.
This person assures me, that his father has often told

* Black game have increased greatly in the southern coun-
ties of Scotland and north of England within the last few
years. It is a pretty general opinion, though an erroneous
one, that they drive away the red grouse ; the two species
require very different kinds of cover, and will never interfere.
It is to be regretted that some of our extensive and wealthy
northern proprietors do not attempt the introduction of the
wood grouse ; extensive pine or birch forests, with quiet,
would be all the requisites ; and the birds themselves, or their
young, could be very easily obtained, and at a trifling expense.
In a late number of Mr. J. Wilson's Zoological Illustrations,
there is an excellent plate of the tetrao urophasianus of North
America, a very handsome species, which, with some others
lately discovered by Mr. Douglas, might be introduced into
this country, and form a fine addition to our feathered game.
The little American partridge, the ortyx borealis of naturalists,
has been introduced, and is now plentiful, in some counties
in England. — W. J.

WOLMER FOREST — RED DEER. 29

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, which is just by, and, re-
posing 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 com-
placency 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 Highness
sent down a 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 any thing in 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,

30 WOLMER FOREST THE BLACK ACT.

the stop-dogs were permitted to pursue, and a most
gallant scene ensued.

LETTER VII.

TO THE SAME.

THOUGH 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 were 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 committed such
enormities, that Government was forced to inter-
fere 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,f 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

* Statute 9 Geo. I. c. 22.

f This chase remains unstocked to this day ; the bishop was
Dr. Hoadley.

12

WOLMER, FOREST — DEER STEALING. 31

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 he 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 extra-
ordinary manner : — Some fellows, suspecting that a
calf new-fallen was deposited in a certain spot of
thick fern, went with a lurcher to surprise it ; when
the parent 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 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, "sheep
excepted."* The reason, I presume, why sheepf

* For this privilege the owner of that estate used to pay
to the king annually seven bushels of oats.

f In the Holt, where a full stock of fallow-deer has been
kept up till lately, no sheep are admitted to this day.

32 WOLMER FOREST — BURNING HEATH.

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 William and Mary,
c. 23) "to burn on any waste, between Candlemas
andMidsummer, any grig, ling, heath and furze, gorse,
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 browse 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 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 con-
flagrations, 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 sur-
prised 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 apprehen-
sions 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

FOREST OF WOLMER. 33

the boughs of oaks ; the one called Waldon Lodge,
the other Brimstone Lodge ; these the keepers re-
new 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 brushwood 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 anti-
quity.

LETTER VIII.

TO THE SAME.

ON the verge of the forest, as it is now circum-
scribed, are three considerable lakes; two in Oak-
hanger, of which I have nothing particular to say ;
and one called Bin's, or Bean's Pond, which is wor-
thy the attention of a naturalist or a sportsman ; for,
being crowded at the upper end with willows, and
with the carex cespitosa, " clumpy sedge,"* it affords
such a safe and pleasant shelter to wild ducks, teals,
snipes, &c. that they breed there. In the winter
this covert is also frequented by foxes, and some-
times by pheasants ; and the bogs produce many cu-
rious plant s.f

* 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.

f For which consult Letter LXXXIV. to Mr. Barrington.
D

34 FOREST OF WOLMER.

By a perambulation of Wolmer Forest and the
Holt, made in 1635, and in 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, came 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 Mau-
duit, called Mauduit-hatch ; comprehending also
Shortheath, Oakhanger, and Oak-woods; a large
district, now private property, though once belong-
ing 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 esti-
mate of the value of the timbers, which were con-
siderable, growing at that time in the district of the
Holt ; and enumerates the officers, superior and in-
ferior, 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

WOLMER POND. 35

solace themselves from about ten in the morning till
four in the afternoon, and then return to their feed-
ing. During this great proportion of the day, they
drop much dung, in which insects nestle, and so
supply food for the fish, which would be poorly sub-
sisted, but for this contingency. Thus Nature, who
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 says,
in his Summer, —

" A various group the herds and flocks compose :

on the grassy bank

Some ruminating lie ; while others stand,
Half in the flood, and, often bending, sip
The circling surface."

Wolmer Pond, so called, I suppose, for eminence
sake, is a vast lake for this part of the world, con-
taining in its whole circumference, 2649 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 per-
fectly secure from fowlers, lie all day long, in the
winter season, vast flocks of ducks, teals, and wid-
geons, 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
D 2

36 AYLES HOLT.

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
mere so remarkable, as the great quantity of coins
that were found in its bed about forty years ago.*

LETTER IX.

TO THE SAME.

By 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,t
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, Ruperta, who was a natural daughter of Prince
Rupert, by Margaret Hughs; a Mr. Mordaunt, of
the Peterborough family, who married a dowager
Lady Pembroke ; Henry Bilson Legge and lady ; and
now Lord Stawel, their son.

* Some of these coins came afterwards into the possession
of the author. They were all copper, part were of Marcus
Aurelius, and the Empress Faustina, his wife, the father and
mother of Comrnodus. — W. J.

f " In Rot. Inquisit. de statu forest, in Scaccar. 36 Ed. III.
it is called Aisholt." In the same, " Tit. Woolmer and Aisholt
Hantisc. Dominus Rex habet unam capellam in haia sua de
Kingesle." " Haia, sepes, sepimentum, parcus: a Gall, haie and
haye" — SPELMAM'S Glossary.

AYLES HOLT. 37

The lady of General Howe lived to an advanced
age, long surviving 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 posses-
sion 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, bar-
ren 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, Frinsham, 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, unre-
strained 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

* This prince was the inventor of mezzotinto.

NOTE. — The invention of mezzotinto is generally attributed
to Prince Rupert ; but it is also by some assigned to Lieutenant-
Colonel Siegend, an officer in the service of the Landgrave of
Hesse, so early as the year 1643, from whom the Prince derived
the secret.— W. J.

38 SWALLOWS.

harass them, in spite of the efforts of numerous
keepers, and the severe penalties that have been
put in force against them, as often as they have
been detected, and rendered liable to the lash of the
law. Neither fines nor imprisonments 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 time, a wild bull, or
buffalo : but the country rose upon them, and de-
stroyed 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 Stawel. He lays
claim also to the lop and top ; but the poor of the
parishes of Binsted and Frinsham, Bentley and
Kingsley, assert that it belongs to them ; and, as-
sembling in a riotous manner, have actually taken it
all away. One man, who keeps a team, has carried
home, for his share, forty stacks of wood. Forty-
five of these people his lordship has served with ac-
tions. 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 navi-
gable up to the town of Godalming, in the county of
Surrey.

12

SWALLOWS. 39

LETTER X.

TO THE SAME.

i

August 4, 1767.

IT has been my misfortune never to have had any
neighbours whose studies have led them towards the
pursuit of natural knowledge ; so that, for want of
a companion to quicken my industry 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 swallows (hirundines rustics) being found in
a torpid state during the winter, in the Isle of Wight,
or any part of this country, I never heard any such
account worth attending to. But a clergyman, of
an inquisitive turn, assures me, that when he was
a great boy, some workmen, in pulling down the
battlements 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 toward 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, in Sus-
sex, a great fragment 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

40 THE FLY CATCHER.

year on July the llth, and young martins (hirun-
dines urbiccej 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 18th. Are not these late hatchings
more in favour of hiding than migration ? Nay,
some young martins remained in their nests last year
so late as September the 29th ; and yet they totally
disappeared 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 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
trochilus} 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 characteristic of this bird,
which seems to have escaped observation ; and that
is, it takes its stand on the top of some stake, or
post, from whence it springs forth on its prey, catch-
ing 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 trochilus: Mr. Derham supposes, in Ray's
Philosophical 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

WATER-RATS — A FALCO. 41

black-cap (motacilla atricapilld) 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
all at once in these parts, but are never seen in the
winter. They are delicate songsters.

Numbers of snipes breed every summer in some
moory 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.

I suspect much there may be two species of water-
rats. Ray says, and Linnaeus after him, that the
water-rat is web-footed behind. Now, I have dis-
covered 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 Linnaeus, (see Syst. Nat.) which, he says, " natat
infossh et urinatur" " swims and dives in the water."
I should be glad to procure one " plantis palmatis,"
" with webbed feet." Linnaeus seems to be in a puzzle
about his mus amphibius, " amphibious mouse," and
to doubt whether it differs from his mus terrestris,
" land mouse," which, if it be, as he allows, the
" mus agrestis capite grandi brachyuros," " short-tailed,
large-headed field mouse," of Ray, is widely differ-
ent from the water-rat, both in size, make, and man-
ner of life.

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

4# HOOPOES.

dices... antehac fuisse, tales cum sint reliquicB !" " what
would you say it was before when such are the re-
mains ?"

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 exhibition of stuffed birds in Spring Gar-
dens. 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.

LETTER XL

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, September 9, 1767-

IT 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 remembrance, it
weighed two pounds and eight ounces, and mea-
sured, from wing to wing, thirty-eight inches. Its
cere and feet were yellow, and the circle of its eye-
lids 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.

4 The most unusual birds I ever observed in these
parts were a pair of hoopoes, (upupa,) which came
several years ago in the summer, and frequented
an ornamental piece of ground, which joins to my
garden, ^for some weeks. They used to march about

GROSSBEAKS. 43

in a stately manner, feeding in the walks, many
times in the day ; and seemed disposed to breed in
my outlet ; but were frightened 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 oc-
casionally seen in the same dead season. f

* Specimens have been killed at different times in this
country, and instances are recorded of their having even bred ;
the species, however, can only be placed among our occa-
sional visitants. The specimen from which the figure in Mr.
Selby's elegant Illustrations of British Ornithology was drawn,
was taken on the coast, near Bamborough Castle, Northum-
berland. Colonel Montague mentions a pair that began a
nest in Hampshire, and Dr. Latham records a young hoopoe
shot in the month of June. The species is abundantly met
with in the south of Europe ; it also occurs in Holland, Ger-
many, Denmark, and Sweden. In the winter it retires to
Asia and Africa, where it is also a permanent resident. —
W.J.

One specimen was shot in the county of Dublin, and another
in the county of Tipperary, in 1828. — LOUDON'S Magazine. —
W.J.

f This also can only be placed as an occasional visitant,
appearing most frequently in the southern counties of England,
during hard and stormy winters. Mr. White (as we learn
from the Naturalist's Calendar and Miscellaneous Observa-
tions, published in a separate volume, since the author's decease,
by Dr. Aikin, and to which we shall occasionally refer) met
with this species at different times, and found it feeding on
the stones of damson plums, which still remained on and
about the trees in his garden. This species forms the type
of the genus coccothraustes. — " On the 14th May, 1828, the
nest of a hawfinch was taken in an orchard belonging to Mr.
Waring, at Chelsfield, Kent. The old female was shot on
the nest, which was of a slovenly loose form, and shallow, not
being so deep as those of the greenfinch or linnet, and was
placed against the large bough of an apple-tree, about ten feet
from the ground. It was composed externally of dead twigs

44 FISH — OWLS.

A crossbill (loxia curvirostra) was killed last year
in this neighbourhood.

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 capitatusj the
trout, (trutta fluviatilis,) the eel (anguilla,)* the lam-
pern, (lamp&tra parva et fluviatilis ,J 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 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
owl, 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 cannot
eat.

The young of the barn-owl are not easily raised,

and a few roots, mixed with coarse white moss, or lichen, and
lined with horse-hair and a little fine dried grass. The eggs
were five in number, about the size of a skylark's, but shorter
and rounder, and spotted with bluish ash and olive brown,
some of the spots inclining to dusky or blackish brown. The
markings were variously distributed on the different eggs."
J. C. LOUDON, Jour, of Nat. Hist. — W. J.

* Mr. Yarrel of London, a most accurate and observant
naturalist, in a late number of the Zoological Journal, hints at
the possibility of two species of eels being natives of this country.
In this I certainly think Mr. Yarrel will be correct, their simi-
larity rendering them easily confused. The species with which
the London markets are supplied from Holland, may also be dis-
covered, as our researches in the ichthyology of Great Britain,
so long comparatively .neglected, become more frequent. The
grig of Pennant, which seems to be Mr. Yarrel's second species,
appears in the Thames, at Oxford, at a different season from the
common eel. — W. J.

BATS. 45

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.

Redstarts, fly-catchers, white-throats, and reguli
non cristati, still appear ; but I have seen no black-
cape 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.

At present, I know only two species of bats,
the common vespertilio murinus, and the vespertilio
auribus.*

I was much entertained last summer with a tame
bat, which would take flies out of a person's hand.
If you gave it any thing 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 shewed 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 my-
self with this wonderful quadruped, I saw it several

* Dr. Fleming, in his Description of British Animals, 1828,
enumerates sevan species included in the genera rhinolophus,
or those having membranes upon the nose ; vespertilio^ includ-
ing our common bat; and plecotus, those with large ears. —
W. J.

46 BATS — MICE.

times confute the vulgar opinion, that bats, when
down on 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, 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 even-
ing, 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.

LETTER XII.

TO THE SAME.

November 4, 1767.
SIR,

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, and manner of nesting,
I make no doubt but that the species is nondescript.
They are much smaller, and more slender, than the

* This hawk proved to be the falco peregrinus — a variety.

MICE — GERMAN SILK-TAIL. 47

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 arid barns with the
sheaves ; abound in harvest ; and build their nests
amidst the straws of the corn above the ground,
and sometimes in 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 discom-
posed, 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 respec-
tively, so as to administer a teat to each ? Perhaps
she opens different places for that purpose, adjust-
ing 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 procreant 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 Ger-
man silk-tail, from the five peculiar crimson tags,
or points, which it carries at the ends of five of the

48 HAWS — CANARY BIRD.

short remiges. It cannot, I suppose, with any pro-
priety, be called an English bird ; and yet I see, by
Ray's Philosophical Letters , that great flocks of them,
feeding on haws, appeared in this kingdom, in the
winter of 1685.*

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 ringousel, were lately seen in this neighbourhood.
I employed some people to procure me a specimen,
but without success. See Letter VIII.

Query — Might not Canary birds be naturalized
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 assem-
ble in those parts. But what struck me most was,

* In 1810, large flocks of this species were dispersed
through various parts of the kingdom ; and from that period,
few appear to have visited the island, until February, 1822,
when several occurred, and one was killed on the Calton Hill,
Edinburgh. They appeared also during the severe storm of
1823, and several were killed in East Lothian last winter, (1828.)
— W.J.

MIGRATION. 49

that, from the time they began to congregate, for-
saking the chimneys and houses, they roosted every
night in the osier beds of the aits of that river. Now,
this resorting towards that element, at that 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 per-
suaded 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 a house-martin, on the 23d of
last October, flying in and out of its nest in the
Borough ; and I myself, on the 29th 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 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

* See ADANSON'S Voyage to Senegal.

E

50 CHAFFINCHES.

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.

LETTER XIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Jan. 22, 1768.
SIR,

As, in one of your former letters, you expressed
the more satisfaction from my correspondence on
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 neighbour-
hood. 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 mostly all females ; at least fifty
to one. This extraordinary occurrence brought to
my mind the remark of Linnaeus, that, " before
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

LINNETS BUNTING. 51

the winter, and of which sex they mostly consist?
For, from such intelligence, one might he 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 congre-
gate with a gentle twittering before they make their
respective departures.

You may depend on it that the bunting, emberiza
miliaria, does not leave this country in the winter.
In January, 1767, I saw several dozens of them, in
the midst of a severe frost, among the bushes on
the downs near Andover : in our woodland enclosed
districts it is a rare bird.*

Wagtails, both white and yellow,f 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 (cenanthej does not quit England, it

* A proportion of the common buntings do not migrate,
but we certainly receive a considerable number at the great
general migration, at the commencement of winter, most pro-
bably from Sweden and Norway. They generally breed and
frequent unenclosed countries, and assemble in flocks during
winter. — W. J.

f Motadlla fiava, yellow wagtail, is a summer bird of passage,
arriving about the end of May, and leaving us about the end of
August, or middle of September. — W. J.
E 2

52 WHEATEAR.

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 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-
winged birds frequently coming on board the 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 likelihood, the soft-billed birds that leave
us at that season may find insects sufficient to sup-
port 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, in-
vestigating the natural history of that vast country.

WHEATKAJl AND WHIN-CHAT.

HARVEST MOUSE. 53

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.

I 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 merulce torquatce.

As to the small mice,f I have farther to remark,

* See RAY'S Travels, p. 466.

•\ The mus messorius of Shaw is the least of British quad-
rupeds. Mr. White has the merit of discovering it, and has
added some interesting information regarding it in his different
letters. The Rev. W. Bingley, in his Memoirs of British
Quadrupeds, has the following very interesting remarks,
illustrating the habits of an individual for some time kept
alive in his possession. "About the middle of September,
1804, I had a female harvest mouse given to me. It was
put into a dormouse cage immediately when caught, and a
few days afterwards produced eight young ones. I entertained
some hope that the little animal would have nursed these,
and brought them up ; but, having been disturbed in her
removal, about four miles from the country, she began to
destroy them, and I took them from her. The young ones,
at the time I received them, (not more than two or three
days old,) must have been at least equal in weight to the
mother. After they were removed, she became reconciled
to her situation ; and when there was no noise, would
venture to come out of her hiding-place at the extremity of
the cage, and climb about among the wires of the open part
before me. In doing this, I remarked that her tail was pre-
hensile, and that, to render her hold the more secure, she
generally coiled the extremity of it round one of the wires.
The toes of all the feet were particularly long and flexile,
and she could grasp the wires very firmly with any of them.
She frequently rested on her hind feet, somewhat in the man-
ner of the jerboa, for the purpose of looking about her ; and,
in this attitude, could extend her body at such an angle as at
first greatly surprised me. She was a beautiful little animal,

54 HARVEST MOUSE.

that though they hang their nests for breeding up
amidst the straws of the standing corn, above the
ground, yet I find that, in the winter, they burrow

and her various attitudes, in cleaning her face, head, and body,
with her paws, were peculiarly graceful and elegant. For a
few days after I received this mouse, I neglected to give it
any Water ; but when I afterwards put some into the cage,
she lapped it with great eagerness. After lapping, she always
raised herself on her hind feet, and cleaned her head with
her paws. She continued, even till the time of her death,
exceedingly shy and timid, but whenever I put into the cage
any favourite food, such as grains of wheat or maize, she
would eat them before me. On the least noise or motion,
however, she immediately ran off, with the grains in her
mouth, to her hiding-place. One evening, as I was sitting
at my writing-desk, and the animal was playing about in the
open part of its cage, a large blue fly happened to buzz against
the wires ; the little creature, although at twice or thrice the
distance of her own length from it, sprang along the wires
with the greatest agility, and would certainly have seized it,
had the space betwixt the wires been sufficiently wide to have
admitted her teeth or paws to reach it. I was surprised at
this occurrence, as I had been led to believe that the harvest
mouse was merely a granivorous animal. I caught the fly,
and made it buzz in my fingers against the wires. The mouse,
though usually shy and timid, immediately came out of her
hiding-place, and running to the spot, seized and devoured
it. From this time I fed her with insects whenever I could
get them ; and she always preferred them to every other kind
of food that I offered her. When this mouse was first put
into her cage, a piece of fine flannel was folded up into the
dark part of it as a bed, and I put some grass and bran into
the large open part. In the course of a few days, all the
grass was removed ; and, on examining the cage, I found it
very neatly arranged between the folds of the flannel, arid
rendered more soft by being mixed with the nap of the
flannel, which the animal had torn off in considerable quantity
for the purpose. The chief part of this operation must
have taken place in the night; for although the mouse was
generally awake and active during the day time, yet I never
once observed it employed in removing the grass. On opening

HARVEST MOUSE. 55

deep in the earth, and make warm beds of gra?s ;
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 of which were assembled near a 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 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, and 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.

its nest about the latter end of October, 1804, I remarked
that there were, among the grass and wool at the bottom,
about forty grains of maize. These appeared to have been
arranged with some care and regularity, and every grain had
the corcule, or growing part, eaten out, the lobes only being
left. This seemed so much like an operation induced by the
instinctive propensity that some quadrupeds are endowed with,
for storing up food for support during the winter months, that I
soon afterwards put into the cage about a hundred additional
grains of maize. These were all in a short time carried away,
and, on a second examination, I found them stored up in the
manner of the former. But though the animal was well sup-
plied with other food, and particularly with bread, which it
seemed very fond of ; and although it continued perfectly active,
through the whole winter, on examining its nest a third time,
about the end of November, I observed that the food in its
repository was all consumed, except about half a dozen grains."
— W. J.

56 DEER.

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.

LETTER XIV.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, March 12, 1768.
DEAR SIR,

IP 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
thepuncta lachrymalia "lachrymal ducts" 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 know of, been noticed by any na-
turalist. 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 respiration ; and no doubt these additional
nostrils are thrown open when they are hard run.*

* In answer to this account, Mr. Pennant sent me the fol-
lowing curious and pertinent reply : — " I was much surprised

SPIRACULA OF ANIMALS. 57

Mr. Ray observed that at Malta, the owners slit up
the nostrils of such asses as were hard worked ; for
they, being naturally strait 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 nos-
trils necessary, and a perfection, in hunters, and run-
ning horses.

Oppian, the Greek poet, by the following line,
seems to have had some notion that stags have four
spiracula : —

i pivtQ, TTiffvpeg Trvoiyffi diav\oi.
" Quadupartite nostrils, four respiratory passages."

OPP. Cyn. Lib. ii. 1. 181.

Writers, copying from one another, make Aris-
totle say, that goats breathe at their ears, whereas
he asserts just the contrary : — 'AX/CjucuW yap OVK
aXrjdrj \eygi, c^afjieyoQ avcnrveiv rag cuyac Kara ra wra.
" Alcmseon does not advance what is true, when he
avers that goats breathe through their ears." — His-
tory of Animals, Book i. chap. xi.

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, which 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."

58 WHITE ROOKS.

LETTER XV.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, March 30, 1768.
DEAR SIR,

SOME intelligent country people have a notion
that we have, in these parts, a species of the genus
mustelinum, 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, find-
ing 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 my-
self nailed against the end of a barn, and was surprised
to find that their bills, legs, feet, and claws, were
milk- white, f

A shepherd saw, as he thought, some white larks
on a down above my house this winter : were not
these the emberiza nivalis, the snow-flake of the
Brit. Zool. ? No doubt they were.

* The peasants in the south of Ireland speak also of occa-
sionally meeting such an animal ; I made many efforts to procure
a specimen, but in vain, those brought me as such were the
common weasel. — W. C. T.

f The common rook, corvus frugilegus, seems to be more
subject to a white variation than its other British congeners.
Specimens entirely white are not often seen, but individuals
with parts of the wings and tail pure white, occur in almost
every rookery. A pair of magpies, entirely of a cream
colour, were hatched at a farm-steading in Eskdale, Dum-
fries-shire, arid, being much thought of by the tenant, were
strictly preserved, and continued near the spot for many years.
— W. J.

BULLFINCH — STONE CURLEW. 59

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 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 chaffinches 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 sometimes 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 oedic-
nemus, should be mentioned by the writers as a rare
bird ; it abounds in all the champaign parts of Hamp-
shire and Sussex, and breeds, I think all the sum-
mer, having young ones, I know, very late in the
autumn. Already they begin clamouring in the
evening. They cannot, I think, with any propriety,

60 STONE CURLEW.

be called, as they are by Mr. Ray, " circa aquas
ver sanies " for with us (by day at least) they haunt
only the 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. Linnaeus, perhaps, would call the species mus
minimus.

LETTER XVI.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, April 18, 1768.
DEAR SIR,

THE history of the stone curlew, charadrius oedic-
nemus, 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 skulk 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 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

WILLOW WREN — GRASSHOPPER LARK. 61

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
drachms and a half, while the latter weighs but two ;
so that the songster is one-fifth heavier than the
chirper. The chirper (being the first summer bird of
passage that is heard, the wry-neck sometimes ex-
cepted,) begins his two notes in the middle of March,
and continues 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, f Nothing can be more
amusing than the whisper of this little bird, which
seems to be close by, though at an 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 whis-
pering in the bushes. The country people laugh when

* Sylvia trocltilus, S. sibilatrix, and S. hippolais, are the spe-
cies found in Great Britain. Mr. White afterwards discovers
three distinct species, but may probably confound S. hortensis,
the greater petty-chaps, as one of them. — W. J.

•f Sylvia locustella. Lath. Grasshopper warbler. SELBY'S
Ornith.—W. J.

FLY-CATCHER.

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 concealed. 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 an 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. John-
son, who apparently confounds it with the reguli non
cristati, from which it is very distinct. See RAY'S
Philos. Letters, p. 108.

The fly-catcher (stoparold) has not yet appeared :
it usually breeds in my vine. The redstart begins
to sing : its note is short and imperfect, but is con-
tinued till about the middle of June. The willow -
wrens (the smaller sort) are horrid pests in a garden,
destroying the pease, cherries, currants, &c., and
are so tame that a gun will not scare them.

A List of the Summer Birds of Passage discovered in this
neighbourhood, ranged somewhat in the order in which they
appear.

LINNJEI NOMINA.

Smallest willow- wren, Motacilla trochilus.

Wry-neck, Jynx torquilla.

House-swallow, Hirundo rustica.

Martin, Hirundo iirbica.

Sand-martin, Hirundo riparia.

Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus.

Nightingale, Motacilla luscinia.

Black-cap, Motacilla atricapilla.

White-throat, Motacilla sylvia.

Middle willow-wren, Motacilla trochilus.

Swift, Hirundo apus.

Stone curlew ? Charadrius oedicnemus ?

THE NUTHATCH. ' 63

Turtle-dove ? Turtur aldrovandi ?

Grasshopper lark, Alauda trmialis.

Landrail, Rallus crex.

Largest willow-wren, Motadlla trocMlus.

Redstart, Motadlla phoenicurus*.

Goatsucker, or fern-owl, Caprimulgus europceus.

Fly-catcher, Muscicapa grisola.

My countrymen talk much of a bird that makes a
clatter with its hill against a dead bough, or some
old pales, calling it a jar-bird. I procured one to be
shot in the very fact ; it proved to be the sitta euro-
pcea (the nuthatch). Mr. Ray says, that the less
spotted woodpecker does the same. This noise may
be heard a furlong or more.*

* The nuthatch, sitta europcea^ Linn., is the only species
of the genus inhabiting Europe; in this country it appears
confined to England, never having been traced farther north
than Northumberland. The following animated sketch, a
good deal in the style of our author, I have extracted from
Loudon's Journal of Natural History, as giving a correct idea
of the manners of this curious species : — " I had never seen
the little bird called the nuthatch, when one day, whilst I was
expecting the transit of some wood-pigeons under a birch
tree, with my gun in my hand, I observed a little ash-coloured
bird squat himself on one of the large lateral trunks over my
head, and after some observation, begin to tap loudly, or rather
solidly upon the wood, and then proceed round and round the
branch, it being clearly the same thing to him whether his
nadir or zenith were uppermost. I shot, and the bird fell;
there was a lofty hedge between us, and when I got over, he
had removed himself. It was some time before I secured
him ; and I mention this, because the manner in which he
eluded me was characteristic of his cunning. He concealed
himself in holes at the bottom of a ditch, so long as he heard
the noise of motion; and when all was still, he would scud
out and attempt to escape. A wing was broken, and I at
length got hold of him. He proved small, but very fierce,
and his bite would have made a child cry out. The elbow
joint of his wing being thoroughly shattered, and finding that
he had no other wound, I cut off the dangling limb, and put

64 THE NUTHATCH.

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,

him into a large cage with a common lark. The wound did
not in the least diminish his activity, nor yet his pugnacity,
for he instantly began to investigate all means of escape ; he
tried the bores, then tapped the woodwork of the cage, and
produced a knocking sound which made the room re-echo;
but after rinding his efforts vain, he then turned upon the lark,
ran under him with his gaping beak to bite, and effectually
alarmed his far more gentle and elegant antagonist. Com-
pelled to separate them, the nuthatch — for this bird I
discovered him to be, by turning over the leaves of an
Ornithologia — was put into a smaller cage of plain oak
wood and wire. Here he remained all night, and the next
morning his knocking, or tapping with his beak, was the first
sound I heard, though sleeping in an apartment divided- from
the other by a landing-place. He had food given to him,
minced chicken and bread crumbs, and water. He ate and
drank with a most perfect impudence, and the moment he
had satisfied himself, turned again to his work of battering
the frame of his cage, the sound from which, both in loudness
and prolongation of noise, is only to be compared to the
efforts of a fashionable footman, upon a fashionable door, in
a fashionable square. He had a particular fancy for the
extremities of the corner pillars of the cage ; on these he
spent his most elaborate taps, and, at this moment, though he
only occupied the cage a day, the wood is pierced and worn
like a piece of old worm-eaten timber. He probably had an
idea, that if these main-beams could once be penetrated, the
rest of the superstructure would fall, and free him. Against the
doorway he had also a particular spite, and once succeeded
in opening it; and when, to interpose a farther obstacle, it
was tied in a double knot with a string, the perpetual appli-
cation of his beak quickly unloosed it. In ordinary cages, a
circular hole is left in the wire for the bird to insert his head
to drink from a glass ; to this hole the nuthatch constantly
repaired, not for the purpose of drinking, but to try to push
out more than his head ; but in vain, for he is a thick bird,
and rather heavily built ; but the instant he found the hole too
small, he would withdraw his head, and begin to dig and

NUTHATCH AND CHKKPKR.

SNIPES. 65

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 ventriloquous, like that
of the turkey ? Some suspect that it is made by their
wings.

This morning I saw the golden- crowned wren,

hammer at the circle, where it is rooted in the wood, with
his pick-axe of a beak, evidently with a design to enlarge the
orifice. His lahour was incessant, and he ate as largely as
he worked ; and, I fear, it was the united effects of both that
killed him. His hammering was peculiarly laborious ; for he
did not peck as other birds do, but, grasping his hold with his
immense feet, he turned upon them as upon a pivot, and
struck with the whole weight of his body ; thus assuming
the appearance, with his entire form, of the head of a ham-
mer ; or, as I have sometimes seen birds, in mechanical clocks,
made to strike the hour by swinging on a wheel. We were
in hopes that when the sun went down, he would cease from
his labours and rest ; but no ; at the interval of every ten
minutes, up to nine or ten in the night, he resumed his
knocking, and strongly reminded us of the coffin-maker's
nightly and dreary occupation. It was said by one of us, * he
is nailing his own coffin ;' and so it proved. An awful
fluttering in the cage, now covered with a handkerchief,
announced that something was wrong: and we found him at
the bottom of his prison, with his feathers ruffled and nearly
all turned back. He was taken out, and for some time he
lingered away in convulsions, and occasional brightenings up.
At length he drew his last gasp : and will it be believed,
that tears were shed on his demise ? The fact is, that the
apparent intelligence of his character, the speculation in his
eye, the assiduity of his labour, and his most extraordinary
fearlessness and familiarity, though coupled with fierceness,
gave us a consideration for him that may appear ridiculous to
those who have never so nearly observed the ways of an animal
as to feel interested in its fate. With us it was different."—
W. J.

66 REPTILES — TOADS.

whose crown glitters like burnished gold. It often
hangs like a titmouse, with its back downwards,

LETTER XVII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, June 18, 1768.
DEAR SIR,

ON Wednesday last arrived your agreeable letter
of June the 10th. 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 acquainted
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 something analogous to that of the cryp-
togamia in the sexual system of plants ; and the case
is the same with regard to some of the fishes, 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 manner of their bringing
forth. Perhaps they may be eo-io //ev worofcot, Zfa
£e fworo/cot, as is known to be the case with the
viper.*

* Toads are oviparous. Mr. Bell of London, a zealous
ophiologist, has lately confirmed the fact recorded by
Schneider, that toads devour the skin which they shed. In
one instance, he witnessed the whole process of the shedding
of the cuticle : it became divided longitudinally along the

FROGS — TOADS. 67

The copulation of frogs (or at least the appearance
of it — for Swammerdam proves that the male has
no penis intrans,) is notorious to every body ; 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 situa-
tion.* 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 knowledge with impunity. And I
well remember the time, but was not an eye-wit-
ness 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

back and the abdomen ; by the action of the hinder leg on one
side, the skin was detached as far as the fore leg ; the same ope-
ration was next effected on the other side. The loosened
exuvice were then drawn forward, by the combined action of the
mouth and of the anterior legs, and were immediately swallowed.
— Zool. Jour. Mr. Bell adds, that in others of the bactrachian
reptiles, the ranee and salamandree, no swallowing of the exuvice
took place. — W. J.

* The copulation of frogs and toads is performed in the same
manner. The spermatic fluid is passed upon the ova at the time
they are expelled from the female. The ova of the frog are
laid in conglutinated masses ; those of the toad in long chain-
like strings. The ova of the latter are also much smaller. —
W.J.

68 THE WATER-NEWT.

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 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 ; as soon as the legs sprout,
the tail drops off as useless, and the animal betakes
itself to the land !

Merret, I trust, is widely mistaken when he ad-
vances that the rana arborea is an English reptile : it
abounds in Germany and Switzerland.

It is to be remembered that the salamandra aqua-
tica 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 sala-
mandra aquatica was 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,

VIPERS. 69

an amphibious bipes from South Carolina, that the
water- eft, or newt, is only 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 his
own words. Speaking of the opercula, or coverings
to the gills of the mud inguana, 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 animals, as I
have observed, by keeping them alive for some time
myself."*

Linnaeus, in his Sy sterna Nature, hints at what
Mr. Ellis advances, more than once.

Providence has been so indulgent to us as to allow
of but one venqmous reptile of the serpent kind in
these kingdoms, and that is the viper. As you pro-
pose 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,)

* Mr. Ellis is right. The young of the triton palustris and
aquations of Fleming, salamandra exigua and platycauda of
Dr. Rusconi, remain in a tadpole, or comparatively imperfect
state, for some time after exclusion from the egg, and undergo
several metamorphoses previous to arriving at maturity. Dr.
Rusconi says, the young of salamandra platycauda is not
capable to reproduce for three years. See some very inter-
esting information upon the transformation of these animals,
in a long paper published at Pavia by Mauro Rusconi, on the
natural history and structure of the aquatic salamander. —
W.J.

70 VIPERS.

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 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. Bar-
rington, 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,

* Dr. Fleming enumerates just twelve species, of which one,
the Natrix Dumfrisiensis, seems to be of very dubious authority
as a species. I think it very probable that there may be more
than one species of lacerta yet undiscovered, which will make up
the number. — W. J.

FISH. 71

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 sandbanks near Farnham, in Surrey ;
and Ray admits there are such in Ireland.

LETTER XVIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, July 27, 1768.
DEAR SIR,

I RECEIVED your obliging and communicative
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 pungi-
tius ; he found the gasterosteus aculeatus in plenty k
This morning, in a basket, I packed a little earthen
pot full of wet moss, and in it some sticklebacks,
male and female, the females big with spawn ; some
lamperns ; some bull-heads ; but I 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-morrow morning. I gave some
directions, in a letter, to what particulars the en-
graver should be attentive.*

* The manner in which the common lamprey petromyzon
marinus, and the lesser species, commonly known as lamperns,
form their spawning-beds, is curious. They ascend our rivers
to breed, about the end of June, and remain until the begin-

12

72 LOACHES.

Finding, while I was on a visit, that I was within
a reasonable distance of Ambresbury, I sent a ser-
vant over to that town, and procured several living
specimens of loaches, which he brought, safe and
brisk, in a glass decanter. They were taken in the
gulleys that were cut for watering the meadows.
From these fishes (which measured from two to
four inches in length) I took the following descrip-
tion : "The loach, in its general aspect, has a pel-
lucid appearance ; its back is mottled with irregular
collections of small black dots, not reaching much
below the linea literalis, 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, c ntain-
ing eight spines ; its tail, where it joins to the tail
fin, remarkably broad, without any taperness, 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,

ning of August. They are not furnished with any elongation
of jaw, afforded to most of our fresh water fish, to form the re-
ceiving furrows in this important season ; but the want is sup-
plied by their sucker-like mouth, by which they individually
remove each stone. Their power is immense. Stones of a very
large size are transported, and a large furrow is soon formed.
The p. marinus remain in pairs, two on each spawning place, and
while there employed, retain themselves affixed by the mouths
to a large stone. The p. fluviatilis, and another small species
which I have not determined, are gregarious, acting in concert,
and forming, in the same manner, a general spawning bed. —
W. J.

TOADS SAID TO BE A CURE FOR CANCER. 73

and did not forget to make some inquiries concern-
ing 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 was 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 circumstances 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
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 gen-
tleman should express so much tenderness for this
single sufferer, and not feel any for the many thou-
sands that daily languish under this terrible disor-
der ? 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 man-
kind ? 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 con-
tinually 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 circum-
stance at all invalidates the assertion that they are
larvce ; for the larvce of insects are full of eggs,
which they exclude the instant they enter their

74 WILLOW-LARK.

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.*

LETTER XIX.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, August 17, 1768.
DEAR SIR,

I HAVE now, past dispute, made out three dis-
tinct species of the willow-wrens, (motacillte trochili,)
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, f In my letter
of April the 18th, 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 motacilla 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 con-

* The fins, or membrane on the tail and back, increase greatly
at the season of generation ; at other times they are hardly per-
ceptible.— W. J.

f Brit. Zool. edit. 1776, octavo, p. 381.

SANDPIPER. 75

siderably 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 inter-
vals, shivering a little with its wings when it sings ;
and is, I make no doubt now, the regulus non cris-
tatus of Ray; which he says, " cantat voce stridula
locust^."* Yet this great ornithologist never sus-
pected that there were three species.

LETTER XX.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, October 8, 1768.

IT is, I find, in zoology as it is in botany ; all
nature is so full, that that district produces the
greatest variety which is the most examined. Several
birds, which are said to belong to the north only,
are, it seems, often in the south. I have discovered
this summer three species of birds with us, which
writers mention as only to be seen in the northern
counties. The first that was brought me (on the
14th of May) was the sandpiper (tringa hypoleucus :)
it was a cock bird, and haunted the banks of some
ponds near the village ; and, as it had a companion,
doubtless intended to have bred near that water.
Besides, the owner has told me since, that, on recol-
lection, he has seen some of the same birds round
his ponds in former summers.!

* Without doubt, sylvia sibilatrix, or wood-wren. — W. J.
f This species, the totanus hypoleucus of modern ornitho-
logists, is most abundant on all the rocky brooks in the north

76 BUTCHER-BIRD — RINGOUSELS.

The next bird that I procured (on the 21st of
May) was a male red backed butcher-bird, (lanius
collurio.) My neighbour, who shot it, says that it
might easily have escaped his notice, had not the
outcries and chattering of the white-throats and
other small birds drawn his attention to the bush
where it was : its craw was filled with the legs nd
wings of beetles.

The next rare birds (which were procured for me
last week) were some ringousels, (turdi torquati.*)

This week twelvemonths a gentleman from Lon-
don, being with us, was amusing himself with a gun,
and found, he told us, on an old yew hedge, where
there were berries, some birds like blackbirds, with
rings of white round their necks ; a neighbouring
farmer also at the same time observed the same ;
but, as no specimens were procured, little notice
was taken. I mentioned this circumstance to you
in my letter of November the 4th, 1767: (you,
however, paid but small regard to what I said, as I
had not seen these birds myself:) but last week the
aforesaid farmer, seeing a large flock, twenty or
thirty of these birds, shot two cocks and two hens ;
and says, on recollection, that he remembers to have

of England and Scotland, arriving to breed early in spring,
and in autumn again retiring to our coasts, in small flocks,
with its young. About October, they are again dispersed,
migrating to warmer shores. I have received specimens from
Africa, the Delft Islands, and various parts of India and
China.— W. J.

* Before migrating to their winter quarters, and often ere
the duties of incubation are over, they leave their mountain-
ous haunts, and descend to the nearest gardens, where they
commit severe depredations among the cherries, gooseberries, &c.
They also frequent holly hedges and the mountain ash, whenever
the fruit of these trees is so early as to be of service during their
passage. They are known to the country people under the title
of " Mountain Blackbirds." — W. J.

RING O U Z K L.

RINGOUSELS — LIZARDS. 77

observed these birds again last spring, about Lady-
day, as it were, on their return to the north. Now,
perhaps these ousels are not the ousels of the north
of England, but belong to the more northern parts
of Europe ; and may retire before the excessive
rigour of the frosts in those parts; and return to
breed in spring, when the cold abates. If this be
the case, here is discovered a new bird of winter
passage, concerning whose migrations the writers
are silent : but if these birds should prove the ousels
of the north of England, then here is a migration
disclosed within our own kingdom never before
remarked. It does not yet appear whether they
retire beyond the bounds of our island to the south ;
but it is most probable that they usually do, or else
one cannot suppose that they would have continued
so long unnoticed in the southern counties. The
ousel is larger than a blackbird, and feeds on haws ;
but last autumn (when there were no haws) it fed
on yew-berries : in the spring it feeds on ivy-berries,
which ripen only at that season, in March and
April.

I must not omit to tell you (as you have been so
lately on the study of reptiles) that my people, every
now and then, of late, draw up, with a bucket of water
from my well, which is sixty-three feet deep, a large
black warty lizard, with a fin tail, and yellow belly.
How they first came down at that depth, and how
they were ever to have got out thence without help,
is more than I am able to say.

My thanks are due to you for your trouble and
care in the examination of a buck's head. As far
as your discoveries reach at present, they seem
much to corroborate my suspicions ; and I hope

Mr. may find reason to give his decision in my

favour ; and then, I think, we may advance this

78 STONE CURLEW.

extraordinary provision of nature as a new instance
of the wisdom of God in the creation.

As yet I have not quite done with my history of
the cidicnemus, or stone curlew; for I shall desire
a gentleman in Sussex (near whose house these
birds congregate in vast flocks in the autumn) to
observe nicely when they leave him, (if they do
leave him,) and when they return again in the
spring : I was with this gentleman lately, and saw
several single birds.

LETTER XXI.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Nov. 28, 1768.
DEAR SIR,

WITH regard to the cedicnemus, or stone curlew,
I intend to write very soon to my friend near
Chichester, in whose neighbourhood these birds
seem most to abound; and shall urge him to take
particular notice when they begin to congregate,
and afterward to watch them most narrowly whether
they do not withdraw themselves during the dead
of the winter. When I have obtained informa-
tion with respect to this circumstance, I shall
have finished my history of the stone curlew,
which I hope will prove to your satisfaction, as it
will be, I trust, very near the truth. This gentle-
man, as he occupies a large farm of his own, and is
abroad early and late, will be a very proper spy
upon the motions of these birds ; and besides, as I
have prevailed on him to buy the Naturalist's
Journal, (with which he is much delighted,) I shall

JACK-DAWS. 79

expect that he will be very exact in his dates. It
is very extraordinary, as you observe, that a bird so
common with us should never straggle to you.*

And here will be the properest place to mention,
while I think of it, an anecdote which the above
mentioned gentleman told me when I was last at
his house ; which was, that in a warren joining to
his outlet, many daws (corvi monedulce) build every
year in the rabbit burrows under ground. The way
he and his brothers used to take their nests, while
they were boys, was by listening at the mouths of
the 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 this
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 26,) 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, I think, in speaking with
reserve and caution concerning the cures done by
toads ; for, let people advance what they will on

* This species is extremely local, being scarcely found out of
Hampshire, Norfolk, and one or two of the eastern counties of
England.— W. J.

80 RINGOUSELS.

such subjects, yet there is such a propensity in
mankind towards deceiving and being deceived,
that one cannot safely relate any thing from common
report, especially in print, without expressing some
degree of doubt and suspicion.

Your approbation with regard to my new disco-
very of the migration of the ringousel, 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 ringousels 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, 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.

LETTER XXII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, January, 2, 1769.
DEAR SIR,

As to the peculiarity of jack- daws building with
us under the ground, in rabbit burrows, you have,
in part, hit upon the reason ; for, in reality, there

JACK-DAW.

TOADS — GREEN LIZARD. 81

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 North-
amptonshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire,
and the Fens of Lincolnshire, 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 well remarked, 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 Devon-
shire, because it corroborates my discovery, which
I made many years ago, of the same sort, on a
sunny sand-bank 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 ringousels of your vast mountains do
certainly not forsake them against winter, our suspi-
cions 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

* St. James, chap. iii. 7-
G

82 HERONS GOAT-SUCKER.

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 he sure to tell
me in your next whose seat Cressi-hall is, and near
what town it lies.* I have often thought that
those vast extents of fens have never heen suffi-
ciently explored. If half-a-dozen gentlemen, fur-
nished with a good strength of water spaniels, were
to beat them over for a week, they would certainly
find more species.

There is no bird, I believe, whose manners I
have studied more than that of the caprimulgus,
(the goat-sucker,) as it is a wonderful and curious
creature ; but I have always found, that though
sometimes 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 an half hour
watched it as it sat with its under mandible quiver-
ing, 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

* Cressi-hall is near Spalding, in Lincolnshire.

OOATSUCKElt.

THE GOAT-SUCKER. 83

of the parts of its windpipe, formed for sound, just
as cats pur. 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 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 manner through the
boughs of a tree.*

* Mr. White's excellent description of this curious species,
in the present and subsequent letters, is only equalled by
those of a most accurate American ornithologist, whose deli-
neations of the manners of the different species that occurred
to him, ought to be examined as models by every describing
naturalist. Mr. Wilson thus beautifully describes the calling
of the Whip-poor-will of the Americans : — " On or about the
25th of April, if the season be not uncommonly cold, the
Whip-poor-will is heard in Pennsylvania, in the evening, as
the dusk of twilight commences, or in the morning, as soon
as dawn has broke. The notes of this solitary bird, from
the ideas which are naturally associated with them, seem like
the voice of an old friend, and are listened to by almost all
with great interest. At first they issue from some retired
part of the woods, the glen, or mountain ; in a few evenings,
perhaps, we hear them from the adjoining coppice, the garden
fence, the road before the door, and even the roof of the
dwelling-house, hours after the 'family have retired to rest.
Some of the more ignorant and superstitious consider this
near approach as foreboding no good to the family, nothing
less than the sickness, misfortune, or death, of some of its
members. Every morning and evening his shrill and rapid
repetitions are heard from the adjoining woods ; and when
two or more are calling at the same time, as is often the case
G 2

84 BATS — RAIN.

It would not be at all strange if your bat, which
you have procured, should prove a new one, since
five species have been found in a neighbouring
kingdom. The great sort that I mentioned is cer-
tainly a nondescript : I saw but one this summer,
and that I had no opportunity of taking.

Your account of the Indian grass was entertain-
ing. 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 intes-
tines of a silkworm."

Though I must not pretend to great skill in ento-
mology, 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 information.

The vast rain 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

in the pairing season, and at no great distance from each
other, the noise, mingling with the echoes from the mountains,
is really surprising. Strangers, in parts of the country where
these birds are numerous, find it almost impossible for some
time to sleep ; while to those long acquainted with them, the
sound often serves as a lullaby, to assist their repose. The
notes seem pretty plainly to articulate the words which have
been generally applied to them, ' Whip-poor-will,' the first and
last syllables being uttered with great emphasis, and the whole
in about a second to each repetition ; but when two or more
males meet, their whip-poor-will altercations become much
more rapid and incessant, as if each were straining to over-
power or silence the other. When near, you often hear an
introductory cluck between the notes. At these times, as
well as almost at all others, they fly low, not more than a few
feet from the surface, skimming about the house, and before the
door, alighting on the wood- pile, or settling on the roof.
Towards midnight they generally become silent, unless in clear
moonlight, when they are heard, with little intermission, till
morning." — W. J.

LIZARDS. 85

letter, that more rain 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.

LETTER XXIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Feb. 28, 1769.
DEAR SIR,

IT is not improbable that the Guernsey lizard
and our green lizards may be specifically the same ;
all that I know is, that when, some years ago, many
Guernsey lizards were turned loose in Pembroke
college garden, in the university of Oxford, they
lived a great while, and seemed to enjoy themselves
very well ; but never bred. Whether this circum-
stance will prove any thing either way, I shall not
pretend to say.

I return you thanks for your account of Cressi-
hall ; but recollect, not without regret, that in June,
1746, I was visiting for a week together at Spalding,
without ever being told that such a curiosity 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 heromy consists of a
whole grove, or 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.

86 MIGRATION.

If ever I saw any thing like actual migration, it
was last Michaelmas -day.* I was travelling, and

* The subject of migration appears to have been a very
favourite one with our author, occupying the greater part of
many of his subsequent letters, and evidently often the subject
of his private thoughts. He sometimes seems puzzled with
regard to the possibility of many of the migrating species being
able to undergo the fatigue of long or continued journeys ; and
often wishes almost to believe, though contrary to his better
judgment, that some of these enter into a regular torpidity.
We find torpidity occurring among animals, fishes, the amphibise,
and reptiles, and among insects ; but we have never found any
authenticated instance of this provision taking place among
birds. Theirframes are adapted to a more extensive locomotive
power ; and the change to climates more congenial to their con-
stitutions, preventing the necessity of any actual change in the
system, is supplied to those animals deprived of the power for
extensive migration, by a temporary suspension of the most of
the faculties, which, in other circumstances, would be entirely
destroyed. Birds, it is true, are occasionally found in holes,
particularly our summer birds of passage, in what has been called
a torpid state, and have revived upon being placed in a warmer
temperature ; but this, I consider, has always been a suspended
animation, where all the functions were entirely bound up as in
death, and which, by the continuance of a short period, would
have caused death itself — not torpidity, where various functions
and secretions, capable for a time of sustaining the frame, are
still going on.

The possibility of performing long journeys, as we must
believe some species are obliged to do before arriving at their
destination, at first appears nearly incredible ; but, when
brought to a matter of plain calculation, the difficulty is much
diminished. The flight of birds may be estimated at from
50 to 150 miles an hour; and if we take a medium of this as
a rate for the migrating species, we shall have little difficulty
in reconciling the possibility of their flights. This, however,
can only be applied to such species as, in their migrations,
have to cross some vast extent of ocean, without a resting-
place. Many that visit this country, particularly those from
Africa, merely skirt the coast, crossing at the narrowest parts,
and again progressively advancing, until they reach their final
quarters ; and during this time having their supply of suitable
food daily augmented.

MIGRATION. 87

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
(hirundines rusticce) 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 who 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. Swal-
lows 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 respectable gentleman assured me, that,

The causes influencing the migration of birds appear more
difficult to solve, than the possibility of the execution of it.
They seem to be influenced by an innate law, which we do
not, and cannot, comprehend, though in some measure depen-
dent on the want of food or climate congenial to the system
of each, and which acts almost without the will of the indi-
vidual. Neither this, however, nor the duties incumbent on
incubation, can be the only exciting causes, as we may judge
by the partial migrations of some to different parts of the same
country, where food and the conveniences for breeding are
alike ; by the partial migration only, of a species from one
country to another, differing decidedly in temperature, and
where the visiting species thrives equally with the resident one;
and by the males of some species migrating, while the females
remain. — W. J.

88 MIGRATION.

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 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 Oxford 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 swallows 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 de-
light, to observe with how much ardour and punc-
tuality those poor little birds obeyed the strong
impulse towards migration, or hiding, imprinted 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 cer-
tain to what regions they do migrate ; and are still
farther embarrassed to find that some actually do not
migrate at all.

These reflections made so strong an impression
on my imagination, 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.

8 N O \V Y OWL.

RINGOUSELS. 89

LETTER XXIV,

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, May 29. 1769.
DEAR SIR,

THE scarab&us 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 13th of April, I went to the sheep-down,
where the ringousels 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 three 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 late
breeders ; whereas those species of the thrush kind
that remain with us the wrhole 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 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 wri-
ters, who supposed they never were to be seen in
any of the southern counties.

One of my neighbours lately brought me a new

90 THE SALICARIA.

salicaria, which, at first, I suspected might have
proved your willow-lark,* but on a nicer examina-
tion, it answered much better to the description of
that species which you shot at Revesby, in Lincoln-
shire. My bird I describe thus ; — " It is a size less
than the grasshopper-lark ; the head, back, and co-
verts of the wings, of a dusky brown, without the
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."f
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 in-
quiry. For my part, I suspect it is a second sort of
locust ella, hinted at by Dr. Derham in Ray's Letters :
see p. 74. 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 hypothesis 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

* For this salicaria, see Letter XXVI. p. 98.
f Sylvia phragmites. Bechst. Sedge-warbler. — SELBY'S
Ornith.—W. J.

SUMMER EVENING WALK. 91

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," " Disbelieving I detest."

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE.

THE NATURALIST'S SUMMER EVENING
WALK.

equidem credo, quia sit divinitus illis

Ingenium. VIRG. Georg.

" The instructive arts that in their labours shine,
I deem inspir'd by energy divine."

WHEN day, declining, sheds a milder gleam,

What time the May-fly* haunts the pool or stream ;

When the still owl skims round the grassy mead

What time the timorous hare limps forth to feed ;

Then be the time to steal adown the vale,

And listen to the vagrant cuckoo' sf tale ;

To hear the clamorous curlew I call his mate,

Or the soft quail his tender pain relate ;

To see the swallow sweep the dark'ning plain,

Belated, to support her infant train ;

* The angler's May-fly, the ephemera vulgata, Linn, comes
forth from its aurelia state, and emerges out 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 succes-
sion for near a fortnight. See SWAMMERDAM, DERHAM, Sco-
POLI, &c.

f Vagrant cuckoo ; so called, because, being tied down by
no incubation or attendance about the nutrition of its young, it
wanders without controul.

1 Charadrius cedicnemus.

92 SUMMER EVENING WALK.

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, soft season, lifts her bloomy head ?
Such baffled searches mock man's prying pride,
The God of Nature is your secret guide !

While deep'ning shades obscure the face of day,
To yonder bench, leaf- shelter' d, let us stray,
Till blended objects fail the swimming sight,
And all the fading landscape sinks in night ;
To hear the drowsy dorr come brushing by
With buzzing wing, or the shrill cricket * cry ;
To see the feeding bat glance through the wood ;
To catch the distant falling of the flood ;
While o'er the cliff th' awaken'd churn-owl hung,
Thro' the still gloom protracts his chattering song ;
While, high in air, and poised upon his wings,
Unseen, the soft enamour 'd woodlarkf 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 ;
For see, the glow-worm lights her amorous fire ! J

* Gryllus campestris.

f In hot summer nights, woodlarks soar to a prodigious
height, and hang singing in the air.

J The light of the female glow-worm (as she often crawls up
the stalk of a grass to make herself more conspicuous) is a signal
to the male, which is a slender, dusky scarabceus.

SUMMER BIRDS OF PASSAGE. 93

Thus, ere night's veil had half obscured the sky,
TV impatient damsel hung her lamp on high :
True to the signal, by love's meteor led,
Leander hasten'd to his Hero's bed.*

LETTER XXV.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, June 30, 1769.
DEAR SIR,

WHEN I was in town last month, I partly engaged
that I would some time 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 gentleman of great candour, and one
that will make allowances, especially where the wri-
ter professes to be an out- door naturalist, one that
takes his observations from the subject itself, and not
from the writings of others.

The following is a List of the Summer Birds of Passage
which I have discovered in this neighbourhood, ranged
somewhat in the order in which they appear :

1. Wryneck,

2. Smallest wil-
low-wren,

3. Swallow,

4. Martin,
5. Sand-martin,
6. Black-cap,
7. Nightingale,
8. Cuckoo,
9. Middle willow-
wren,

RAII NOMIKA. USUALLY APPEARS
ABOUT

^ Jynx, sive tor- $ The middle of March :
1 quilla. £ harsh note.
I Regulus non cris- / March 23 : chirps till
\ tatus. \ September.
S Hirundo domes- \ A ., 10
* tica. f Apnl 13'
Hirundo rustica. Ditto.
Hirundo riparia. Ditto.
Atricapilla. Do. a sweet wild note.
Luscinia. Beginning of April.
Cuculus. Middle of April.
{Regulus non cris- ( Ditto ; a sweet plain-
tatus. \ tive note.

See the story of Hero and Leander.

SUMMER BIRDS OF PASSAGE.

10. White-throat,

11. Redstart,

12. Stone curlew,

13. Turtle-dove,

Ficedula affinis.
Ruticilla.

( Do. mean note : sings
\ on till September.
f Ditto : more agreeable
\ song.

( End of March : loud
\ nocturnal whistle.

14. Grasshopper-

lark,

15. Swift,

( Alauda minima^
\ locustce voce.

Hirundo apus.

16. Less reed-spar- (Passer arundina-
row, "^ ceus minor.

(Edicnemus.

Turtur.

( Middle of April: a
< small sibilous note,
(^ till the end of July.
About April 27-

{A sweet polyglot, but
hurrying: it has the
notes of many birds.
{A loud, harsh note,
crex, crex.

18. Largest-willow- (Regulm non cris- (C™tat f mce ,st™*ttl?

t **»• < o™ tops of hi^l,

v. beeches.
Beginning of May :
chatters by night
with a singular noise.
May 12. A very mute
bird: this is the lat-
est summer bird of
( passage.

This assemblage of curious and amusing birds be-
longs to ten several genera of the Linnsean system ;
and are all of the or do of passer es, save \hejynx and
cuculus, which are piece, and the charadrius (cedicne-
mus) and rallus (ortygometrd), which are gralla.

These birds, as they stand numerically, belong to
the following Linnsean genera : —

17. Landrail,

19. Goat-sucker, or
fern-owl,

Ortygometra.

> Caprimulgus.

20. Fly- catcher, Stoparola.

1,

2, 6, 7,9, 10, 11, 16, 18,

3, 4, 5, 15,
8,

12.

Jynx.

Motacilla.

Hirundo.

Cuculus.

Charadrius.

13, Columba.
17, Rallus.

19, Caprimulgus.

14, Alauda.

20. Muscicapa.

Most soft-billed birds live on insects, and not on
grain and seeds, and therefore at the end of summer

WINTER BIRDS OF PASSAGE.

95

they retire ; but the following soft-billed birds,
though insect eaters, stay with us the year round : —

Red-breast,
Wren,

RAII NOMINA.

Rubecula.

Passer troglodytes.

Hedge-sparrow, Curruca.

White-wagtail,
Yellow-wagtail,
Grey-wagtail,

Wheatear,

Motacilla alba.
Motacilla flava.
Motacilla cinerea.

(Enanthe.

Whin-chat,
Stone-chatter,

Golden-crown- ^
ed wren, J

(Enanthe secunda.
(Enanthe tertia.

Regulus cristatus.

' These frequent houses;
and haunt out-build-
ings in the winter :
eat spiders.

Haunt sinks, for
crumbs, and 'other
sweepings.

These frequent shal-
low rivulets, near the
spring heads, where
they never freeze: eat
the aureliae of Phry-
ganea. The smallest
birds that walk.

Some of these are to be
seen with us the win-
ter through.

This is the smallest
British bird: haunts
the tops of tall trees ;
stays the winter
through .

A List of the Winter Birds of Passage round this
neighbourhood, ranged somewhat in the order in which
they appear.

RAII NOMINA.

] . Ringousel, Merula torquata.

2. Redwing,

3. Fieldfare,

Turdus iliacus.
Turdus pilaris.

This is a new migra-
tion, which I have
lately discovered
about Michaelmas
week, and again
about the fourteenth
of March.

About old Michaelmas
Though a percher by
day, roosts on the
ground.

96 WINTER BIRDS OF PASSAGE.

4. Royston-crow,

Cornix cinerea. -!

Most frequently on
downs.

5. Woodcock,

Scolopax.

Appears about old Mi-
chaelmas.

6. Snipe,

Gallinago minor. •<

Some snipes constantly

7. Jack-snipe,

Gallinago minima.

f

Seldom appears till

8. Wood-pigeon,

(Enas.

late ; not in such

£

plenty as formerly.

9. Wild-swan,

Cygnus ferus.

On some large waters.

10. Wild-goose,

Anser ferus.

11. Wild-duck,

{ 1

nor. j

12. Pochard,
13. Widgeon,

1 A T™! U«r»«,l<,>

Anas fera fusca. f

Penelope. /"

i

On our lakes and
streams.

with us in Wol- > Querquedula.
mer Forest.

i - ^ , , r These are only wan-

15. Crossbeak, Coccothraustes. i

it? /-i u-ii r • 1 derers that appear oc-

16. Crossbill, Loxia.

f „ / r> T • S casionally, and are
iw 0-11 ^ M f Garrulus Botiemi- \ ~

17. Silk-tail, -j j not observant of any

V regular migration.

These birds, as they stand numerically, belong to
the following Linnaean genera : —

1, 2,3, Turdus. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, Anas.

4, Corvus. 15, 16, Loxia.

5, 6, 7> Scolopax. 17, Ampelis.
8, Columba.

Birds that sing in the night are but few : —

XT. , . , ( " In shadiest covert

Nightingale, Lusctma. | hid."-MiLTON.

Woodlark, Alauda arborea. Suspended in mid air.

Less reed sparrow, \ Passer arundina~ 5 Among reeds and wil-
' ( ceus minor. ( lows.

I should now proceed to such birds as continue to
sing after midsummer, but as they are rather nume-
rous, they would exceed the bounds of this paper ;
besides, as this is now the season for remarking on

RINGOUSELS. 97

that subject, I am willing to repeat my observations
on some birds, concerning the continuation of whose
song I seem at present to have some doubt.

LETTER XXVI.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, Aug. 30, 1769.
DEAR 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 ? Were not
candour and openness the very life of natural history,
I should pass over this query just as a sly commen-
tator 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 ringousels did the same, as well as their
congeners, the fieldfares; and especially as ringousels
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 surveyed it alive and

98 THE SALICARIA— REPTILES.

dead, and have procured several specimens ; and am
perfectly persuaded myself (and trust you will soon
be convinced of the same) that it is no more nor
less than the passer 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
by Ray, who ranges it among his pici affines. It
ought, no doubt, to have gone among his aviculte
caudd unicolore, and among your slender-billed small
birds of the same division. Linnseus might, with
great propriety, have put it into his genus of mota-
cilla ; and the motacilla salicaria of his fauna suecica
seems to come the nearest to it. It is no uncommon
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 skylark; 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 cha-
racteristic of it when he says, Rostrum et pedes in Me
aviculd multb majores sunt quam pro corporis ratione.
The beak and feet of this bird are too large for the
proportions of the rest of the body.

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 in self-defence. I knew a gentle-
man who kept a tame snake, which was in its person

* See Letter XXIV. p. 82.

SINGING BIRDS. 99

as sweet as any animal, while in good humour and
unalarmed ; but, as soon as a stranger, or a dog or
cat, came in, it fell to hissing, and filled the room
with such nauseous effluvia, as rendered it hardly
supportable. Thus the squnck, or stonck, 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 pestilent and fetid smell and excrement,
that nothing can be more horrible.

A gentleman sent me lately a fine specimen of
the lanius minor cinerascens cum maculd in scapulis
alba, Raii; Ray's lesser butcher-bird, ash-coloured,
with a white spot at the insertion of the wings ;
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.

LETTER XXVII.

*.-.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, Nov. 2, 1769.
DEAR 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 pas-
sage which I have observed in this neighbourhood,
and also a list of the winter birds of passage ; I men-
tioned, besides, those soft-billed birds that stay with
us the winter through in the south of England, and
those that are remarkable for singing in the night.

According to my proposal, I shall now proceed to
such birds (singing birds, strictly so called) as con-
H 2

100

SINGING BIRDS.

timie in full song till after midsummer, and shall
range them somewhat in the order in which they
first begin to open as the spring advances.

RAII NOMINA.

1. Woodlark, Alauda arborea.

2. Song-thrush, { Tur,d«s *"&**«

( dictus.

3. Wren, Passer troglodytes*

4. Red-breast, Rubecula.

5. Hedge-spar- j. Cm^

6. Yellow-ham- 1 „ , . „

>- Embenza fiava.

7. Skylark, Alauda vulgaris.

8. Swallow, Hirundo domestica.

9. Black-cap, Atricapilla.

10. Titlark, Alauda pratorum.

11. Blackbird, Merula vulgaris.

12. White-throat, Ficedula affinis.

13. Goldfinch, Carduelis.

14. Greenfinch, Chloris.

15. Less reed- ^ Passer arundinace\
sparrow,

eed- \ Passer art
*v, f minor.

/'In January, and con-
) tinues to sing through
\ all the summer and
V. autumn.

/"In February, and on
) to August: re-as-
\ sume their song in
V. autumn.

( All the year, hard frost
\ excepted.
Ditto.

{Early in February, to
July the 10th.
{Early in February,
and on through July
to August the 21st.
{In February, and on
to October.

/From April to Sep-
\ tember.

{Beginning of April to
July 13th.

( From middle of April
\ to July the 16th.
Sometimes in Februa-
ry and March, and
so on to July the
23d ; re-assumes in
autumn.

{In April, and on to
July 23d.

{April, and through to
September 16th.
{On to July and Au-
gust 2d.

{May, on to beginning
of July,

SINGING BIRDS.

101

16. Common
linnet,

f Linaria vulga

Breeds and whistles on
till August ; re-as-
sumes 4ts note when
they begin to congre-
gate in October, and
again early before the
v flocks separate.

.Birds that cease to be in full song, and are usually
silent at or before midsummer : —

17. Middle \vi\-\Regulus non crista- f Middle of June; be-

low wren, ) tus. \ gins in April,

18. Redstart, Ruticilla. Ditto; begins in May.

( Beginning of June ;
| sings firstin February.

{Middle of June ; sings
first in April.

19. Chaffinch, Fringilla.

20. Nightingale, Luscinia.

21. Missel-bird. Turdus viscivorus. (

Birds that sing for a short time, and very early in
the spring : —

January the 2d, 1770,
in February. Is called
in Hampshire and
Sussex the storm-
cock, because its song
is supposed to fore-
bode windy wet wea-
ther ; is the largest
singing bird we have.

In February, March,
April ; re-assumes for
a short time in Sep-
tember.

22. Great titmouse,
or ox-eye.

j- Fringillago.

Birds that have somewhat of a note or song, and
yet are hardly to be called singing birds: —

23. Golden-crown-
ed wren,

> Regu<

lus cristatus. •

' Its note as minute as
its person ; frequents
the tops of high oaks
and firs ; the smallest
British bird.

102 SINGING BIRDS.

RAII NOMINA.

( Haunts great woods ;

24. Marsh titmouse, Parus palustris. < two harsh sharp

(^ notes.

25. Small willow- \ Regulus non cris- ( Sings in March and on

wren, / tatus. \ to September.

( Cantat voce stridula

26. Largest do. Ditto. < locustte ; from end of

(^ April to August.

27. Grasshopper- \ Alauda

lark, ) voce locustce.

( All the breeding time ;

28. Martin, * Hirundo agrestis. < from May to Septem-

t ber.

29. Bullfinch, Pyrrhula.

on r> *• n 7 . 77 f From the end of Janu-

.iO. Bunting, Emberiza alba, -j

. . ( Chirps all niarht, from
\imma ] .» * .j-« 5* _n A

< the middle of April to

'**' { the end of July.

All singing birds, and those that have any preten-
sions to song, not only in Britain, but perhaps the
world through, come under the Linnsean ordo of
passeres.

The above-mentioned birds, as they stand nume-
rically, belong to the following Linnaean genera : —

1, 7, 10, 27, Alauda. 8, 28, Hirundo.

2, 11, 21, Turdus. 13, 16, 19, Fringilla.
3,4,5,9, 12,15,^

17, 18, 20, 23, V Motacilla. 22, 24, Parus.
25, 26, )

6, 30, Emberiza. 14, 29, Loxia.

Birds that sing as they fly are but few :- —
Skylark, Alauda vulgaris. -[ Ri«nft suspended, and

/"In its descent; also
Titlark, Alauda pratorvm. ) Sg" 'on"' *e

ground.

Woodlark, Alauda arborea. < summer nights all

^Suspended ; in hot
summer nij ' '
night long.

SINGING BIRDS. 103

„, , /Sometimes from bush

Blackbird, Merula. j to bush.

C Uses, when singing on
White-throat, Ficedulce affinis. < the wing, odd jerks

1^ and gesticulations.
Swallow, Hirundo domestica. In soft sunny weather.

f Sometimes from bush
Wren, Passer troglodytes. | tQ bush>

Birds that breed most early in these parts : —

„ (Hatches in February

\ and March.

Song-thrush, Turdus. In March.

Blackbird, Merula. In March.

/. ., T Builds the beginning

Rook, Comix frugilega. j ofMarch.

Woodlark, Alauda arbor ea. Hatches in April.

f Lays the beginning of
Ringdove, Palumbus torquatus. -j ^ . j

All hirds that continue in full song till after mid-
summer, 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 a 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-
en-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.

104 SCOTLAND,

LETTER XXVIII.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, Dec. 8, 1769.
DEAR SIR,

I WAS much, gratified by your communicative
letter on your return from Scotland, where you spent,
I find, 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 them-
selves 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 na-
ture. You must have made, no doubt, many disco-
veries, and laid up a good fund of materials for a
future edition of the British Zoology, and will 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 cir-
cumstance still more strange and wonderful . The
ringousel, you find, stays in Scotland the whole year
round ; so that we have reason 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 men-
tion, that those birds were most punctual again in

FIELDFARES. 105

their migration this autumn, appearing, as before,
about the 30th of September ; but their flocks were
larger than common, and their stay protracted some-
what 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 mid-
dle of April, I am seized with wonder, and long to
be informed whence these travellers come, and whi-
ther 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 that they have seen two or three white larks
on our downs ; but, on considering the matter, I be-
gin to suspect that these are some stragglers of the
birds we are talking of, which sometimes, perhaps,
may rove so far to the southward.*

It pleases me to find that white hares are so fre-
quent 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,f could it be proved to belong to

* In the snow-fleck, which is now separated from the bunt-
ings, and, with the Lapland finch, forms the genus plectrophanes
of Meyer, and modern ornithologists, the wings are of consider-
able length, fitting them for more extensive journeys than the
true emberizae. — W. J.

f This is now admitted into the British Fauna, having been
killed at different times in various parts of Great Britain. — W. J.

106 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

us, is so majestic 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 pre-
served, 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 dis-
covered it in Lincolnshire, for the reason I have
given in the article of the white hare.J

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 hyberna-
culum artificially formed of grass and leaves. At one
end of the burrow lay about a gallon of potatoes, re-
gularly 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 deter-
mined 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 for-
sake the neighbourhood of the water in the colder
months ?

Though I delight very little in analogous reason-
ing, knowing how fallacious it is with respect to na-
tural history ; yet, in the following instance, T cannot
help being inclined to think it may conduce towards
the explanation of a difficulty that I have mentioned

* Lepus variabilis. — W. J.

BATS. 107

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 begin to retire about the be-
ginning of August.

The great large bat * (which, by the by, is at pre-
sent a non-descript in England, and what I have
never been able yet to procure) retires 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.f
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
Urundines, and the larger bats, are supported by some
sorts of high-flying gnats, scarabs, or phal&na, 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. Swallows were observed on
to November the third.

* 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.

f Mr. White has the merit of first noticing this species in
England : it is the vespertilio noctula of Dr. Fleming, and said
by that naturalist to winter in Italy. — W. J.

108 SINGING BIRDS.

LETTER XXIX.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, Jan. 15, 1770.
DEAR SIR,

IT was no small matter of satisfaction to me to
find that you were not displeased with my little me-
thodus, or systematic table of birds. If there was
any merit in the sketch, it must be owing to its punc-
tuality. 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 conti-
nued to warble after the beginning of July.

The titlark and yellow-hammer breed late, the lat-
ter 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 incuba-
tion going on, there is music. As to the red-breast
and wren, it is well known to the most incurious ob-
server that they whistle the year round, hard frost
excepted ; especially the latter.

It was not in my power to procure you a black-
cap, or a less reed- sparrow, or sedge-bird, alive. As

BIRDS IN CAGES. 109

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 distin-
guished 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 his merry note
Unto the wild bird's throat."

The latter has a surprising variety of notes, resem-
bling the song of several other birds ; but then it
has also a hurrying manner, not at all to its advan-
tage. It is, notwithstanding, a delicate polyglot.

It is new to me that titlarks in cages sing in the
night ; perhaps only caged birds do so. I once knew
a tame red-breast 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, notwithstanding so many young
are hatched daily. Sure I am, that it is far other-
wise with respect to the swallow tribe, which increases
prodigiously as the summer advances : and I saw, at
the time mentioned, many hundreds of young wag-
tails on the banks of the Cher well, 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 sub-
sistence might be ; all that I could ever find was a soft
mucus, among which lay many pellucid small gravels.

110 THE CUCKOO.

LETTER XXX.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Feb. 19, 1770.
DEAR SIR,

YOUR observation, that "the cuckoo does not
deposit its egg indiscriminately in the nest of the
first bird that comes in its way, but probably looks
out a nurse in some degree congenerous, 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
were 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 white-throat, and the red-breast, all soft-
billed insectivorous birds. The excellent Mr. Wil-
lughby mentions the nest of the palumbus, (ring-dove,)
and of ihefringilla, (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 membrana-
ceous stomachs suited to their soft food ; while 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 pro-
ceeding 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

THE CUCKOO. Ill

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 ffropyrj that seems to raise the kind in
general above themselves, and inspire them with ex-
traordinary degrees of cunning and address, may be
still endued with a more enlarged faculty of discern-
ing 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 sub-
jected 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 : —

" She is hardened against her young ones, as though
they were not hers :

" Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, nei-
ther hath he imparted to her understanding."*

Query. Does each female cuckoo lay but one egg
in a season, or does she drop several in different
nests, according as opportunity offers ?

LETTER XXXI.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, Feb. 22, 1770.
DEAR SIR,

HEDGE-HOGS* abound in my gardens and fields.

* Jobxxxix. 16, 17.

f The hedge-hog feeds indiscriminately on flesh and vegeta-

HEDGEHOGS.

The manner in which they eat the roots of the plan-
tain 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 tuft 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
hedge-hogs, 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 parturition :
but it is plain that 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,

bles, is very fond of eggs, doing considerable mischief by de-
stroying game during the breeding season. It will even enter a
hen-house, and, when within its reach, will turn off the hens,
and devour the eggs. They are frequently caught in traps,
baited with eggs, for the carrion crows. They are easily tamed,
and become very familiar in a state of confinement ; will eat
bread, potatoes, fruit, flesh — raw or cooked, without any appa-
rent choice. — W. J. They will soon learn to distinguish the
person by whom they are fed, and will uncoil themselves at the
sound of his voice. — W. C. T.

FIELDFARES MOOSE-DEER. 1 13

is, because the curious muscle, that enables the crea-
ture 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 pilarisj, which, I think, is particular
enough : this bird, though it sits on trees in the day-
time, and procures the greatest part of its fcod 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 red-wings in
the hedges, never entangle any of this species. 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 sel-
dom in my way ; my little intelligence is confined to
the narrow sphere of my own observations at home.

-
LETTER XXXII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, March, 1770.
ON Michaelmas- day, 1768, I managed to get a

114 MOOSE-DEER.

sight of the female moose belonging to the Duke of
Richmond, at Goodwood ; but was greatly disap-
pointed, when I arrived at the spot, to find that it had
died, after having appeared in a languishing way for
some time, on the morning before. However, under-
standing 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 standing 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 dis-
tinction 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 grallce order. I measured
it, as they do a horse, and found that, from the
ground to the wither, it was just five feet four inches ;
which height answers exactly to sixteen hands, a
growth that few horses arrive at: but then, with
this 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, with the greatest diffi-
culty, between its legs : the ears were vast and lop-
ping, and as long as the neck ; the head was about
twenty inches long, and ass-like ; and had such a re-
dundancy 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 chiefiy
by browsing off trees, and by wading after water
plants ; towards which way of livelihood the length
of legs and great lips must contribute much. I have
read somewhere, that it delights in eating the nym-
phaa, 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,

MOOSE-DEER. 115

consisted a great deal in the tibia, 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 grizzly
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 a 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 ine-
quality 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 corre-
sponds with that you saw ; and whether you think
still that the American moose and European elk are
the same creature.

i 2

116 SINGING BIRDS.

LETTER XXXIII.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, April 12, 1770.
DEAR 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 yellow-hammer, no doubt,
persists with more steadiness than any other; but
the wood-lark, the wren, the red-breast, the swallow,
the white-throat, the goldfinch, the common linnet,
are all undoubted instances of the truth of what I
advanced.

If this severe season does not interrupt the regu-
larity of the summer migrations, the black-cap 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 bird-catcher ; 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 reed- sparrow of Ray, the sedge-bird
of Mr. Pennant's last publication, p. 16 ?

As to the matter of long billed birds growing fat-
ter 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

* Through the attention of W. Carruthers, Esq., of Dormont,
I have lately received the black-cap, with some others of our
summer birds, from Madeira, where it is probable they partly
retire, on leaving their breeding places. — W. J.

EFFECTS OF FROST ON ANIMALS. 117

gentle check which the cold throws upon insensible
perspiration. The case is just the same with black-
birds, &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 al-
tered ; for then a want of food soon overbalances
the repletion occasioned by a checked perspiration.
I have observed, moreover, that some human consti-
tutions 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 red-wing field-
fares, 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
disproportioned 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 fury of incubation is on her, will sit
on a single shapeless stone, instead of a nest full of
eggs that have been withdrawn ; and, moreover, a
hen turkey, in the same circumstances, 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 were come down out of the ovary,
and advanced to a good size, doubtless, then, she
would that spring lay more than one.

* By a wise provision of nature, and to prevent the very cir-
cumstance which Mr. White here notices, we find the egg of the
cuckoo scarcely larger than that of the common chaffinch. — W. J.
. Bat the young cuckoo is, beyond all doubt, larger than the birds
that are usually found in the same nest. — W. C. T.

118 SILENCE OF SINGING BIRDS.

I will endeavour to get a hen, and examine.

Your supposition, that there may be some natural
obstruction in singing birds while they are mute, and
that, when this is removed, 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 caprimulyus, or fern-owl : you were, I find, ac-
quainted with the bird before.

When we meet, I shall be glad to have some con-
versation 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 under-
taking 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 " Investiga-
tions of the difference between the present tempera-
ture of the air in Italy," &c., have fallen in my way,
and gave me great satisfaction. They have removed
the objection 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.

MIGRATION. 119

LETTER XXXIV.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, May 12, 1770.
DEAR SIR,

LAST month, we had such a series of cold tur-
bulent weather, such a constant succession of frost,
and snow, and hail, and tempest, that the regular
migration, or appearance of the summer birds, was
much interrupted. Some did not show themselves
(at least were not heard,) till weeks after their usual
time ; as the black-cap and white-throat ; and some
have not been heard yet, as the grasshopper-lark and
largest willow- wren. As to the fly-catcher, I have
not seen it ; it is, indeed, one of the latest, but should
appear about this time ; and yet, amidst all this me-
teorous strife and war of the elements, two swallows
discovered themselves as long ago as the eleventh of
April, in frost and snow : but they withdrew quickly,
and were not visible again for many days. House-
martins, which are always more backward than swal-
lows, were not observed till May came in.

Among the monogamous birds, several are to be
found, after pairing time, single and of each sex; but
whether this state of celibacy is matter of choice or
necessity, is not so easily discoverable. When the
house-sparrows deprive my martins of their nests, as
soon as I cause one to be shot, the other, be it cock
or hen, presently procures a mate, and so for several
times following.

I have known a dove-house infested by a pair of
white owls, which made great havock among the
young pigeons : one of the owls was shot as soon as
possible ; but the survivor readily found a mate, and

PAIRING OF BIRDS CATS.

the mischief went on. After some time, the new pair
were both destroyed, and the annoyance ceased.

Another instance I remember, of a sportsman,
whose zeal for the increase of his game being greater
than his humanity, after pairing time, he always shot
the cock-bird of every couple of partridges upon his
grounds : supposing that the rivalry of many males
interrupted the breed. He used to say that, though
he had widowed the same hen several times, yet he
found she was still provided with a fresh paramour,
that did not take her away from her usual haunt.

Again : I knew a lover of setting, an old sports-
man, who has often told me, that, soon after harvest,
he has frequently taken small coveys of partridges,
consisting of cock-birds alone : these he pleasantly
used to call old bachelors.

There is a propensity belonging to common house
cats that is very remarkable : I mean their violent
fondness for fish, which appears to be their most fa-
vourite food ; and yet nature, in this instance, seems
to have planted in them an appetite that, unassisted,
they know not how to gratify : for of all quadrupeds,
cats are the least disposed towards water ; and will
not, when they can avoid it, deign to wet a foot,
much less to plunge into that element*.

* In the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, on the authority
of Dr. Darwin, cats fish : he says, " Mr. Leonard, a very intelli-
gent friend of mine, saw a cat catch a trout, by darting upon it
in a deep clear water, at the mill at Weaford, near Lichfield.
The cat belonged to Mr. Stanley, who had often seen her catch
fish in the same manner in summer, when the mill-pool was
drawn so low that the fish could be seen. I have heard of other
cats taking fish in shallow water, as they stood on the bank.
This seems to be a natural method of taking their prey, usually
lost by domestication, though they all retain a strong relish for
fish."

The Rev. W. Bingley mentions another instance of a cat freely
taking the water, related by his friend Mr. Bill, of Christchurch.

CATS. 121

Quadrupeds that prey on fish are' amphibious; such
is the otter, which, by nature, is so well formed for
diving, that it makes great havoc among the inhabit-
ants of the waters. Not supposing that we had any
of those beasts in our shallow brooks, I was much
pleased to see a male otter brought to me, weighing
twenty-one pounds, that had been shot on the bank
of our stream, below the Priory, where the rivulet
divides the parish of Selborne from Harteleywood.

When he lived at Wallington, near Carshalton, in Surry, he had
a cat that was often known to plunge, without hesitation, into
the river Wandle, and swim over to an island at a little distance
from the bank. To this there could be no other inducement
than the fish she might catch on her passage, or the vermin that
the island afforded.— W. J.

" These are curious instances," says the editor of the London
Literary Gazette, in reviewing a former edition of this volume,
" but the following, which may be depended upon as a fact, is
still more remarkable. At Caverton Mill, in Roxburghshire, a
beautiful spot upon Kale Water, there was a favourite cat, do-
mesticated in the dwelling-house, which stood at two or three
hundred yards from the mill. When the mill-work ceased, the
water was, as usual, stopped at the dam-head, and the dam be -
low consequently ran gradually more shallow, often leaving
trout, which had ascended when it was full, to struggle back
with difficulty to the parent stream ; and so well acquainted had
puss become with this circumstance, and so fond was puss of
fish, the moment the noise of the mill-clapper ceased, she used
to scamper off to the dam, and, up to her belly in water, continue
to catch fish like an otter. It would not be easy to cite a more
curious case of animal instinct approaching to reason, and over-
coming the usual habits of the species."

122 RETURN OF SUMMER BIRDS.

LETTER XXXV.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, May 21, 1770.
DEAR 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 pro-
bably hither with a south-east wind, or when it blows
between those points ; but, in that unfavourable year,
the winds blew 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 llth 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 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 a 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.

* This work he calls his " Annus Primus Historico-Naturalis,"
— " First Annual of Natural History," is probably the most in-
telligible translation of the title.

REED-SPARROW — PLUMAGE.

When you talked of keeping a reed- sparrow, and
giving it seeds, I could not help wondering ; because
the reed- sparrow, which I mentioned to you (passer
arundinaceus minor, Raii), 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 whe-
ther 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. 16*.

I have somewhat to advance on the different man-
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 farther about it at
present f.

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 spring." As
colours seem to be the chief external sexual distinc-
tion 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 discrimi-
nate the male from the female. We may instance
still farther in our own species, where a beard and

* See Letter XXVI. To Thomas Pennant, Esq.
f See Letter LXXIV. To the Hon. Daines Barrington,
12

MOOSE-DEER.

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 : —

" Quern si puellarum insereres choro,
Mire sagaces falleret hospites
Discrimen obscurum, solutis

Crinibus, ambiguoque vultu." — HOR.

If he were by girls surrounded,
Strangers soon would be confounded :
Manhood's form could no one trace
In his beardless female face.

LETTER XXXVI.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, Aug. 1, 1770.
DEAR SIR,

THE French, I think, in general, are strangely
prolix in their natural history. What Linnaeus says
with respect to insects, holds good in every other
branch : " Verbositas prasentis s&culi, calamitas
artis"

Pray how do you approve of Scopoli's new work ?
As I admire his Entomologia, I long to see it.

I forgot to mention in my last letter (and had not
room to insert in the former,) that the male moose,
in rutting time, swims from island to island, in the
lakes and rivers of North America, in pursuit of the
females. My friend, the chaplain, saw one killed in
the water, as it was on that errand, in the river St.
Lawrence : it was a monstrous beast, he told me ;
but he did not take the dimensions.

SPECIMENS OF BIRDS. 125

When I was last in town, our friend Mr. Barring-
ton most obligingly carried me to see many curious
sights. As you were then writing to him about
horns, he carried me to see many strange and won-
derful specimens. There is, I remember, at Lord
Pembroke's, at Wilton, a horn-room furnished with
more than thirty different pairs ; but I have not seen
that house lately.

Mr. Barrington showed me many astonishing col-
lections of stuffed and living birds from all quarters
of the world. After 1 had studied over the latter for
a time, I remarked that every species almost, that
came from distant regions, such as South America,
the coast of Guinea, &c., were thick-billed birds, of
the loxia and fringilla genera ; and no motacilla or
muscicapidte* , were to be met with. When I came
to consider, the reason was obvious enough ; for the
hard-billed birds subsist on seeds which are easily
carried on board, while the soft-billed birds, which
are supported by worms and insects, or, what is a
succedaneum for them, fresh raw meat, can meet
with neither in long and tedious voyages. It is
from this defect of food that our collections (cu-
rious as they are,) are defective, and we are deprived
of some of the most delicate and lively genera.

* This collection must have been very limited, and, of course,
the conclusions erroneously drawn from a few species. The mus-
cicapidce and sylviada abound in all South America. — W. J.

126 RINGOUSELS.

LETTER XXXVII.

TO THE SAME.

Jjj

SELBORNE, Sept. 14, 1770.
DEAR SIR,

You saw, I find, the ringousels again among
their native crags ; and are farther assured that they
continue resident in those cold regions the whole
year. From whence then do our ringousels migrate
so regularly every September, and make their appear-
ance again, as if in their return, every April ? They
are more early this year than common, for some
were seen at the usual hill on the fourth of this
month.

An observing Devonshire gentleman tells me, that
they frequent some parts of Dartmoor, and breed
there, but leave those haunts about the end of Sep-
tember, or beginning of October, and return again
about the end of March.

Another intelligent person assures me, that they
breed in great abundance all over the Peak of Derby,
and are called there torousels, withdraw in October
and ^Nov ember, and return in spring. This informa-
tion seems to throw some light on my new migration.

Scopoli's new work* (which I have just procured,)
has its merits, in ascertaining many of the birds of
the Tyrol and Carniola. Monographers, come from
whence they may, have, I think, fair pretence to
challenge some regard and approbation from the
lovers of natural history; for, as no man can alone
investigate all the works of nature, these partial
writers may, each in his department, be more accu-

* Annus Primus Historico-Naturalis.

SCOPOLl's ANNUS PRIMUS. 127

rate in their discoveries, and freer from errors, than
more general writers, and so by degrees may pave
the way to an universal correct natural history. Not
that Scopoli is so circumstantial and attentive to the
life and conversation of his birds as I could wish : he
advances some false facts ; as when he says of the
hirundo urbica, that, " pullos extra nidum non nutrit"
This assertion I know to be wrong, from repeated
observation this summer ; for house -mart ins do feed
their young flying, though, it must be acknowledged,
not so commonly as the house-swallow ; and the feat
is done in so quick a manner as not to be perceptible
to indifferent observers. He also advances some (I
was going to say,) improbable facts ; as when he
says of the woodcock that "pullos rostro portat fu-
giens ab hoste" — flying from the enemy it carries its
young in its beak. But candour forbids me to say
absolutely that any fact is false because I have never
been witness to such a fact. I have only to re-
mark, that the long unwieldy bill of the woodcock is,
perhaps, the worst adapted of any among the winged
creation for such a feat of natural affection.

LETTER XXXVII.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

RINGMER, near LEWES, October 8, 1770.

..

DEAR SIR,

I AM glad to hear that Kuekalm is to furnish
you with the birds of Jamaica. A sight of the hirun-
dines of that hot and distant island would be a great
entertainment to me.

The Anni of Scopoli are now in my possession;
and I have read the Annus Primus with satisfaction ;

128 SCOPOLl's WORKS.

for, though some parts of this work are exceptionable,
and he may advance some mistaken observations, yet
the ornithology of so distant a country as Carniola is
very curious. Men that undertake only one district,
are much more likely to advance natural knowledge,
than those that grasp at more 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 Ornithology, may be the extreme poverty and
distance of his country, into which the works of our
great naturalists 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 my-
self, 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 Linneean 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 observation of those birds, I never could
discover the least degree of rivalry or hostility be-
tween the species.

Ray remarks, that birds of the galling order, as
cocks and hens, partridges and pheasants, &c., are
pulveratrices, such as dust themselves, using that me-
thod of cleansing their feathers, and ridding them-
selves 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 ?

CUCKOOS. 129

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 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 exteridisse,"-

Though by poverty depress'd,
Spreading its wings beyond the nest;

and was very fierce and pugnacious, pursuing my
finger, as I teased it, for many feet from the nest,
and sparring and buffeting with its wings like a
game-cock. The dupe of a dam appeared at a dis-
tance, 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 libellulcR, 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 Linnaeus 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, con-
siderable flocks of cross-beaks (loxice curvirostr&J
have appeared this summer in the pine groves be-

130 CROSSBEAKS.

longing to this house* ; the water-ousel is said to
haunt the mouth of the Lewes river, near Newhaven ;

* The species of cross-bills are only three in number. One,
loxla curvirostra, pays frequent visits, in flocks of from ten to
eighty or a hundred in number, during the winter. The loxia
pittyopsittacus has only been once recorded as a native of this
country, from a specimen killed in Ross-shire, and now in my
possession ; it can, therefore, only be ranked as an occasional
visitant : it is a native of Germany and North America. The
third species, loxia falcirostra, also a native of North America,
has once been shot within two miles of Belfast, Ireland, — the
only authenticated instance of its visiting our coasts. In a late
number of the Zoological Journal, Mr. Yarrel (whom we have
already had occasion to mention as a most persevering naturalist),
has supplied some very interesting facts regarding the formation
and direction of the beak of the common cross-bill, and which,
we think, are here worthy of notice : — " The beak of the cross-
bill is altogether unique in its form ; the mandibles do not lie
upon each other, with their lateral edges in opposition, as in other
birds, but curve to the right and left, and always in opposite di-
rections to each other. In some specimens, the upper mandibles
curve downwards and to the left ; the under portion turned up-
wards, and to the right. When holding the head of this bird in
my ringers, I found I could bring the under mandible in a line
underneath, and touching the point of the upper, but not beyond
it, towards the left side ; while, on its own side, the point passed
with ease to the distance of3-8ths of an inch. The upper man-
dible has a limited degree of motion on the cranium, the superior
maxillary and nasal bones being united to the frontal by flexible
bony laminae.

" The form as well as the magnitude of the processes of some
of the bones of the head are also peculiar to this bird. The pte-
rygoid processes of the palatine bones are considerably elongated
downwards, to afford space for the insertion of the large ptery-
goid muscles. The os omoideum on each side is strongly articu-
lated to the os quadratum, affording firm support to the upper
mandible. The jugal bone is united to the superior maxillary
bone in front — is firmly attached by its posterior extremity to
the outer side of the os quadratum : when, therefore, the os
quadratum is pulled upwards and forwards by its own peculiar
muscles, the jugal bone on each side, by its pressure forwards,
elevates the upper mandible.

" The inferior projecting process of the os quadratum, to

CROSSBILL.

CK oss m:\Ks.

and the ( 'nrnish ehnu^h huilds, I know, all
chalky dills of tin- Sussex shore.

\\liicli (lie louer jaw is :i ft iculaled, in inn I oilier I. ml i IODM
\\li;il linear iVnni hefore hackuaids, :iinl rum pi essed ;il I lie sides,
admilliu;; vertical motion only upwards and ilm\ mv.mls ; the
same process in llie no, hill is spherical. The cavily in ihe
lower jau , destined lo icceive this process, is a hollow circnlai
cup. The union of these I \\ o portions, therefore, forms an arti-
culation possessing the universal motion and Ilex ihilil y of I lie
mechanical hall and socket joint. The louer jaw is of #rt'{lt
strength, the sides or plates elevated, u it h pioininent coronoid
processes, to \vhich, as \vell as lo the whole outi r sides of ihe
(he temporal muscle ]• a 1 1 ached ; and ina head of (his
hird, whii h had been divesled of all Ihe sofl part", I found, oil
Sliding the lower laterally upon the upper, as performed hy ihe
hird, that, hefore the coronnid process is brought into conlacl
with the pleryi^oid, on its own side, the extreme points of the
mandildes \v ei e separated laterally to the extent I have already
mentioned of .'» .'Illi of an inch. The temporal and pyramidal
mil ,i li , on III'- rij-lil side of the Ins-id (that heiii;^ the ide lo
which the lm\er jaw inclined,) were considerahly larger lhan
those of the left, and indicated hy their hulk the
power this hird is capahle of exeriin", lo he hereafter noticed.
The unusually lar^e ,si/e of the plei y.-MJid muscles, on each ide,
ry con .picuous, the space for them heiii" ohlained hy ihe
distance! to which the articulated extremities of the lower
jaw were removed ; and the food of the hird hein.»
rendered a narrow pliarvnx : iillicient for I he purpose of SWallov. -
ititf. The muscles depressim/; the htwer mandihle are I hree in
ninnl "r, only one of which, the greater pyramidal, is vi
This sti on" inn ch- covers two olhei small one-, the triangular
and .(jiiaie mn-.cles, so called from their particular shape. TheHC
three mil ele-,.ill of which have their origin in the occipital por-
tion of Ihe cranium, are inserted hy strong tendons on the under
and had. of each extremity of the lower jaw, hehind the ci ntre
of motion, and, consequently, hy their simultaneous contraction,
iai t lh< point lo which they are allached, -md depress I he ante
rior part (d'the mandihle. The lower OKI lions of the os a -pia
di'ala are pushed somewhat, forwards hy thi, coii,j

hy two : mall muscle.; one of these, a small Mat muscle,
fiom the -eptiim of the oihils, hehind the s-mall aperlii,'<-
'd in the seplum, and pa8B6S dow n v> a t d s to he i:,
upon the proj'-ctin- slyloid pi o« • of I he os <piadral um. 'J'he
K 2

132 CROSSBEAKS.

I was greatly pleased to see little parties of ring-
ousels (my newly- discovered migrators,) scattered,

second is a small pyramidal-shaped muscle, arising also from the
septum, anterior to the other muscle, and, passing downwards
and backwards, is inserted upon the omoideum, both by their
contraction pulling the os quadratum forwards, and thus ele-
vating the other mandible, The depressors of the lower jaw,
and the elevators of the upper, therefore, act together to sepa-
rate the mandibles. To close the mandibles, the temporal and
pterygoid muscles elevate the lower jaw, assisted by slender,
slips, which, extending forwards to the superior maxillary bones,
act in concert, by bringing them down. When the lateral mo-
tion is required, the great pyramidal muscle on the right side,
pulls the extremity of the lower jaw, to which it is attached,
backwards, the pterygoid muscles on the left side at the same
time powerfully assisting, by carrying that side of the lower jaw
inwards."

Mr. Yarrel next goes on to explain the uses of the tongue.
Their food is the seeds of the different fir cones ; and their
mode of operation, when proceeding to extract them, is this :
They first fix themselves across the cone ; then, bringing the
points of the maxilla from their crossed or lateral position to lie
immediately over each other, in this reduced compass they insi-
nuate their beaks between the scales, and then opening them,
not in the usual manner, but by drawing the inferior maxilla
sideways, force open the scales. Mr. Yarrel then proceeds : —
" At this stage of the proceeding, the aid of the tongue becomes
necessary, and this organ is no less admirably adapted for the
service required. The os hyoides, or bone of the tongue, has
articulated to its anterior extremity an additional portion, formed
partly of bone, with a horny covering. In shape it is narrow,
about three-eighths of an inch in length, and extends down-
wards and forwards, the sides curved upwards, the distal ex-
tremity shaped like a scoop, somewhat pointed and thin on both
edges, the proximal extremity ending in two small processes,
elongated upwards and backwards above the articulation with
the bone of the tongue, each process having inserted upon it a
slender muscle extending backwards to the glottis, and attached
to the os hyoides, which muscles, by their contraction, extend
and raise the scoop-like point ; underneath the articulation of
this horny and grooved appendage is another small muscle,
which is attached at one extremity to the os hyoides, at the
other to the moveable piece, and, by its action, as an antagonist

RINGOUSELS. 133

at intervals, all along the Sussex downs from Chi-
chester to Lewes. Let them come from whence they
will, it looks very suspicious that they are cantoned
along the coast, in order to pass the Channel, when
severe weather advances. They visit us again in
April, as it should seem, in their return, and are not
to he found in the dead of winter. It is remarkable
that they are very tame, and seem to have no manner
of apprehensions of danger from a person with a gun.
There are bustards on the wide downs near Bright-
helmstone. No doubt you are acquainted with the
Sussex downs. The prospects and rides round Lewes
are most lovely.

As I rode along near the coast I kept a very sharp
look-out in the lanes and woods, hoping I might, at
this time of the year, have discovered some of the
summer short- winged birds of passage crowding to-
wards the coast, in order for their departure ; but
it was very extraordinary that I never saw a red-
start, white-throat, black-cap, uncrested wren, fly-
catcher, &c. ; and I remember to have made the
same remark in former years, as I usually come to
this place annually about this time. The birds most
common along the coast, at present, are the stone-
chatters, whinchats, buntings, linnets, some few
wheatears, titlarks, &c. Swallows and house-martins

to the upper muscles, bends the point downwards and backwards ;
while, therefore, the point of the beak presses tne shell from the
body of the cone, the tongue, brought forward by, its own muscle,
(genio-hyoideus,) is enabled, by the additional muscles described,
to direct and insert its cutting scoop underneath the seed, and
the food thus dislodged is transferred to the mouth ; and, when
the mandibles are separated laterally in this operation, the bird
has an uninterrupted view of the seed in the cavity, with the eye
on that side to which the under mandible is curved."

For farther information, consult Zoological Journal, vol. iv.
p. 459.— W. J.

LAND TORTOISE.

abound yet, induced to prolong their stay by this
soft, still, dry season.

A land tortoise, which has been kept for thirty
years in a little walled court belonging to the house
where I am now visiting, retires under ground about
the middle of November, and comes forth again
about the middle of April. When it first appears
in the spring, it discovers very little inclination to-
wards food, but, in the height of summer, grows
voracious, and then, as the summer declines, its
appetite declines ; so that, for the last six weeks in
autumn, it hardly eats at all. Milky plants, such as
lettuces, dandelions, sow-thistles, are its favourite
dish. In a neighbouring village, one was kept till,
by tradition, it was supposed to be an hundred years
old, — an instance of vast longevity in such a poor
reptile !

LETTER XXXIX.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, Oct. 29, 1770.
DEAR SIR,

AFTER an ineffectual search in Linnseus, Brisson,
&c., I begin to suspect that I discern my brother's
hirundo hyberna in Scopoli's new-discovered hirundo
rupestris, p. 167. His description of " Supra mu-
rina, subtus albida; tectrices macula ovali alba in la-
tere interno ; pedes nudi, nigri ; rostrum nigrum ; re-
miges obscuriores quam plumee dorsales ; rectrices remi-
gibus concolores ; caudd emarginatd nee forcipatd"
agrees very well with the bird in question ; but when
he comes to advance that it is " statura hirundinis
urbicte," and that " definitio hirundinis ripariae Linncei

SCOPOLl's ANNUS PRIMUS. 135

huic quoque convenit" he, in some measure, invali-
dates all he has said ; at least, he shows at once that
he compares them to these species merely from me-
mory ; for I have compared the birds themselves, and
find they differ widely in every circumstance of shape,
size, and colour. However, as you will have a spe-
cimen, I shall be glad to hear what your judgment is
in the matter.

Whether my brother is forestalled in his nonde-
script or not, he will have the credit of first disco-
vering that they spend their winters under the warm
and sheltery shores of Gibraltar and Barbary.

Scopoli's characters of his ordines and genera are
clear, just, and expressive, and much in the spirit of
Linnseus. These few remarks are the result of my
first perusal of Scopoli's Annus Primus.

The bane of our science is the comparing one ani-
mal to the other by memory. For want of caution
in this particular, Scopoli falls into errors. He is
not so full with regard to the manners of his indi-
genous birds as might be wished, as you justly ob-
serve : his Latin is easy, elegant, and expressive,
and very superior to Kramer's*.

LETTER XL.
TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Nov. 26, 1770.
DEAR SIR,

I WAS much pleased to see, among the collec-
tion of birds from Gibraltar, some of those short-

* See his Elenclms vegetabilium et animalium per Austriam
inferiorem, fyc., — " Summary of Vegetables and Animals in
Lower Austria."

136 SUMMER BIRDS OF PASSAGE.

winged English summer birds of passage, concern-
ing whose departure we have made so much inquiry.
Now, if these birds are found, in Andalusia, to mi-
grate to and from Barbary, it may 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 breed--
ing 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, 1 think,
to find that our small 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 hirundo
melba, (the great Gibraltar swift,) in Tyrol, without
knowing it. For what is his hirundo alpina, but the
aforementioned bird in other words ? Says he,
" Omnia prioris, (meaning the swift,) sed pectus album;
paulo major prior e" " All the marks of the former
but the wliite breast ; a little larger than the former."
I do not suppose this to be a new species. It is true,
also, of the melba, that " nidificat in excelsis Alpium
rupibus" — It builds its nest in the lofty cliffs of the
Alps. Vid. Annum Primum.

My Sussex friend, a man of observation and good
sense, but no naturalist, to whom I applied on ac-
count of the stone curlew (bedicnemusj , sends me the
following account : — " In looking over my Natural-
ist's Journal for the month of April, I find the stone
curlews are first mentioned on the 17th and 18th,

THE STONE CURLEW. 137

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-
walks 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 them-
selves. 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 some-
thing very analogous to the bustard, whom it also
somewhat resembles in aspect and make, and, in the
structure of its feet.

For a long time 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 3rd of September.

When the oedicnemus flies, it stretches out its legs
straight behind, like a heron.

138 CHAFFINCHES.

LETTER XLL

TO THE HON. DAINES HARRINGTON .

SELBORNE, Dec. 20, 1770.
DEAR SIR,

THE birds that I took for aberdavines were reed-
sparrows (passer es torquati.)

There are, doubtless, many home internal migra-
tions within this kingdom that want to be better un-
derstood ; witness those vast flocks of hen chaffinches
that appear with us in the winter without hardly any
cocks among them. Now, were there a due propor-
tion of each sex, it would seem very improbable that
any one district should produce such numbers of these
little birds, and much more when only one half of the
species appears ; therefore, we may conclude, that
the fringlll(E ccelebes, for some good purposes, have a
peculiar migration of their own, in which the sexes
part. Nor should it seem so wonderful that the in-
tercourse of sexes in this species of birds should be
interrupted in winter ; since, in many animals, and
particularly in bucks and does, the sexes herd sepa-
rately, except at the season when commerce is neces-
sary for the continuance of the breed. For this mat-
ter of the chaffinches, see Fauna Suecica, p. 85, and
Sy sterna Nature? , p. 318. I see every winter vast
nights of hen chaffinches, but none of cocks.

Your method of accounting for the periodical mo-
tions of the British singing birds, or birds of flight,
is a very probable one, since the matter of food is a
great regulator of the actions and proceedings of the
brute creation : there is but one that can be set in
competition with it, and that is love. But I cannot

WOODCOCKS FIELDFARES. 139

quite acquiesce with you in one circumstance, when
you advance, that, " When they have thus feasted,
they again separate into small parties of five or six,
and get the best fare they can within a certain dis-
trict, having no inducement to go in quest of fresh-
turned earth." Now, if you mean that the business
of congregating is quite at an end from the conclu-
sion of wheat- so wing, to the season of barley and
oats, it is not the case with us ; for larks and chaf-
finches, and particularly linnets, flock and congregate
as much in the very dead of winter as when the hus-
bandman is busy with his ploughs and harrows.

Sure there can be no doubt but that woodcocks
and fieldfares leave us in the spring, in order to cross
the seas, and to retire to some districts more suitable
to the purpose of breeding. That the former pair
before they retire, and that the hens are forward
with egg, I myself, when I was a sportsman, have
often experienced. It cannot indeed be denied but
that now and then we hear of a woodcock's nest, or
young birds, discovered in some part or other of
this island ; but then they are always mentioned as
rarities, and somewhat out of the common course of
things ; but as to redwings and fieldfares, no sports-
man or naturalist has ever yet, that I could hear,
pretended to have found the nest or young of those
species in any part of these kingdoms. And I the
more admire at this instance as extraordinary, since,
to all appearance, the same food, in summer as well
as in winter, might support them here which main-
tains their congeners, the blackbirds and thrushes,
did they choose to stay the summer through. From
hence it appears, that it is not food alone which de-
termines some species of birds with regard to their
stay or departure. Fieldfares and redwings disap-
pear sooner or later, according as the warm weather
comes on earlier or later ; for I well remember, after

140 MIGRATION.

that dreadful winter, 1739-40, that cold north-east
winds continued to blow on through April and May,
and that these kinds of hirds, (what few remained of
them) did not depart as usual, but were seen linger-
ing about till the beginning of June.

The best authority that we can have for the nidifi-
cation of the birds above mentioned, in any district,
is the testimony of faunists that have written pro-
fessedly the natural history of particular countries.
Now, as to the fieldfare, Linnaeus, in his Fauna
Suecica, says of it, that " maximis in arboribus nidi-
ficat " " it builds in the largest trees." And of the
redwing, he says in the same place, that " nidificat
in mediis arbusculis, sive sepibus : ova sex ceeruleo-
viridia maculis nigris variis." " It builds in the midst
of shrubs or hedges ; it produces six eggs, of a sea-
green colour, with varied black spots." Hence we
may be assured that fieldfares and redwings breed in
Sweden. Scopoli says, in his Annus Primus of the
woodcock, that " nupta ad nos venit circa cequinoctium
vernale :" " when mated, it comes to us about the
vernal equinox ;" meaning in Tyrol, of which he is a
native. And afterwards he adds, " nidificat in palu-
dibus alpinis : ova ponit 3 — 5." " It builds its nest in
the alpine marshes, and lays from three to five eggs."
It does not appear from Kramer that woodcocks
breed at all in Austria; but he says, " Avis h&c sep-
tentrionalium provinciarum cestivo tempore incola est ;
ubi plerumque nidificat. Appropinquante hyeme austra-
liores provincias petit: Jiinc circa plenilunium potissi-
mum mensis Octobris plerumque Austriam transmigrat .
Tune rursus circa plenilunium potissimum mensis Martii
per Austriam matrimonio juncta ad sept entrionales pro-
vincias redit." " This bird, in summer, inhabits the
northern provinces, where it generally nests. On
the approach of winter it seeks more southern pro-
vinces; it usually leaves this at the October full-

MIGRATION. 141

moon, generally in the direction of Austria. Then
it returns back, after mating, generally about the
March full-moon." For the whole passage, (which
I have abridged) see Elenchus, &c. p. 351. This
seems to be a full proof of the emigration of wood-
cocks ; though little is proved concerning the place
of their breeding.*

P.S. — There fell in the county of Rutland, in
three weeks of this present very wet weather, seven
inches and a half of rain, which is more than has
fallen in any three weeks for these thirty years past,
in that part of the world. A mean quantity in that
county for one year is twenty inches and a half.

LETTER XLII.

TO THE SAME.

FYFIELD, near ANDOVER, Feb. 12, 1771-
DEAR 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 uncomfortable months, till the return of the
sun and fine weather awakens them.

But then we must not, I think, deny migration in
general; because migration certainly does subsist in
some places, as my brother in Andalusia has fully
informed me. Of the motions of these birds he has

* Woodcocks arrive in Silesia about the latter end of April,
or beginning of May, and leave it again in October. — W. J.

MIGRATION.

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 pen-
dolos, 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 years ago, gives a curious account of the
incredible armies of hawks and kites which he saw
in the spring time traversing the Thracian Bospho-
rus, from Asia to Europe. Besides the above men-
tioned, 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 can-
not 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 winters of Andalusia.

It does not appear to me that much stress may
be laid on the difficulty and hazard that birds 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 launch-
ing 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 obvious remark, because my brother has always
found that some of his birds, and particularly the
swallow kind, are very sparing of their pains in

MIGRATION. 143

crossing the Mediterranean; for, when arrived at
Gibraltar, they do not,

" Ranged in figure, wedge their way,

- and set forth

Their airy caravan, high over seas

Flying, and over lands with mutual wing

Easing their flight ;" 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 narrow-
est 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 inci-
dent, which, though mentioned to have happened so
many years ago, was strictly matter of fact: — As
some people were shooting in the parish of Trotten,
in the county of Sussex, they killed a duck in that
dreadful winter, 1708-9, with a silver collar about
its neck,* on which were engraven the arms of the
King of Denmark. This anecdote the rector of
Trotten 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 any body near the sea-
side 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

* I have read a like anecdote of a swan.

144 MIGRATION.

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 spa-
niels, nay, just at the muzzle of a gun that had been
fired at them : whether this strange laziness was the
effect of a recent fatiguing journey, I shall not pre-
sume to say.

Nightingales not only never reach Northumber-
land and Scotland, but also, as I have been always
told, Devonshire and Cornwall. In those two last
counties, we cannot attribute the failure of them to
the 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
ringousel 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. f Was not Tenant, when a boy, mistaken?

* Letter XXXVIII. to the Hon. Daines Barrington.

f The Royston crow breeds, and is stationary, on all the west
coast of Scotland ; and it is probable that most of those which
visit England during winter, arrive from Sweden and Norway,

LATE VERDURE OF TREES. 145

Did he not find a missel-thrush's nest, and take it
for the nest of a fieldfare ?

The stock-dove or wood-pigeon, (mas Raii, is the
last winter bird of passage which appears with us,
and is not seen till towards the end of November.
About twenty years ago, they abounded in the dis-
trict 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 thin-
ned, they have much decreased in number. The
ring-dove, palumbus Raii, 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.

My musical friend, at whose house I am now
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.

or the countries adjacent, — few, if any, of the Scotch individuals
leaving their regular abodes. — W. J.

146 HARVEST BUG TURNIP FLY.

LETTER XLIII.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, March 30, 1771-
DEAR SIR,

THERE is an insect with us, especially on chalky
districts, which is very troublesome arid 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 bag) 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. Warreners, as some have assured me, 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 Linneeus. It is to be seen in the

* Most probably acarus autumnalis. It buries itself at the
roots of the hairs on the extremities, producing intolerable itch-
ing, attended by inflammation and considerable tumours, and
sometimes even occasioning fevers. — W. J.
12

NOXIOUS INSECTS. 147

summer in farm kitchens, on the bacon-racks, and
about the mantel-pieces, 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* ," — (The cabbage chry-
somela, moving by a leap, with very thick hind-legs.)
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 Linnseus,

* This is most probably the haltica nemorum, called by the
farmers the Fly and Black Jack, so well described by Messrs.
Kirby and Spence, in their admirable chapters on indirect
injuries. It attacks and devours the first cotyledon leaves, as
soon as they are unfolded ; so that, on account of their ravages,
the land is often obliged to be resown, and with no better
success. By these entomologists it is stated, on the authority
of an eminent agriculturist, that, from this cause alone, the
loss sustained in the turnip crops in Devonshire, in 1786, was
not less than =£100,000. Great damage is also sometimes done
by the little curculio contractus, which, in the same manner,
pierces a hole in the cuticle. When the plant is more advanced,
and out of danger from these pigmy foes, the black larva of a saw-
fly takes their place, and occasionally does no little mischief,
whole districts being sometimes stripped by them, and, in
1783, many thousand acres were, on this account, ploughed up.
The caterpillar of papilio brassica is sometimes found in great
numbers, and the wire- worm also does occasionally great da-
mage, both to turnips and other vegetable and flower roots. Mr.
Kirby mentions a field in which one- fourth was destroyed, and
which the owner calculated at £100. One year, the same per-
son sowed a field three times with turnips, which were twice
wholly, and the third time a great part, cut off by this insect.
— W. J.

L 2

148 NOXIOUS INSECTS.

is also passed over by late writers; and that is the
curvicauda of old Mouffet, mentioned by Derham in
his Physico -Theology, p. 250 : an insect worthy of
remark, for depositing its eggs, as it flies, in so dex-
terous 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 production to be derived
from the egg of the musca chameleon. See Geoffrey,
t. 17, 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 al-
lowed by the public to be a most useful and important
work. What knowledge there is of this sort lies
scattered, and wants to be collected : great improve-
ments 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 method of pre-
venting 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 accord-
ing 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.

PEACOCKS. 149

LETTER XLIV.
TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, 1770.
DEAR 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 these
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 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 agogropila, taken out of the stomach of a
fat ox. It is perfectly round, and about the size
of a large Seville orange : such are, I think, usually
flat.

150 NOTES OF OWLS AND CUCKOOS,

LETTER XLV.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, Aug. I, 1771.
DEAR 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. Query:
Do these different notes proceed from different spe-
cies, or only from various individuals ? The same
person finds, upon trial, that the note of the cuckoo
(of which we have but one species,) varies in different
individuals ; for, about Selborne wood, he found they
were mostly in D ; he heard two sing together, the
one in D, and the other in D sharp, which made a
disagreeable concert ; he afterwards heard one in 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.

MIGRATION. 151

As I have often remarked that redwings are some
of the first birds that suffer with us in severe weather,
it is no wonder at all that they retreat from Scandi-
navian winters ; and much more the ordo of grallce,
who all, to a bird, forsake the northern parts of Eu-
rope at the approach of winter. " Grallce tanquam
conjurattf unanimiter in fugam se conjidunt ; ne earum
unicam quidem inter nos habitantem invenire possimus ;
ut enim estate in australibus degere nequeunt ob defec-
tum lumbricorum, terramque siccam ; it a nee infrigidis
ob eandem causam," " (The grallse, as if by agreement,
take flight, nor can we find one residing here ; for
as, during summer, the deficiency of earth-worms
and the hardness of the ground prevents them from
abiding in hot countries ;. so neither can they dwell
in cold climes, for the same reason)/* says Ekmarck,
the Swede, in his ingenious little treatise called Mi-
grationes Avium, which, by all means, you ought to
read, while your thoughts run on the subject of mi-
gration.— See Amcenitates Academics, vol. iv. p. 565.

Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged
to migrate in one country, and not in another; but
the grallce, (which procure their food from marshes
and boggy ground,) must, in winter, forsake the
more northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want
of food.

I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnaeus
concerning the 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 descriptions, and a few synonymes : 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

152 WOODCOCKS — BATS.

but by the active and inquisitive, and by those that
reside much in the country.

Foreign systematists are, I observe, much too
vague in their specific differences; 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 in-
formation.

At this distance of years, it is not in my power
to recollect at what periods woodcocks used to be
sluggish or alert, 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.

LETTER XLVI.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

September, 1771-
DEAR 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

BATS. 153

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, occa-
sions some suspicions in my mind whether it is
really a species, or whether it may not be the male
part of the more known species, one of which may
supply many females, as is known to be the case in
sheep, and some other quadrupeds. But this doubt
can only be cleared by a farther examination, and
some attention to the sex, of more specimens. All
that I know at present is, that my two were amply
furnished with the parts of generation, much resem-
bling those of a boar.

In the extent of their wings, they measured
fourteen inches and a half, 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 ob-
servation of the curious anatomist. These creatures
send forth a very rancid and offensive smell.

154 FERN OWL.

LETTER XLVII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, 1771-
DEAR 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 scarabcei solstitiales , or fern-chafers*.
The powers of its wing were wonderful, exceeding,
if possible, the various evolutions and quick turns
of the swallow genus. But the circumstance that
pleased me most was, that I saw it distinctly more
than once put out its short leg when 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.

Swallows and martins, the bulk of them, I mean,
have forsaken us sooner this year than usual ; for,

* Several species of phalana live upon the oak; but one, the
phaltena viridana of Donovan's British Insects, and which also
appears to have been known to Mr. White, does considerable
damage among the young oak copses in Scotland, while in the
larva state. In the summer of 1828, and again in that of 1829,
I met with this species in immense profusion about Inverary,
and near Loch Katrine, where many hundred acres of oak copse
appeared as in early spring, with the leaves much destroyed by
this insect. This must undoubtedly check the growth, and, of
course, when so extensively dispersed, be of some consequence
to the proprietor. Though White describes it as phal&na quercus,
it is undoubtedly this species which he means. — W. J.

MIGRATION. 155

on September the 22nd, they rendezvoused in a
neighbour's walnut tree, where it seemed probable
they had taken up their lodgings for the night. At
the dawn of the day, which was foggy, they rose
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 considerable dis-
tance ; since that, no flock has appeared, only a few
stragglers.

Some swifts staid late, till the 22nd of August ; a
rare instance ! for they usually withdraw within the
first week*.

On September the 24th, three or four ringousels
appeared in my fields for the first time this season.
How punctual are these visitors in their autumnal
and spring migrations !

LETTER XL VIII.

[\

TO THE HON. DAINES HARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, February 8, 1772.
DEAR SIR,

WHEN I ride about in winter, and see such pro-
digious flocks of various kinds of birds, I cannot help
admiring at these congregations, and wishing that it
was in my power to account for those appearances,
almost peculiar to the season. The two great motives
which regulate the proceedings of the brute creation
are love and hunger ; the former incites animals to
perpetuate their kind, the latter induces them to pre-
serve individuals. Whether either of these should
seem to be the ruling passion in the matter of con-

* See Letter XCVII. to the Hon. Daines Barrington.

156 CONGREGATING OF BIRDS.

gregating, is to be considered. As to love, that is
out of the question at a time of the year when that
soft passion is not indulged; besides, during the
amorous season, such a jealousy prevails between the
male birds, that they can hardly bear to be together
in the same hedge or field. Most of the singing
and elation of spirits of that time seem to me to be
the effect of rivalry and emulation ; and it is to this
spirit of jealousy that I chiefly attribute the equal
dispersion of birds in the spring over the face of the
country.

Now as to the business of food. As these animals
are actuated by instinct to hunt for necessary food,
they should not, one would suppose, crowd together
in pursuit of sustenance, at a time when it is most
likely to fail ; yet such associations do take place in
hard weather chiefly, and thicken as the severity
increases. As some kind of self-interest and self-
defence is, no doubt, the motive for the proceeding,
may it not arise from the helplessness of their state
in such rigorous seasons ; as men crowd together,
when under great calamities, though they know not
why ? Perhaps approximation may dispel some de-
gree of cold : and a crowd may make each indivi-
dual appear safer from the ravages of birds of prey,
and other dangers.

If I admire when I see how much congenerous
birds love to congregate, I am the more struck when
I see incongruous ones in such strict amity. If we
do not much wonder to see a flock of rooks usually
attended by a train of daws, yet it is strange that
the former should so frequently have a flight of
starlings for their satellites. Is it because rooks
have a more discerning scent than their attendants,
and can lead them to spots more productive of food ?
Anatomists say that rooks, by reason of two large
nerves which run down between the eyes into the

SWALLOWS. 157

upper mandible, have a more delicate feeling in
their beaks than other round-billed birds, and can
grope for their meat when out of sight. Perhaps,
then, their associates attend them on the motive
of interest, as greyhounds wait on the motions of
their finders, and as lions are said to do on the yelp-
ings of jackals. Lapwings and starlings sometimes
associate.

LETTER XLIX.

y) '

I

TO THE SAME.

March 9, 1772.
DEAR SIR,

As a gentleman and myself were walking, on
the 4th of last November, round the sea-banks at
Newhaven, near the mouth of the Lewes river, in
pursuit of natural knowledge, we were surprised to
see three house swallows gliding very swiftly by
us. That morning was rather chilly, with the wind
at north-west; but the tenor of the weather, for
some time before, had been delicate, and the noons
remarkably warm. From this incident, and from re-
peated accounts which I meet with, I am more and
more induced to believe that many of the swallow
kind do not depart from this island, but lay them-
selves up in holes and caverns, and do, insect-like and
bat-like, come forth at mild times, and then retire
again to their latebrte, or lurking-places. Nor make
I the least doubt but that, if I lived at Newhaven,
Seaford, Brighthelmstone, or any of those towns near
the chalk cliffs of the Sussex coast, by proper ob-
servations, I should see swallows stirring at periods
of the winter, when the noons were soft and inviting,

158 TORTOISE.

and the sun warm and invigorating. And I am the
more of this opinion, from what I have remarked
during some of our late springs, and though some
swallows did make their appearance about the usual
time, viz., the 13th or 14th of April, yet, meeting
with an harsh reception, and blustering cold north-
east winds, they immediately withdrew, absconding
for several days till the weather gave them better
encouragement .

LETTER L. . •

TO THE SAME.

April 12, 1772.
DEAR SIR,

WHILE I was in Sussex last autumn, my resi-
dence was at the village near Lewes, from whence
I had formerly the pleasure of writing to you. On
the 1st of November, I remarked that the old tor-
toise, formerly mentioned, began first to dig the
ground, in order to the forming of its hybernaculum,
which it had fixed on just Reside a great turf of he-
paticas. It scrapes out the ground with its forefeet,
and throws it up over its back with its hind ; but the
motion of its legs is ridiculously slow, little exceed-
ing the hour-hand of a clock, and suitable to the
composure of an animal said to be a whole month
in performing one feat of copulation. Nothing can
be more assiduous than this creature, night and day,
in scooping the earth, and forcing its great body
into the cavity; but, as the noons of that season
proved unusually warm and sunny, it was continually
interrupted, and called forth by the heat, in the
middle of the day; and though I continued there

TORTOISE. 159

till the 13th of November, yet the work remained
unfinished. Harsher weather and frosty mornings
would have quickened its operations. No part of
its behaviour ever struck me more than the extreme
timidity it always expresses with regard to rain ; for
though it has a shell that would secure it against the
wheel of a loaded cart, yet does it discover as much
solicitude about rain as a lady dressed in all her
best attire, shuffling away on the first sprinklings,
and running its head up in a corner. If attended
to, it becomes an excellent weather-glass ; for as
sure as it walks elate, and, as it were, on tiptoe,
feeding with great earnestness in a morning, so sure
will it rain before night. It is totally a diurnal
animal, and never pretends to stir after it becomes
dark. The tortoise, like other reptiles, has an arbi-
trary stomach, as well as lungs ; and can refrain
from eating as well as breathing for a great part of
the year. When first awakened, it eats nothing ;
nor again in the autumn, before it retires : through
the height of the summer, it feeds voraciously,
devouring all the food that comes in its way. I was
much taken with its sagacity in discerning those
that do it kind offices ; for, as soon as the good old
lady comes in sight, who has waited on it for more
than thirty years, it hobbles towards its benefactress
with awkward alacrity; but remains inattentive to
strangers. Thus not only " the ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master's crib*," but the most
abject reptile and torpid of beings distinguishes the
hand that feeds it, and is touched with the feelings
of gratitude.

P. S. — In about three days after I left Sussex,
the tortoise retired into the ground under the he-
paticaf.

* Isaiah i. 3.

f Tortoises are often kept in gardens as a curiosity, where

1GO TORTOISE.

LETTER LI.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, March 15, 1773.
DEAR SIR,

BY my journal for last autumn, it appears that
the house-martins bred very late, and staid very
late in these parts ; for, on the 1 st of October, I

they continue perfectly healthy, and arrive at an almost incredi-
ble age. When kept in the stove or green-house, their torpidity
does not take place, although, at the annual period of its occur-
rence, they are generally noticed for a short time to be more rest-
less and irritable. The following are some remarkable instances
of longevity recorded by Mr. Murray, in his Experimental
Researches : — In the Library of Lambeth Palace is the shell of
a land tortoise, brought there about the year 1623 ; it lived un-
til 1730, a period of 107 years. Another was placed in the gar-
den of the episcopal palace of Fulham, by Bishop Laud, in 1625,
and died in 1753 — 128 years : the age at which these were
placed in the gardens was, of course, unknown. Another is
mentioned 220 years, and one in Exeter 'Change 800 : the
latter, however, does not seem well authenticated, though there
can be no doubt of the period of their existence being very ex-
tensive. Mr. Murray has added some very interesting informa-
tion regarding the habits of a tortoise kept at Peterborough : —

" From a document belonging to the archives of the Cathe-
dral, called the Bishop's Barn, it is well ascertained that the tor-
toise at Peterborough must have been about 220 years old.
Bishop Marsh's predecessor in the see of Peterborough had re-
membered it above sixty years, and could recognize no visible
change. He was the seventh bishop who had worn the mitre
during its sojourn there. If I mistake not, its sustenance and
abode were provided for in this document. Its shell was perfo-
rated, in order to attach it to a tree, &c., to limit its ravages
among the strawberry borders.

" The animal had its antipathies and predilections. It would
eat endive, green pease, and even the leek; while it positively
rejected asparagus, parsley, and spinage. In the early part of

TORTOISE. 161

saw young martins in their nests, nearly fledged ;
and again, on the 21st of October, we had, at the
next house, a nest full of young martins, just ready

the season, its favourite pabulum was the flowers of the dande-
lion (leontodon taraxacum), of which it would devour twenty at
a meal ; and lettuce (lactuca sativa) ; of the latter a good sized
one at a time ; but, if placed between lettuce and the flowers of
the dandelion, it would forsake the former for the latter. It
was also partial to the pulp of an orange, which it sucked
greedily.

" About the latter end of June (discerning the times and
the seasons), it looked out for fruit, when its former choice
was forsaken. It ate currants, raspberries, pears, apples, peaches,
nectarines, &c., the riper the better ; but would not taste cher-
ries. Of fruits, however, the strawberry and gooseberry were
the most esteemed : it made great havoc among the strawberry
borders, and would take a pint of gooseberries at intervals. The
gardener told me it knew him well, the hand that generally fed
it, and would watch him attentively at the gooseberry bush,
where it was sure to take its station while he plucked the
fruit.

11 I could not get it to take the root of the dandelion, nor
indeed any root I offered it, as that of the carrot, turnip, &c.
All animal food was discarded, nor would it take any liquid, at
least, neither milk nor water ; and when a leaf was moist, it
would shake it, to expel the adhering wet.

" This animal moved with apparent ease, though pressed by
a weight of 18 stones ; itself weighed 13^1bs. In cloudy wea-
ther, it would scoop out a cavity, generally in a southern ex-
posure, where it reposed, torpid and inactive, until the genial
influence of the sun roused it from its slumber. When in this
state, the eyes were closed, and the head and neck a little con-
tracted, though not drawn within the shell. Its sense of smelling
was so acute, that it was roused from its lethargy if any person
approached even at a distance of twelve feet.

" About the beginning of October, or latter end of September,
it began to immure itself, and had, for that purpose, for many
years selected a particular angle of the garden : it entered in an
inclined plane, excavating the earth in the manner of the mole ;
the depth to which it penetrated varied with the character of
the approaching season, being from one to two feet, according
as the winter was mild or severe. It may be added, that, for
nearly a month prior to this entry into its dormitory, it refused
M

162 MARTINS — RINGOUSELS.

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 3rd; when twenty, or perhaps
thirty, house-martins were playing all day long by
the side of the Hanging-wood, and over my fields.
Did these small weak birds, some of which were
nestlings twelve days ago shift their quarters at
this late season of the year, to the other side of the
northern tropic ? Or rather, is it not more probable,
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
hybernaculum, and afford them a ready and obvious
retreat ?

We now begin to expect our vernal migration of
ringousels every week. Persons worthy of credit
assure me, that ringousels 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 shew for men or guns, that they have
been little accustomed to places of much resort.
Navigators mention, that, in the Isle of Ascension,

all sustenance whatever. The animal emerged about the end of
April, and remained for at least a fortnight before it ventured on
taking any species of food. Its skin was not perceptibly cold :
its respiration, entirely effected through the nostrils, was languid.
I visited the animal, for the last time, on the 9th of June, 1813,
during a thunder storm : it then lay under the shelter of a cauli-
flower, and apparently torpid." — MURRAY'S Experimental Re~
searches. — W. J.

AFFECTIONS OF BIRDS. 163

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, ringousels abounded
so about that town in the autumn, that he killed
sixteen himself in one afternoon : he added farther,
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 alongf the Sussex downs,
wherever there were shrubs and bushes, from Chi-
chester to Lewes ; particularly in the autumn of
1770.

LETTER LII.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, March 26, 1773.

DEAR SIR,

THE more I reflect on the oropy?), or natural
affection of animals, the more I am astonished at its
effects. Nor is the violence of its affection more
wonderful than the shortness of its duration. Thus
every hen is in her turn the virago of the yard, in
proportion to the helplessness of her brood; and
will fly in the face of a dog or a sow in defence of
those chickens, which, in a few weeks, she will drive
before her with relentless cruelty.

This affection sublimes the passions, quickens the
invention, and sharpens the sagacity of the brute
M 2

164 AFFECTIONS OF BIRDS.

creation. Thus an hen, just become a mother, is
no longer that placid bird she used to be ; but, with
feathers standing on end, wings hovering, and cluck-
ing note, she runs about like one possessed. Dams
will throw themselves in the way of the greatest
danger in order to avert it from their progeny. Thus
a partridge will tumble along before a sportsman,
in order to draw away the dogs from her helpless
covey. In the time of nidification, the most feeble
birds will assault the most rapacious. All the hirun-
dines of a village are up in arms at the sight of an
hawk, whom they will persecute till he leaves that
district. A very exact observer has often remarked,
that a pair of ravens, nesting in the rock of Gib-
raltar, would suffer no vulture or eagle to rest near
their station, but would drive them from the hill
with an amazing fury : even the blue thrush, at the
season of breeding, would dart out from the clefts of
the rocks to chase away the kestrel, or the sparrow-
hawk. If you stand near the nest of a bird that has
young, she will not be induced to betray them by an
inadvertent fondness, but will wait about at a dis-
tance, with meat in her mouth, for an hour together.

Should I farther corroborate what I have advanced
above, by some anecdotes which I probably may have
mentioned before in conversatio'n, yet you will, I
trust, pardon the repetition for the sake of the illus-
tration.

The fly-catcher of the Zoology (the stoparola of
Ray) builds every year in the vines that grow on
the walls of my house*. A pair of these little birds
had one year inadvertently placed their nest on a
naked bough, perhaps in a shady time, not being
aware of the inconvenience that followed. But an
hot sunny season coming on before the brood was

* Musdcapa grisola, Linn. — W. J.

AFFECTIONS OF BIRDS. 165

half fledged, the reflection of the wall became in-
supportable, and must inevitably have destroyed the
tender young, had not affection suggested an expe-
dient, and prompted the parent birds to hover over
the nest all the hotter hours, while, with wings ex-
panded, and mouths gaping for breath, they screened
off the heat from their suffering offspring.

A farther instance I once saw of notable sagacity
in a willow- wren, which had built in a bank in my
fields. This bird a friend and myself had observed
as she sat in her nest, but were particularly careful
not to disturb her, though we saw she eyed us with
some degree of jealousy. Some days after, as we
passed that way, we were desirous of remarking how
this brood went on ; but no nest could be found, till
I happened to take up a large bundle of long green
moss, as it were carelessly thrown over the nest, in
order to dodge the eye of any impertinent intruder.

A still more remarkable mixture of sagacity and
instinct occurred to me one day, as my people were
pulling off the lining of a hot-bed, in order to add
some fresh dung. From out of the side of this bed
leaped an animal with great agility, that made a most
grotesque figure ; nor was it without great difficulty
that it could be taken, when it proved to be a large
white-bellied field-mouse, with three or four young
clinging to her teats by their mouths and feet. It
was amazing that the desultory and rapid motions of
this dam should not oblige her litter to quit their
hold, especially when it appeared that they were so
young as to be both naked and blind* !

* I have seen the same thing with our common bat. I once
slept, during a very stormy night, in a house of considerable
age, and not in the best state of repair. One of the windows
in my bed-room had been built up, but so loosely, that bats and
swifts had free access between the wall and a large board that
was placed on the inside, to add to the warmth of the room.

166 AFFECTIONS OF BIRDS.

To these instances of tender attachment, many
more of which might he daily discovered, hy those
that are studious of nature, may be opposed that
rage of affection, that monstrous perversion of the
crop 77), which induces some females of the brute
creation to devour their young, because their owners
have handled them too freely, or removed them
from place to place ! Swine, and sometimes the
more gentle race of dogs and cats, are guilty of this
horrid and preposterous murder. When I hear now
and then of an abandoned mother that destroys her
offspring, I am not so much amazed ; since reason
perverted, and the bad passions let loose, are capable
of any enormity ; but why the parental feelings of
brutes, that usually flow in one most uniform tenor,
should sometimes be so extravagantly diverted, I
leave to abler philosophers than myself to determine.

LETTER LIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, July 8, 1773.
DEAR SIR,

SOME young men went down lately to a pond
on the verge of Wolmer Forest, to hunt flappers, or

On the night above mentioned, this board was blown down in-
wards, and the room immediately filled with bats and swifts.
Many of the former had one or two young adhering to their
breasts, while flying round the room, and, even when knocked
down, were not freed from their burdens. Above sixty were
caught in this small space, and kept until morning, and at least
as many must have escaped. They appear to be on terms of
perfect amity with the swifts. — W. J.

TEALS WHITE OWLS. 167

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.

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 pos-
sessed of, as far as regards the well-being of itself
and offspring. But a piece of address, which they
shew 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 constantly perch first on
the roof of the chancel, and shift the mouse from
their claws to their bill, that the 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 posi-

168 WHITE OWLS.

live) 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 tremen-
dous 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 church-yard 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 they superstitiously 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.

While I am talking of owls, it may not be impro-
per 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 mansion of
owls for centuries, he discovered at the bottom a
mass of matter that at first he could not account
for. After some examination, 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 sub-
stance.

* White owls do hoot — I have shot them in the act. They
also hiss and scream ; but at night, when not alarmed, hooting
is the general cry. — W. J.

OWLS. 169

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 concave ears to command the
smallest degree of sound or noise.

It will be proper to premise here, that the fifty- fifth, fifty-
seventh, fifty-ninth, and sixty-first letters have been published
already in the Philosophical Transactions ; but, as nicer observa-
tion has furnished several corrections and additions, it is hoped
that the republication of them will not j^ive 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, all except
one species, in attaching themselves to our houses ;
amuse us with their migrations, songs, and marvel-
lous agility : and clear our outlets from the annoy-
ances of gnats and other troublesome insects. Some
districts in the South Seas, near Guiaquil f, are de-
solated, it seems, by the infinite swarms of venomous

* All birds of prey are capable of sustaining the want of food
and water for long periods, particularly the latter, but of which
they also seem remarkably fond, drinking frequently in a state
of nature, and, during summer, washing almost daily. — W. J.

f See ULLOA'S Travels.

170 INSECTS ON BIRDS.

mosquitoes, which fill the air, and render those coasts
insupportable. It would be worth inquiring, whe-
ther any species of hirundines is found in those re-
gions. Whoever contemplates the myriads of insects
that sport in the sunbeams of a summer evening in
this country, will soon be convinced to what a degree
our atmosphere would be choked with them were 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 hippoboscce hirundinis, 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
pupte 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. 11.

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 171

LETTER LIV.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, November 9, 1773.
DEAR SIR,

As you desire me to send you such observations
as may occur, I take the liberty of making the fol-
lowing 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 Frin-
sham Pond, a great lake, at about six miles from
hence, while it was sitting on the handle of a plough
and devouring a fish; it used to precipitate itself into
the water, and so take its prey by surprise.

A great ash- coloured f butcher-bird was shot last
winter in Tisted Park, and a red-backed butcher-
bird at Selborne. They are scarce birds in this
country.

Crows J go in pairs the whole year round.

Cornish choughs § abound, and breed on Beechy
Head, and on all the cliffs of the Sussex coast || .

The common wild pigeon ^f, or stock- dove, is a
bird of passage in the south of England, seldom
appearing till towards the end of November, — is

* British Zoology, vol. i. p. 128. f P. 161.

t P. 167. § P. 198.

|j Cornish choughs abound in the Isle of Man, and breed

there. They are also found on the Galloway and Kirkcud-
bright coasts. — W. J.

f British Zoology, vol. i. p. 216.

112 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

usually the latest winter bird of passage. Before
our beechen woods were so much destroyed, we
had myriads of them, reaching1 in strings for a mile
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* 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 ringouselsf on Dartmoor ; they build in banks on
the sides of streams.

Titlarks J 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|| testimony seems to me to be a very
poor evidence that European swallows migrate during
our winter to Senegal ; 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 Eu-
ropean swallows, would he not have mentioned the
species ?

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.

* British Zoology, vol. i. p. 224. f P. 229.

I Vol. ii. p. 237.

§ Mr. \Vhite must have mistaken this for anthus arbor eus,
or tree-lark. The titlark (anthus pratensis,) seldom sits on
trees.— W. J.

|| British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 242.

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 173

In 1772, there were young house-martins* in
their nest till October the 23rd.

The swift f appears about ten or twelve days later
than the house-swallow ; viz., about the 24th or 26th
of April.

Whin-chats J and stone -chatters § stay with us the
whole year.

Some wheatearsjl continue with us the winter
through ^| .

Wagtails, all sorts, remain with us all the
winter**.

Bullfinches ft, when fed on hempseed, often be-
come wholly black.

We have vast flocks of female chaffinches JJ all the
winter, with hardly any males among them.

When you say that, in breeding time, the cock
snipes §§ make a bleating noise, and a drumming
(perhaps I should have rather said a 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 whe-
ther that bleating or humming is ventriloquous, or

* British Zoology, vol. ii. p, 244. f P. 245.

% Whin-chat (saxicola rubetra, Bechst.) certainly does mi-
grate. Stone-chat (saxicola rubicola, Bechst.) is a resident, but
we receive an accession of numbers yearly.— W. J.

§ British Zoologfy vol. ii. pp. 270, 271. || P. 269.

^[ The great body of wheatears migrate regularly ; and it is
just possible that a few pairs may remain during the winter, in
the southern counties : but I strongly suspect Mr. White, though
quoting, must be wrong. — W. J.

* Mr. White seems only to have known two species of
wagtail, the pied and grey. The yellow wagtail is a regular
migrater, but is very local in its distribution. Both the others
partially migrate in Scotland. Flocks of the first appear in
spring, and a few pairs only remain during the winter. — W. J.

ft British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 300.

II P. 306. §§ P. 358.

174 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

proceeds from the motion of their wings, I cannot
say ; hut this I know, that, when this noise happens,
the hird is always descending, and his wings are
violently agitated.

Soon after the lapwings* have done breeding,
they congregate, and leaving the moors and marshes,
betake themselves to downs and sheep walks.

Two years agof 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 J taken alive in the ponds of
Wolmer Forest in the beginning of July last, along
with flappers, or young wild ducks.

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 li-
bant," " they sip the surface of the stream." In
this method of drinking, perhaps this genus may be
peculiar.

Of the sedge-bird || , 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 re-
assumes its song.

* British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 360. f P. 409.

I P. 475. § P. 15. || P. 16.

HOUSE-MARTINS. 1 75

LETTER LV.

I v

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, Nov. 20, 1773.
DEAR SIR,

IN obedience to your injunctions, I sit down to
give you some account of the house-martin, or mart-
let ; and, if my monography of 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.

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 busi-
ness 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
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 to-
gether with little bits of broken straws, to render
it tough and tenacious. As this bird often builds
against a perpendicular wall, without any project-
ing ledge under it, it requires its utmost efforts
to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it
may safely carry the superstructure. On this oc-

1 76 HOUSE-MARTINS.

casion the bird not only clings with its claws, out
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 suffi-
cient 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 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 I have examined smoothed with
any exactness 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

HOUSE MARTIN.

HOUSE-MARTINS. ITT

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 helpless condition, the parent birds,
with tender assiduity, cany out what comes away
from their young. Were 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; particu-
larly among dogs and cats, where the dams lick
away what proceeds from their young. But, in
birds, there seems to be a particular 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 r/Xifc/a, 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
sleight, that a person must have attended very ex-
actly 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

178 HOUSE-MARTINS.

congregations usually begin to take place about the
first week in August ; and, therefore, we may con-
clude that, by that time, the first flight is pretty well
over. The young of this species do not quit their
abodes altogether ; but the more forward birds get
abroad some days before the rest. These, approach-
ing 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 fre-
quently 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 abund-
ance in an hot stifled inn-yard, against a wall facing
to the south.

Birds in general are wise in their choice of situa-
tion ; 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

12 "

HOUSE-MARTINS. 1 79

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." Thus
is instinct a most wonderfully unequal faculty; in
some instances so much above reason ; in other re-
spects, 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 Lon-
don. And I have not only seen them nesting in the
Borough, but even in the Strand and Fleet- 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. Accordingly, they make use of a
placid, easy motion, in a middle region of the air,
seldom mounting to any great height, and never
sweeping along 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 the twenty-first, and are never without un-
fledged 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 my-
riads upon myriads round the villages on the Thames,
darkening the face of the sky as they frequent the
aits 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 neigh-
bourhood, for one day or two, as late as November
N 2

180 HOUSE-MARTINS.

the third and sixth, 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 devastation some-
how and somewhere ; for the birds that return yearly
bear no manner of proportion to the birds that retire.
House-martins are distinguished from their con-
geners 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.

LETTER LVI.

TO THE SAME.

RINGMER, near LEWES, Decem. 9, 1773.
DEAR SIR,

I RECEIVED your last favour just as I was set-
ting out for this place; and am pleased to find that
my monography met with your approbation. My
remarks are the result of many years' observation ;
and are, I trust, true on 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

SUSSEX DOWNS. 181

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.

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 eastward as far as East Bourn, 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 wold, 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 Ply nipt on -plain, near Lewes, that
he mentions those capes in his Wisdom of God in the
Works of the Creation, witlj. the utmost satisfaction,
and thinks them equal to any thing he had seen in
the finest parts of Europe.

For my own part, I think there is somewhat pecu-
liarly sweet and amusing in the shapely figured aspect
of chalk hills, in preference 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 mountains without thinking
I perceive somewhat analogous to growth in their
gentle swellings and smooth fungus -like protuber-
ances, their fluted sides, and regular hollows and
slopes, that carry at once the air of vegetative dilata-
tion and expansion : or, was there ever a time when
these immense masses of calcareous matter were
thrown into fermentation by some adventitious mois-

* Mr. Courthope, of Danny.

182 SHEEP OF SUSSEX DOWNS.

ture, — were raised and leavened into such shapes by
some plastic power, and so made to swell and heave
their broad backs into the sky, so much above the
less animated clay of the wild 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, at 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 Beeding-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 varie-
gated breed of his son-in-law, Jacob, were cantoned
along on the other. And this diversity holds good
respectively 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 Chi-
Chester is determined to try the experiment; and
has, this autumn, at the hazard of being laughed at,
introduced a parcel of 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

BIRDS OF PASSAGE. 183

keep as sharp a look-out as possible so near the
southern coast, with respect 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 the 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 sup-
posed, 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, notwith-
standing all my care, I saw nothing like a summer
bird of passage ; and, what is more strange, not one
wheatear, 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 parts of
the south of England. The most intelligent shep-
herds 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 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

184 RINGOUSELS — TORTOISE.

round Lewes, yet at East Bourn, which is the eastern
extremity of those downs, they abound much more.
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 ringousels ; and to take notice whether
they continued on the downs to 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 crossbills 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 20th of November, and came
out again for one day on the 30th : 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 !

ttere is a large rookery round this house, the inha-
bitants 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

* A pretty large flock of crossbills visited Ambleside, in West-
moreland, in October, 1828, frequenting the plantations of young
larches.— W. J.

SWALLOWS, 185

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.

LETTER LVII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, January 29, 1774.
DEAR SIR,

THE house-swallow, or chimney- swallow, is, un-
doubtedly, the first comer of all the British hirundineS •
and appears in general on or about the 13th of April,
as I have remarked from many years' observation.
Not but now and then a straggler is seen much ear-
lier : and, in particular, when I was a boy, I observed
a swallow for a whole day together on a sunny warm
Shrove Tuesday : which 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 with-
draw 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 hyber-
naculum 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 altogether in chimneys, but often

186 SWALLOWS.

within barns and out-houses, against the rafters; and
60 she did in Virgil's time, —

' Ante

Garrula quam tignis nidos suspendat hirundo."

" Before the noisy swallow's nest depends,

From the strong beam that through the roof extends."

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, ex-
cept 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, pecu-
liar place ; as we have known a swallow build down
the shaft of an old well, through which chalk had
been formerly drawn up, for the purpose of manure ;
but, in general, with us this hirundo breeds in chim-
neys, and loves to haunt those stacks where there is
a constant fire — no doubt for 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 often observed with some de-
gree of wonder.

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, and like half a deep
dish : this nest is lined with fine grasses, and fea-
thers, which are often collected as they float in the
air.

COMMON S WA L L, O \V.

SWALLOWS. 187

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 inconvenient 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.

The 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 leafless 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 fliers, 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 to-
wards 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.

The dam betakes herself immediately to the busi-
ness of a second brood, as soon as she is disengaged
from her first ; which at once associates with the first
broods of house -martins; and with them congregates,
clustering on sunny roofs, towers, and trees. This

188 SWALLOWS.

hirundo brings out her second brood towards the
middle and end of August.

All the summer long is the swallow a most instruc-
tive 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 man-
dibles is too quick for the eye.

The swallow, probably the male bird, is the excu-
bitor to house -martins, and other little birds, announc-
ing the approach of birds of prey. For as soon as an
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 gene-
ral, washes on 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 flier, ranging to distant downs and com-
mons even in windy weather, which the other species
seem much to dislike ; nay, even frequenting exposed

SWALLOWS. 189

seaport towns, and making little excursions over the
salt water. Horsemen on wide downs are often
closely attended by a little party of swallows for miles
together, which play before and behind them, sweep-
ing around, and collecting all the skulking insects
that are roused by the trampling of the horses' feet.
When the w4nd blows hard, without this expedient,
they are often forced to settle to pick up their lurk-
ing 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 October,
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 for the eye to
follow.

After this circumstantial detail of the life and dis-
cerning aropyrj of the swallow, T 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 gar den -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,

190 SWALLOWS.

another bird of the same species built its nest on the
wings 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 worthy the
most elegant private museum in Great Britain. The
owner, struck with the 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 pro-
pagation or support of their species.

LETTER LVIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Feb. 14, 1774.
DEAR 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.

* Sir Ashton Lever's Museum.

SWALLOWS. 191

As to the quotations, it is difficult to say precisely
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 some-
what may be gathered, enough to incline me to sup-
pose, 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, which is rather a mute bird, and when it
sings, is so inward as scarce to be heard. Besides,
if tignum 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 pursuit
of the enraged ^Eneas. The verb sonat also seems
to imply a bird that is somewhat loquacious *.

" Nigra velut magnas domini cum divitis sedes
Pervolat, et pennis alta atria lustrat hirundo,
Pabula parva legens, nidisque loquacibus escas :
Et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc humida circum
Stagna sonat"

As the dark swallow in a splendid hall,
With gloomy pinions flits along each wall,

192 LAND-SPRINGS.

We have had a very wet autumn and winter, so as
to raise the springs to a pitch beyond any thing since
1764, which was a remarkable year for floods and
high waters. The land- springs, which we call levants,
break out much on the downs of Sussex, Hampshire,
and Wiltshire. The country people say, when the
levants 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,
pamphlets and newspaper letters that talk of combi-
nations, tend to inflame and mislead, since we must
not expect plenty till Providence sends us more favour-
able seasons.

The wheat of last year, all round this district, and
in the county of Rutland, and elsewhere, yields re-
markably 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.

Of scatter'd crumbs and humble food in quest
To still the clamour of the craving nest ;
Now through the porch her agile figure bounds,
Now by the lake her noisy note resounds.

SAND-MARTINS. 193

LETTER LIX.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, February 26, 1774.

DEAR SIR,

THE sand-martin or bank-martin, is by much the
least of any of the British hirundines, and, as far as
we have ever seen, the smallest known hirundo; though
Brisson asserts that there is one much smaller, and
that is the hirundo esculent a.

But it is much to be regretted, that it is scarce
possible for any observer to be so full and exact as he
could wish, in reciting the circumstances attending
the life and conversation of this little bird, since it is
fera natura, at least in this part of the kingdom, dis-
claiming all domestic attachments, and haunting wild
heaths and commons where there are large lakes ; while
the other species, especially the swallow and house-
martin, are remarkably gentle and domesticated, and
never seem to think themselves safe but under the
protection of man.

Here are in this parish, in the sand-pits and banks
of the lake of Wolmer Forest, several colonies of
these birds ; and yet they are never seen in the vil-
lage, nor do they at all frequent the cottages that are
scattered about in that wild district. The only in-
stance I ever remember where this species haunts any
building, is at the town of Bishop's Waltham, in this
county, where many sand-martins nestle and breed in
the scaffold holes of the back wall of William of
Wykeham's stables ; but then this wall stands in ji
very sequestered and retired enclosure, and faces upon
a large and beautiful lake. And, indeed, this species
seems so to delight in large waters, that no instance
o

194 SAND-MARTINS.

occurs of their abounding, but near vast pools or
rivers ; and, in particular, it has been remarked that
they swarm in the banks of the Thames, in some
places below London Bridge.

It is curious to observe with what different degrees
of architectonic skill Providence has endowed birds
of the same genus, and so nearly correspondent in
their general mode of life ; for, while the swallow
and the house-martin discover the greatest address
in raising and securely fixing crusts, or shells, of loam,
as cunabula for their young, the bank-martin tere-
brates a round and regular hole in the sand or earth,
which is serpentine, horizontal, and about two feet
deep. At the inner end of this burrow does this bird
deposit, in a good degree of safety, her rude nest, con-
sisting of fine grasses and feathers, usually goose fea-
thers, very inartificially laid together.

Perseverance will accomplish any thing : though
at first one would be disinclined to believe that this
weak bird, with her soft and tender bill and claws,
should ever be able to bore the stubborn sand-bank,
without entirely disabling herself; yet, with these
feeble instruments, have I seen a pair of them make
great dispatch, and could remark how much they had
scooped that day, by the fresh sand which ran down
the bank, and was of a different colour from that which
lay loose and bleached in the sun.

In what space of time these little artists are able
to mine and finish these cavities, I have never been
able to discover, for reasons given above ; but it would
be a matter worthy of observation, where it falls in
the way of any naturalist, to make his remarks. This
I have often taken notice of, that several holes of dif-
ferent depths are left unfinished at the end of summer.
To imagine that these beginnings were intentionally
made, in order to be in the greater forwardness for
next spring, is allowing, perhaps, too much foresight

SAND-MARTINS. . 195

and skill to a simple bird. May not the cause of
these latebrte being left unfinished arise from their
meeting in those places with strata too harsh, hard,
and solid for their purpose, which they relinquish, and
go to a fresh spot that works more freely ? or may
they not in other places fall in with a soil as much too
loose and mouldering, liable to founder, and threaten-
ing to overwhelm them and their labours ?

One thing is remarkable, that, after some years,
the old holes are forsaken, and new ones bored ;
perhaps because the old habitations grow foul and
fetid from long use, or because they may so abound
with fleas as to become untenantable. This species
of swallow, moreover, is strangely annoyed with fleas ;
and we have seen fleas, bed-fleas, (pulex irritansj
swarming at the mouths of these holes, like bees on
the stools of their hives.

The following circumstance should by no means
be omitted, — that these birds do not make use of
their caverns by way of hybernacula, as might be ex-
pected ; since banks so perforated have been dug out
with care in the winter, when nothing was found but
empty nests.

The sand-martin arrives much about the same time
with the swallow, and lays, as she does, from four to
six white eggs. But, as this species is cryptogame,
carrying on the business of nidification, incubation,
and the support of its young, in the dark, it would
not be so easy to ascertain the time of breeding, were
it not for the coming forth of the broods, which ap-
pear much about the time, or rather somewhat earlier
than those of the swallow. The nestlings are sup-
ported, in common, like those of their congeners, with
gnats and other small insects, and sometimes they are
fed with libellulce, (dragon-flies,) almost as long as
themselves. In the last week in June, we have seen
a row of these sitting on a rail, near a great pool, as
o 2

196 SAND-MARTINS.

perchers, and so young and helpless, as easily to be
taken by hand ; but whether the dams ever feed them
on the wing, as swallows and house-martins do, we
have never yet been able to determine ; nor do we
know whether they pursue and attack birds of prey.

When they happen to breed near hedges and enclo-
sures, they are dispossessed of their breeding holes by
the house-sparrow, which is, on the same account, a
fell adversary to house -martins.

These hirundines are no songsters, but rather mute,
making only a little harsh noise when a person ap-
proaches their nests. They seem not to be of a so-
ciable turn, never with us congregating with their
congeners in the autumn. Undoubtedly they breed
a second time, like the house -martin and swallow ;
and withdraw about Michaelmas.

Though, in some particular districts, they may
happen to abound, yet, on the whole, in the south of
England at least, is this much the rarest species ; for
there are few towns or large villages but what abound
with house-martins; few churches, towers, or steeples,
but what are haunted by some swifts ; scarce a hamlet
or single cottage chimney that has not its swallow ;
while the bank-martins, scattered here and there, live
a sequestered life among some abrupt sand hills, and
in the banks of some few rivers.

These birds have a peculiar manner of flying, flitting
about with odd jerks and vacillations, not unlike the
motions of a butterfly. Doubtless the flight of all
hirundines is influenced by, and adapted to, the pecu-
liar sort of insects which furnish their food. Hence
it would be worth inquiry to examine what particular
genus of insects affords the principal food of each
respective species of swallow.

Notwithstanding what has been advanced above,
some few sand-martins, I see, haunt the skirts of
London, frequenting the dirty pools in St. George's

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 197

Fields, and about Whitechapel. The question is,
where these build, since there are no banks or bold
shores in that neighbourhood ? Perhaps they nestle
in the scaffold-holes of some old or new deserted
building. They dip and wash as they fly sometimes,
like the house-martin and swallow.

Sand-martins differ from their congeners in the di-
minutiveness of their size, and in their colour, which
is what is usually called a mouse-colour. Near Va-
lencia, in Spain, they are taken, says Willughby, and
sold in the markets for the table, and are called by
the country people, probably from their desultory,
jerking manner of flight, Papillon de Montagna.

LETTER LX.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

SELBORNE, Sept. 2, 1774.
DEAR SIR,

BEFORE your letter arrived, and of my own ac-
cord, 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, be-
sides, 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 differ-
ent chimneys, the one for the other. From all my
observations, 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

198 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

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.

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 kestrel in churches and ruins.

There are supposed to 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
the wagtail, when in motion, bobs up and down, like
that of a jaded horse.

Hedge-sparrows have a remarkable flirt 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,
re-assume 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 re-
sembles that of spring ?

Linnaeus ranges plants geographically; palms in-
habit 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 cool-
ness, and nest in plum-trees and apple-trees. These

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 199

birds have been known sometimes to build in rooks'
nests, and sometimes in the forks of boughs under
rooks5 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 common mice ;
and that his cats eat the common mice, refusing the
red.

Red-breasts sing all through the spring, summer,
and autumn. The reason that they are called autumn
songsters is, because in the two first seasons their
voices are lost and drowned in the general chorus :
in the latter, their song becomes distinguishable.
Many songsters of the autumn seem to be the young
cock red-breast of that year: notwithstanding the
prejudices in their favour, they do much mischief in
gardens to the summer fruits *.

The tit-mouse, which early in February begins to
make two quaint notes, like the whetting of a saw t,
is the marsh tit-mouse ; the great tit- mouse 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 circum-
stance 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 scarab&us sol-

* They eat also the berries of the ivy, the honeysuckle, and
the euonymus europteus, or spindle-tree.

f It is undoubtedly the great titmouse, p. major, which whets
like a saw. I have watched it for a quarter of an hour together ;
it has also cheerful notes. — W. J.

200 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

stitialis, or fern-chafer, commence 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
downs, 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 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 pugnacious disposition ; for they sing with an
erected crest, and attitudes of rivalry and defiance ;
are shy and wild in breeding time, avoiding neigh-
bourhoods, 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 con-
tinuance, and his motions are desultory ; but, when
that bird sits calmly and engages in song in earnest,
he pours forth very sweet, 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 :

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 201

while they warble, their throats are wonderfully dis-
tended.

The song of the redstart is superior, though some-
what like that of the white-throat ; some birds have
a few more notes than others. Sitting very placidly
on the top of a tall tree in a village, the cock sings
from morning to night ; he affects neighbourhoods,
arid 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 sweet-brier,
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 pre-
tension to song, but uses a little inward wailing note,
when it thinks its young in danger from cats or
other annoyances : 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 f.

On a retrospect, I observe that my long letter
carries with it a quaint and magisterial air, and is
very sententious : but when 1 recollect that you re-
quested stricture and anecdote, hope you will pardon
the didactic manner for the sake of the information
it may happen to contain.

* The muscicapa grisola, Linn. — W. J.
f Sweden 221, Great Britain 252 species.

SWIFTS.

LETTER LXI.

I

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, September 28, 1774.
DEAR SIR,

As the swift, or black-martin, is the largest of
the British hirundines, so it is undoubtedly the latest
comer : for I remember but one instance of its ap-
pearing before the last week in April ; and in some
of our late frosty harsh springs, it has not been seen
till the beginning of 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 usurp upon
the house- sparrows, and expel them, as sparrows do
the house and sand-martin — well remembering that
I have seen them squabbling together at the entrance
of their holes, and the sparrows up in arms, and
much disconcerted at these intruders ; and yet I am
assured by a nice observer in such matters, that they
do collect feathers for their nests in Andalusia, and
that he has shot them with such materials in their
mouths.

Swifts, like sand-martins, carry on the business of
nidification quite in the dark, in crannies of castles,
and towers, and steeples, and upon the tops of the
walls of churches, under the roof, and therefore can-

SWIFTS. 203

not be so narrowly watched as those species that
build more openly ; but, from what I could ever ob-
serve, they begin nesting about the middle of May ;
and I have remarked, from eggs taken, that they
have sat hard by the 9th of June. In general, they
haunt tall buildings, churches, and steeples, and
breed only in such ; yet, in this village, some pairs
frequent the lowest and meanest cottages, and educate
their young under those thatched roofs. We re-
member but one instance where they breed out of
buildings, and that is in the sides of a deep chalk pit
near the town of Odiham, in this county, where we
have seen many pairs entering the crevices, and
skimming and squeaking round the precipices.

As I have regarded these amusive birds with no
small attention, if I should advance something new
and peculiar with respect to them, and different from
all other birds, I might perhaps be credited, especi-
ally as my assertion is the result of many years' exact
observation. The fact that I would advance is, that
swifts tread, or copulate, on the wing ; and I would
wish any nice observer, that is startled at this sup-
position, to use his own eyes, and I think he will
soon be convinced. In another class of animals, viz.
the insect, nothing is so common as to see the dif-
ferent species of many genera in conjunction as they
fly. The swift is almost continually on the wing ;
and, as it never settles on the ground, on trees, or
roofs, would seldom find opportunity for amorous
rites, were it not enabled to indulge them in the air.
If any person would watch these birds of a fine
morning in May, as they are sailing round, at a great
height from the ground, he would see, every now and
then, one drop on the back of another, and both of
them sink down together for many fathoms with a
loud piercing shriek. This I take to be the juncture
when the business of generation is carrying on.

204 SWIFTS.

As the swift eats, drinks, collects materials for its
nest, and, as it seems, propagates on the wing, it ap-
pears to live more in the air than any other bird, and
to perform all functions there save those of sleeping
and incubation.

This hirundo differs widely from its congeners in
laying invariably but two eggs at a time, which are
milk-white, long, and peaked at the small end ;
whereas the other species lay at each brood from four
to six. It is a most alert bird, rising very early, and
retiring to roost very late, and is on the wing in the
height of summer at least sixteen hours. In the
longest days it does not withdraw to rest till a quarter
before nine in the evening, being the latest of all day
birds. Just before they retire, whole groups of them
assemble high in the air, and squeak and shoot about
with wonderful rapidity. But this bird is never so
much alive as in sultry thundery weather, when it
expresses great alacrity, and calls forth all its powers.
In hot mornings, several, getting together into little
parties, dash round the steeples and churches, squeak-
ing as « they go, in a very clamorous manner : these,
by nice observers, are supposed to be males serenad-
ing their sitting hens ; and not without reason, since
they seldom squeak till they come close to the walls
or ea^ves, and since those within utter at the same
time a little inward note of complacency.

When the hen has sat hard all day, she rushes forth
just as it is almost dark, and stretches and relieves
her weary limbs, and snatches a scanty meal for a few
minutes, and then returns to her duty of incubation.
Swifts, when wantonly and cruelly shot while they
have young, discover a little lump of insects in their
mouths, which they pouch and hold under their
tongue. In general, they feed in a much higher dis-
trict than the other species ; a proof that gnats and
other insects do also abound to a considerable height

SWIFTS.

in the air : they also range to vast distances ; since
locomotion is no labour to them, who are endowed
with such wonderful powers of wing. Their powers
seem to be in proportion to their levers ; and their
wings are longer in proportion than those of almost
any other bird. When they mute, or ease themselves
in flight, they raise their wings, and make them meet
over their backs.

At some certain times, in the summer, I had re-
marked that swifts were hawking very low, for hours
together, over pools and streams ; and could not help
inquiring into the object of their pursuit, that induced
them to descend so much below their usual range.
After some trouble, I found that they were taking
phryganete, ephemerte, libellulce, (cadew-flies, may-flies,
and dragon-flies,) that were just emerged out of their
aurelia state. I then no longer wondered that they
should be so willing to stoop for a prey that afforded
them such plentiful and succulent nourishment.

They bring out their young about the middle or
latter end of July ; but as these never become perch-
ers, nor, that ever I could discern, are fed on the wing
by their dams, the coming forth of the young is not
so notorious as in the other species.

On the thirtieth of last June, I untiled the eaves
of a house where many pairs build, and found in each
nest only two squab, naked pulli ; on the eighth of
July I repeated the same inquiry, and found they had
made very little progress towards a fledged state, but
were still naked and helpless. From whence we may
conclude, that birds whose way of life keeps them
perpetually on the wing, would not be able to quit
their nest till the end of the month. Swallows and
martins, that have numerous families, are continually
feeding them every two or three minutes ; while swifts,
that have but two young to maintain, are much at

206 SWIFTS.

their leisure, and do not attend on their nests for
hours together.

Sometimes they pursue and strike at hawks that
come in their way, but not with that vehemence and
fury that swallows express on the same occasion.
They are out all daylong on wet days, feeding about,
and disregarding still rain ; from whence two things
may be gathered, — first, that many insects abide high
in the air, even in rain ; and next, that the feathers
of these birds must be well preened to resist so much
wet. Windy, and particularly windy weather with
heavy showers, they dislike, and on such days with-
draw, and are scarcely ever seen.

There is a circumstance respecting the colour of
swifts, which seems not to be unworthy our attention.
When they arrive in the spring, they are all over of a
glossy dark soot colour, except their chins, which are
white ; but, by being all day long in the sun and air,
they become quite weather-beaten and bleached be-
fore they depart, and yet they return glossy again in
the spring. Now, if they pursue the sun into lower
latitudes, as some suppose, in order to enjoy a perpe-
tual summer, why do they not return bleached ? Do
they not rather, perhaps, retire to rest for a season,
and at that juncture moult and change their feathers,
since all other birds are known to moult soon after
the season of breeding 1

Swifts are very anomalous in many particulars,
dissenting from all their congeners, not only in the
number of their young, but in breeding but once in
a summer ; whereas all the other British hirundines
breed invariably twice. It is past all doubt that
swifts can breed but once, since they withdraw in a
short time after the flight of their young, and some
time before their congeners bring out their second
broods. We may here remark, that, as swifts breed
12

SWIFTS. 207

but once in a summer, and only two at a time, and
the other hirundines twice, the latter, who lay from
four to six eggs, increase, at an average, five times
as fast as the former.

But in nothing are swifts more singular than in
their early retreat. They retire, as to the main body
of them, by the 10th of August, and sometimes a few
days sooner ; and every straggler invariably with-
draws by the 20th : while their congeners, all of
them, stay till the beginning of October, many of
them all through that month, and some occasionally
to the beginning of November. This early retreat
is mysterious and wonderful, since that time is often
the sweetest season in the year. But, what is more
extraordinary, they begin to retire still earlier in the
more southerly parts of Andalusia, where they can
be nowise influenced by any defect of heat, or, as
one might suppose, defect of food. Are they regu-
lated in their motions with us by a failure of food,
or by a propensity to moulting, or by a disposition to
rest after so rapid a life, or by what ? This is one of
those incidents in natural history that not only baffles
our researches, but almost eludes our guesses !

These hirundines never perch on trees or roofs, and
so never congregate with their congeners. They are
fearless while haunting their nesting places, and are
not to be scared with a gun, and are often beaten
down with poles and cudgels as they stoop to go
under the eaves. Swifts are much infested with those
pests to the genus, called hippoboscte hirundinis, and
often wriggle and scratch themselves, in their flight,
to get rid of that clinging annoyance.

Swifts are no songsters, and have only one harsh
screaming note ; yet there are ears to which it is not
displeasing, from an agreeable association of ideas,
since that note never occurs but in the most lovely
summer weather.

208 SWIFTS.

They never settle on the ground but through ac-
cident, and when down can hardly rise, on account
of the shortness of their legs and the length of their
wings : neither can they walk, but only crawl ; but
they have a strong grasp with their feet, by which
they cling to walls. Their bodies being flat, they can
enter a very narrow crevice ; and where they cannot
pass on their bellies, they will turn up edgewise.

The particular formation of the foot discriminates
the swift from all the British hirundines, and, indeed,
from all other known birds, the hirundo melba, or
great white-bellied swift of Gibraltar excepted ; for
it is so disposed as to carry " omnes quatuor digit os
anticos," all its four toes forward : besides, the least
toe, which shquld be the back toe, consists of one
bone alone, and the other three only of two a-piece,
— a construction most rare and peculiar, but nicely
adapted to the purposes in which their feet are- em-
ployed. This, and some peculiarities attending the
nostrils and under mandible, have induced a discern-
ing naturalist* to suppose that this species might
constitute a genus per se-\.

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 of the
town.

The Swedes have bestowed a very pertinent name
on this swallow, calling it ring-swala, from the per-
petual rings, or circles, that it takes round the scene
of its nidification.

Swifts feed on coleoptera, or small beetles with

* John Antony Scopoli, of Carniola, M.D.
f The genus Cypselus of Illiger is now generally adopted for
this group. It is also the Apus of Belon. — W. J.

SWIFTS. 209

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 hippoboscte, are sometimes found, under their
nests, fallen to the ground, the number of vermin
rendering their abode insupportable any longer. They
frequent in this village several abject cottages ; yet a
succession still haunts the same unlikely roofs — a
good proof this that the same birds return to the
same spots. As they must stoop very low to get up
under these humble eaves, cats lie in wait, and some-
times catch them on the wing.

On the 5th of July, 1775, I again untiled part of
a roof over the nest of a swift. The dam sat in the
nest; but so strongly was she affected by natural
ffropyrj for her brood, which she supposed to be in
danger, that, regardless of her own safety, she would
not stir, but lay sullenly by them, permitting herself
to be taken in hand. The squab young we brought
down and placed on the grass-plot, where they
tumbled about, and were as helpless as a new-born
child. While we contemplated their naked bodies,
their unwieldy disproportioned abdomina, and their
heads too heavy for their necks to support, we could
not but wonder when we reflected that these shiftless
beings, in a little more than a fortnight, would be
able to dash through the air almost with the incon-
ceivable swiftness of a meteor, and, perhaps, in their
emigration, must traverse vast continents and oceans
as distant as the equator. So soon does Nature ad-
vance small birds to their ri\ucia, or state of perfec-
tion ; while the progressive growth of men and large
quadrupeds is slow and tedious !

RETURN OF SWALLOWS.

LETTER LXII.

v

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Sept. 1774.
DEAR SIR,

BY means of a straight cottage chimney, I had
an opportunity this summer of remarking, at my
leisure, how swallows ascend and descend through
the shaft ; but my pleasure in contemplating the ad-
dress with which this feat was performed, to a con-
siderable depth in the chimney, was somewhat inter-
rupted by apprehensions lest my eyes might undergo
the same fate with those of Tobit.*

Perhaps it may be some amusement to you to
hear at what times the different species of hirundines
arrived this spring in three very distant counties
of this kingdom. With us, the swallow was seen
first on April the 4th ; the swift on April the 24th ;
the bank-martin on April the 12th; and the house-
martin not till April the 30th. At South Zele,
Devonshire, swallows did not arrive till April the
25th ; swifts, in plenty, on May the 1st; and house-
martins not till the middle of May. At Blackburn,
in Lancashire, swifts were seen April the 28th ;
swallows, April the 29th ; house-martins, May the
1st. Do these different dates, in such distant dis-
tricts, prove any thing for or against migration ?

A farmer near Weyhill fallows his land with two
teams of asses, one of which works till noon, and
the other in the afternoon. When th,ese animals
have done their work, they are penned all night,

* Tobitii. 10.

MISSEL-THRUSH. 21 1

like sheep, on the fallow. In the winter, they are
confined and foddered in a yard, and make plenty of
dung.

Linnseus says, that hawks " padscuntur indudas
cum avibus, quamdiu cuculus cuculat " but it appears
to me, that, during that period, many little birds are
taken and destroyed by birds of prey, as may be seen
by their feathers left in lanes and under hedges.

The missel- thrush is, while breeding, fierce and
pugnacious, driving such birds as approach its nest,
with great fury, to a distance. The Welsh call it
pen y llwyn, the head, or master of the coppice. He
suffers no magpie, jay, or blackbird, to enter the
garden where he haunts ; and is, for the time, a
good guard to the new- sown legumens. In general,
he is very successful in the defence of his family :
but once I observed in my garden, that several mag-
pies came determined to storm the nest of a missel-
thrush ; the dams defended their mansion with great
vigour, and fought resolutely ; but numbers at last
prevailed, they tore the nest to pieces, and swallowed
the young alive.

In the season of nidification, the wildest birds are
comparatively tame. Thus the ring-dove breeds in
my fields, though they are continually frequented ;
and the missel-thrush, though most shy and wild in
the autumn and winter, builds in my garden, close to
a walk where people are passing all day long.

Wall- fruit abounds with me this year; but my
grapes, that used to be forward and good, are at pre-
sent backward beyond all precedent : and this is
not the worst of the story ; for the same ungenial
weather, the same black cold solstice, has injured
the more necessary fruits of the earth, and disco-
loured and blighted our wheat. The crop of hops
promises to be very large.

Frequent returns of deafness incommode me sadly,
p 2

212 GOLDEN-CROWNED WREN.

and half disqualify me for a naturalist; for, when
those fits are upon me, I lose all the pleasing notices
and little intimations arising from rural sounds ; and
May is to me as silent and mute, with respect to the
notes of birds, &c. as August. My eye -sight is,
thank God, quick and good ; but with respect to the
other sense, I am, at times, disabled,

" And Wisdom at one entrance quite shut out."

LETTER LXITI.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

IT is matter of curious inquiry to trace out how
those species of soft-billed birds, that continue with
us the winter through, subsist during the dead
months. The imbecility of birds, seems not to be
the only reason why they shun the rigour of our
winters ; for the robust wry-neck (so much resem-
bling the hardy race of woodpeckers) migrates,
while the feeble little golden-crowned wren, that
shadow of a bird, braves our severest frosts, with-
out availing himself of houses or villages, to which
most of our winter birds crowd in distressful seasons,
while he keeps aloof in fields and woods; but per-
haps this may be the reason why they may often
perish, and why they are almost as rare as any bird
we know*.

* This species extends as far as the Orkney Isles. There is a
constant migration of them, about the end of autumn, from the
north of Europe, though we also have a great many that are
stationary. Mr. Selby has recorded a very singular instance of
migration, which occurred on the 24th and 25th October, 1822.
After a severe gale, with thick fog, from the north-east, thou-

SOFT-BILLED BIRDS. 213

I have no reason to doubt but that the soft-billed
birds, which winter with us, subsist chiefly on in-
sects in their aurelia state. All the species of wag-
tails, 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 phry-
gane& *, &c.

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
outhouses, stables, and barns, where they find spiders
and flies that have laid themselves up during the
cold season. But the grand support of the soft-
billed birds in winter is that infinite profusion of
aurelise 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 Linnsean genera
of fringilla and motacilla. One species alone spends
its whole time in the woods and fields, never retreat-
ing for succour, in the severest seasons, to houses

sands of these birds were seen to arrive on the sea -shore and
sand-banks of the Northumbrian coast, many of them so fatigued
by the length of their flight, as to be unable to rise again from
the ground ; and great numbers were, in consequence, caught or
destroyed. This flight must have been immense in quantity, as
its extent was traced through the whole length of the coasts of
Northumberland and Durham. — W. J.

* See DERHAM'S Physico- Theology, p. 235.

TITMOUSE.

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&ruleus,) the cole-mouse, (parus ater,)
the great black-headed titmouse, (fringillago,) and
the marsh titmouse, (parus palustr is,) all resort, at
times, to buildings ; and in hard weather particu-
larly. The great titmouse, driven by stress of wea-
ther, 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 num-
bers 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. It will also pick holes in apples
left on the ground, and be well entertained with the
seeds on the head of a sunflower. The blue, marsh,
and great titmice will, in very severe weather, carry
away barley and oat-straws from the sides of ricks.

How the wheat-ear and whin-chat support them-
selves in winter, cannot be so easily 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 main-
tenance arises from the aurelia of the lepidoptera
or do, which furnish them with a plentiful table in
the wilderness.

LONG-TAILKD TITMOUSE AND BLUE TITMOUSE.

IRELAND. 215

LETTER LXIV.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, March 9, 1775.
DEAR 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 natu-
ralist. 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 southerly counties of so mild an island may
possibly afford some plants little to be expected
within the British dominions. A person of a think-
ing 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 water-falls, and the lofty,
stupendous mountains, so little known, and so en-
gaging to the imagination, when described and ex-

* Ireland even still remains comparatively unexplored, except
in its botanical productions. The scolopax sabini, a new species
of snipe, was, I may say, accidentally discovered there, about
three years since, of which specimens have been subsequently
got, confirming the identity of the species ; and we have every
reason to expect some novelties, particularly in ichthyology and
entomology. Ledum palustre and papaver nudicale, are among
the late botanical discoveries. — W. J.

216 MAP OF SCOTLAND.

hibited 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 High-
lands. Moreover, all the great avenues to that moun-
tainous and romantic country want to be well dis-
tinguished. 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 representation of the chain
of forts should not be omitted.

The celebrated zig-zag up the Coryarich must not
be passed over. Moll takes notice of Hamilton and
Drumlanrig, and such capital 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.

GOSSAMER.

LETTER LXV.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, June 8, 1775.
DEAR SIR,

ON September the 2 1 st, 1741, Ijeing then on a
visit, and intent on field diversions, I rose before
daybreak : when I came into the enclosures, I found
the stubbles and clover grounds matted all over
with a thick coat of cobweb, in the meshes of which
a copious and heavy dew hung so plentifully that
the whole face of the country seemed, as it were,
covered with two or three setting-nets, drawn one
over another. When the dogs attempted to hunt,
their eyes were so blinded and hoodwinked that they
could not proceed but were obliged to lie down and
scrape the incumbrances from their faces with their
fore feet ; so that, finding my sport interrupted, I
returned home, musing in my mind on the oddness
of the occurrence.

As the morning advanced, the sun became bright
and warm, and the day turned out one of those most
lovely ones which no season but the autumn pro-
duces,— cloudless, calm, serene, and worthy of the
south of France itself.

About nine, an appearance very unusual began to
demand our attention, — a shower of cobwebs falling
from very elevated regions, and continuing, without
any interruption, till the close of the day.

These webs were not single filmy threads, floating
in the air in all directions, but perfect flakes or rags ;
some near an inch broad, and five or six long, which
fell with a degree of velocity, that showed they were
considerably heavier than the atmosphere.

218 GOSSAMER.

On every side, as the observer turned his eyes, he
might behold a continual succession of fresh flakes
falling into his sight, and twinkling like stars, as
they turned their sides towards the sun.

How far this wonderful shower extended, would
be difficult to say ; but we know that it reached Brad-
ley, Selborne, and Alresford, three places which lie
in a sort of triangle, the shortest of whose sides is
about eight miles in extent.

At the second of those places, there was a gentle-
man (for whose veracity and intelligent turn we
have the greatest veneration,) who observed it the
moment he got abroad ; but concluded that, as soon
as he came upon the hill above his house, where he
took his morning rides, he should be higher than
this meteor, which he imagined might have been
blown, like thistle-down, from the common above;
but, to his great astonishment, when he rode to the
most elevated part of the down, 300 feet above his
fields, he found the webs, in appearance, still as
much above him as before ; still descending into sight
in a constant succession, and twinkling in the sun,
so as to draw the attention of the most incurious.

Neither before nor after, was any such fall ob-
served ; but on this day the flakes hung in the trees
and hedges so thick, that a diligent person sent out
might have gathered baskets full.

The remark that I shall make on these cob web -
like appearances, called gossamer, is, that strange
and superstitious as the notions about them were for-
merly, 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.
But why these apterous insects should that day take
such a wonderful aerial excursion, and whv their

GOSSAMER. 219

webs should at once become so gross and material
as to be considerably more weighty than air, and to
descend with precipitation, is a matter beyond my
skill. If I might be allowed to hazard a supposition,
I should imagine that those filmy threads, when first
shot, might be entangled in the rising dew, and so
draw up, spiders and all, by a brisk evaporation, into
the regions where clouds are formed ; and if the
spiders have a power of coiling and thickening their
webs in the air, as Dr. Lister says they have, [see his
Letters to Mr. Ray,] then, when they were become
heavier than the air, they must fall.

Every day in fine weather, in autumn chiefly, do
I see those spiders shooting out their webs and
mounting aloft : they will go off from your finger,
if you will take them into your hand. Last summer
one alighted on my book as I was reading in the
parlour; and, running to the top of the page, and
shooting out a web, took his departure from thence.
But what I most wondered at was, that it went off
with considerable velocity in a place where no air
was stirring ; and I am sure that I did not assist it
with my breath. So that these little crawlers seem
to have, while mounting, some locomotive power
without the use of wings, and to move in the air
faster than the air itself.

LETTER LXVI.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Aug. 15, 1775.
DEAR SIR,

THERE is a wonderful spirit of sociality in the
brute creation, independent of sexual attachment :

SOCIALITY OF BRUTES.

the congregation 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 neighbour'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 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 fellow-
ship. 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, where they saw no creature but each
other. By degrees, an apparent regard began to

GIPSIES.

take place between these two sequestered individuals.
The fowl would approach the quadruped with notes
of complacency, rubbing herself gently against his
legs ; while the horse would look down with satis-
faction, and move with the greatest caution and cir-
cumspection, 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
in the mouth of Adam, seems to be somewhat mis-
taken : —

" Much less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl,
So well converse, nor with the ox the ape."

P

LETTER LXVII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Oct. 2, 1775.
DEAR SIR,

WE have two gangs, or hordes of gipsies, which
infest the south and west of England, and come
round in their circuit two or three times in the year.
One of these tribes calls itself by the noble name of
Stanley, of which I have nothing particular to say ;
but the other is distinguished by an appellative some-
what remarkable. As far as their harsh gibberish
can be understood, they seem to say that the name
of their clan is Curleople : now the termination of
this word is apparently Grecian ; and, as Mezeray
and the gravest historians all agree that these va-
grants did certainly migrate from Egypt and the
East, two or three centuries ago, and so spread by
degrees over Europe, may not this family name, a
little corrupted, be the very name they brought with

222 GIPSIES.

them from the Levant ? It would be matter of some
curiosity could one meet with an intelligent person
among them, to inquire whether, in their jargon,
they still retained any Greek words : the Greek radi-
cals will appear in hand, foot, head, water, earth, &c.
It is possible, that, amidst their cant and corrupted
dialect, many mutilated remains of their native lan-
guage might still be discovered.

With regard to these peculiar people, the gipsies,
one thing is very remarkable, and especially as they
came from warmer climate ; and that is, that while
other beggars lodge in barns, stables, and cow-
houses, these sturdy savages seem to pride them-
selves in braving the severities of winter, and in
living sub dio the whole year round. Last September
was as wet a month as ever was known ; and yet,
during those deluges, did a young gipsy girl lie in
the midst of one of our hop-gardens, on the cold
ground, with nothing over her but a piece of a
blanket, extended on a few hazel rods bent hoop
fashion, and stuck into the earth at each end, in cir-
cumstances too trying for a cow in the same con-
dition : yet within this garden there was a large hop-
kiln, into the chambers of which she might have
retired, had she thought shelter an object worthy
her attention.

Europe itself, it seems, cannot set bounds to the
rovings of these vagabonds ; for Mr. Bell, in his re-
turn from Peking, met a gang of these people on the
confines of Tartary, who were endeavouring to pene-
trate those deserts, and try their fortune in China*.

Gipsies are called in French, Bohemiens, in Italian
and modern Greek, Zingani.

* See BELL'S Travels in China.

DEAR SIR,

RUSH CANDLES.

LETTER LXVIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Nov. 1, 1775-

" Hie taedse pingues, hie plurimus ignis

Semper, et assidua postes fuligine nigri."

I SHALL make no apology for troubling- you with
the detail of a very simple piece of domestic economy,
being satisfied that you think nothing beneath your
attention that tends to utility : the matter alluded to
is the use of rushes instead of candles, which I am
well aware prevails in many districts besides this ;
but as I know there are countries also where it does
not obtain, and as I have considered the subject with
some degree of exactness, I shall proceed in my
humble story, and leave you to judge of the ex-
pediency.

The proper species of rush for this purpose seems
to be ihejuncus conglomerate, or common soft rush,
which is to be found in most moist pastures, by the
sides of streams, and under hedges. These rushes
are in best condition in the height of summer ; but
may be gathered, so as to serve the purpose well,
quite on to autumn. It would be needless to add,
that the largest and longest are best. Decayed
labourers, women, and children, make it their busi-
ness to procure and prepare them. As soon as
they are cut, they must be flung into water, and
kept there ; for otherwise they will dry and shrink,
and the peel will not run. At first, a person would
find it no easy matter to divest a rush of its peel,

RUSH CANDLES.

or rind, so as to leave one regular, narrow, even
rib from top to bottom that may support the pith :
but this, like other feats, soon becomes familiar,
even to children ; and we have seen an old woman
stone blind, performing this business with great dis-
patch, and seldom failing to strip them with the
nicest regularity. When these junci are thus far
prepared, they must lie out on the grass to be
bleached, and take the dew for some nights, and af-
terwards be dried in the sun.

Some address is required in dipping these rushes
in the scalding fat or grease ; but this knack also
is to be attained by practice. The careful wife of
an industrious Hampshire labourer obtains all her
fat for nothing ; for she saves the scummings of her
bacon-pot for this use ; and if the grease abounds
with salt, she causes the salt to precipitate to the
bottom, by setting the scummings in a warm oven.
Where hogs are not much in use, and especially by
the sea- side, the coarser animal oils will come very
cheap. A pound of common grease may be pro-
cured for fourpence; and about six pounds of grease
will dip a pound of rushes ; and one pound of rushes
may be bought for one shilling ; so that a pound of
rushes, medicated and ready for use, will cost three
shillings. If men that keep bees will mix a little
wax with the grease, it will give it a consistency,
and render it more cleanly, and make the rushes
burn longer : mutton suet would have the same
effect.

A good rush, which measured in length two feet
four inches and a half, being minuted, burnt only
three minutes short of an hour : and a rush of still
greater length has been known to burn one hour and
a quarter.

These rushes give a good clear light. Watch-
lights, (coated with tallow ,) it is true, shed a dismal

RUSH CANDLES. 225

one — " darkness visible ;" but then the wicks of
those have two ribs of the rind, or peel, to support
the pith, while the wick of the dipped rush has but
one. The two ribs are intended to impede the pro-
gress of the flame, and make the candle last.

In a pound of dry rushes, avoirdupois, which I
caused to be weighed and numbered, we found up-
wards of one thousand six hundred individuals. Now,
suppose each of these burns, one with another, only
half an hour, then a poor man will purchase eight
hundred hours of light, a time exceeding thirty-three
entire days, for three shillings. According to this
account, each rush, before dipping, cost one-thirty-
third of a farthing, and one eleventh afterwards.
Thus a poor family will enjoy five and a half hours of
comfortable light for a farthing. An experienced old
housekeeper assures me, that one pound and a half of
rushes completely supplies his family the year round,
since working people burn no candle in the long days,
because they rise and go to bed by daylight.

Little farmers use rushes much in the short days,
both morning and evening, in the dairy and kitchen ;
but the very poor, who are always the worst econo-
mists, and therefore must continue 'very poor, buy a
halfpenny candle every evening, which, in their blow-
ing, open rooms, does not burn much more than two
hours. Thus have they only two hours' light for
their money, instead of eleven.

While on the subject of rural economy, it may not
be improper to mention a pretty implement of house-
wifery that we have seen no where else ; that is, little
neat besoms which our foresters make from the stalks
of the polytricum commune, or great golden maiden-
hair, which they call silk-wood, and find plenty in
the bogs *. When this moss is well combed and

* Very commonly used in Scotland for the same purposes, and
Q

PROPENSITY OF AN IDIOT BOY,

dressed, and divested of its outer skin, it becomes of
a beautiful bright chestnut colour; and, being soft
and pliant, is very proper for the dusting of beds,
curtains, carpets, hangings, &c. If these besoms
were known to the brush-makers in town, it is pro-
bable they might come much in use for the purpose
above mentioned *.

LETTER LXIX. A /Vj

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, December 12, 1775.

DEAR 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 amusement, his sole object. And
as people of this cast have seldom mo*e than one
point in view, so this lad exerted all his few faculties
on this one pursuit. In the winter, he dozed away
his time, within his father's house, by the fire-side,
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-bees, and wasps, were
his prey wherever he found them : he had no appre-
hensions from their stings, but would seize them
with naked hands, and at once disarm them of their
weapons, and suck their bodies for the sake of their

also for mats, or rugs, which are plaited together, leaving the
tops sticking out for two or three inches, and thus making both
a warm and useful household appendage. — W. J.

* A besom of this sort is to be seen in Sir Ashton Lever's
museum.

PROPENSITY OF AN IDIOT BOY. 227

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 apiaster, or bee-
bird ; and very injurious to men that kept bees ; for
he would slide into their bee-gardens, and, sitting
down 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, disco-
vered 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 exhibiter of bees ; and we may justly
say of him now,

" Thou,

Had thy presiding star propitious shone,
Shouldst Wildman be."

When a tall youth, he was removed from hence
to a distant village, where he died, as I understand,
before he arrived at manhood.

228 SUPERSTITIONS OF SELBORNE.

«y

LETTER LXX,

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, January 8, 1776.
DEAR 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, hecome so
interwoven into our very constitutions, that the
strongest good sense is required to disengage our-
selves 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.

Such a preamble seems to be necessary before we
enter on the superstitions of this district, lest we
should be suspected of exaggeration 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 1751, 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

SUPERSTITIONS OF SELBORNE.

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 ineffec-
tual. 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 living in the village,
who, in their childhood, were supposed to be healed
by this superstitious ceremony, derived down, per-
haps, 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 suffers 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

* They were supposed, also, to be particularly injurious to
horses. " When a horse in the fields happened to be suddenly
seized with any thing like a numbness in his legs, he was imme-
diately judged by the old persons to be either planet-struck, or
shrew-struck. The mode of cure which they prescribed, and
which they considered in all cases as infallible, was to drag the
animal through a piece of bramble that grew at both ends." —
BINGLEY'S Memoirs of British Quadrupeds. — Cats will kill
shrews, but will not eat them. — W. J.

230 DRIPPING OF TREES.

wherever it creeps over a 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 medi-
cated, 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 de-
voted 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 stubb'd and burnt it,"

when he was way- warden, regardless of the remon-
strances of the by-standers, who interceded in vain
for its preservation, urging its power and efficacy,
and alleging that it had been

" Religione patrum multos servata per annos."
With reverential awe preserved for years.

JLJ

LETTER LXXI.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Feb. 7> 1776.

DEAR SIR,

IN heavy fogs, on elevated situations especially,
trees are perfect alembics : and no one that has not

* For a similar practice, see PLOT'S Staffordshire.

DRIPPING OF TREES. 231

attended to such matters, can imagine how much
water one tree will distil in a night's time, hy con-
densing 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 dispense their kindly, never-ceasing
moisture ; and so render those districts habitable by
condensation alone.

Trees in leaf have such a vast proportion more of
surface than those that are naked, that, in theory,
their condensations should greatly exceed those that
are stripped of their leaves : but, as the former imbibe
also a great quantity of moisture, it is difficult to say
which drip most : but this I know, that deciduous
trees, that are entwined with much ivy, seem to
distil the greatest quantity. Ivy leaves are smooth,
and thick, and cold, and therefore condense very fast ;
and besides, evergreens imbibe very little. These
facts may furnish the intelligent with hints concern-
ing what sorts of trees they should plant round small
ponds that they would wish to be perennial ; and
show them how advantageous some trees are in pre-
ference to others.

Trees perspire profusely, condense largely, and
check evaporation so much, that woods are always
moist ; no wonder, therefore, that they contribute
much to pools and streams.

232 PONDS ON HILLS.

That trees are great promoters of lakes and rivers,
appears from a well -known fact in North America ;
for, since the woods and forests have been grubbed
and cleared, all bodies of water are much diminished ;
so that some streams, that were very considerable a
century ago, will not now drive a common mill *.
Besides, most woodlands, forests, and chases, with
us, abound writh pools and morasses, no doubt for the
reason given above.

To a thinking mind, few phenomena are more
strange than the state of little ponds on the summits
of chalk hills, many of which are never dry in the
most trying draughts of summer ; — on chalk hills, I
say, because, in many rocky and gravelly soils, springs
usually break out pretty high on the sides of elevated
grounds and mountains ; but no person acquainted
with chalky districts will allow that they ever saw
springs in such a soil but in valleys and bottoms, since
the waters of so pervious a stratum as chalk all lie
on one dead level, as well- diggers have assured me
again and again,

Now, we have many such little round ponds in this
district ; and one in particular on our sheep-down,
three hundred feet above my house ; which, though
never above three feet deep in the middle, and not
more than thirty feet in diameter, and containing
perhaps not more than two or three hundred hogs-
heads of water, yet never is known to fail, though it
affords drink for three hundred or four hundred
sheep, and for at least twenty head of large cattle be-
sides. This pond, it is true, is overhung with two
moderate beeches, that, doubtless, at times, afford it
much supply ; but then we have others as small, that,
without the aid of trees, and in spite of evaporation
from sun and wind, and perpetual consumption by

* Vide KALM'S Travels to North America.

PONDS ON HILLS. 233

cattle, yet constantly maintain a moderate share of
water, without overflowing in the wettest seasons, as
they would do if supplied by springs. By my jour-
nal of May, 1775, it appears that " the small and
even considerable ponds on the vales are now dried
up, while the small ponds on the very tops of hills
are but little affected." Can this difference be ac-
counted for from evaporation alone, which certainly
is more prevalent in bottoms? or rather have not
those elevated pools some unnoticed recruits, which
in the night-time counterbalance the waste of the
day ; without which, the cattle alone must soon ex-
haust them ? And here it will be necessary to enter
more minutely into the cause. Dr. Hales, in his
Vegetable Statics, advances, from experiment, that
" the moister the earth is, the more dew falls on it
in a night ; and more than a double quantity of dew
falls on an equal surface of moist earth." Hence we
see that water, by its coolness, is enabled to assimi-
late to itself a large quantity of moisture nightly by
condensation ; arid that the air, when loaded with
fogs and vapours, and even with copious dews, can
alone advance a considerable and never-failing re-
source. Persons that are much abroad, and travel
early and late, such as shepherds, fishermen, &c. can
tell what prodigious fogs prevail in the night on ele-
vated downs, even in the hottest parts of summer ;
and how much the surfaces of things are drenched by
those swimming vapours, though, to the senses, all
the while, little moisture seems to fall.

234 THE CUCKOO.

LETTER LXXII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, April 3, 1776.
DEAR SIR,

MONSIEUR HERISSANT, a French anatomist,
seems persuaded that he has discovered the reason
why cuckoos do not hatch their own eggs ; the im-
pediment, he supposes, arises from the internal struc-
ture of their parts, which incapacitates 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 galling, columbce,
&c. but immediately behind it, on and over the
bowels, so as to make a large protuberance in the
belly *.

Induced by this assertion, we procured a cuckoo ;
and, cutting open the breast-bone, and exposing the
intestines to sight, found the crop lying as men-
tioned above. This stomach was large and round,
and stuffed hard, like a pin-cushion, with food, which,
upon nice examination, we found to consist of various
insects ; such as small scarabs, spiders, and dragon-
flies ; the last of which we have seen cuckoos catch-
ing on the wing, as they were just emerging out of
the aurelia state. Among this farrago also were to
be seen maggots, and many seeds which belonged
either to gooseberries, currants, cranberries, or some
such fruit ; so that these birds apparently subsist
on insects and fruits ; nor was there the least appear -

* Histoire de V Academic Roy ale, 1752

THE CUCKOO. 235

ance 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 re-
markably 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 below the bowels, must, espe-
cially when full, be in a very uneasy situation during
the business of incubation : yet the test will be, to
examine whether birds that are actually known to sit
for certain, are not formed in a similar manner. This
inquiry I proposed to myself to make with a fern-owl,
or goat-sucker, as soon as opportunity offered : be-
cause, 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 habits and shape, we suspected might re-
semble the cuckoo in its internal construction. Nor
were our suspicions ill grounded ; for, upon the dis-
section, 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 phal(en&, moths of several sorts, and their
eggs, which, no doubt, had been forced out of these
insects by the action of swallowing.

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 conjec-
ture, that cuckoos are incapable of incubation from
the disposition of their intestines, seems to fall to the

* When these birds have fed much on some of the large hairy
caterpillars so common on the northern muirs, the stomach
becomes filled and coated with the short hairs, which may have
assisted in raising the opinion that they feed on small animals.
— W. J.

236 THE VIPER.

ground : and we are still at a loss for the cause of
that strange and singular peculiarity in the instance
of the cuculus canorus.

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

LETTER LXXIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, April 29, 1776.
DEAR SIR,

ON August the 4th, 1775, we surprised a large
viper, which seemed very heavy and bloated, as it
lay in the grass, basking in the sun. When we came
to cut it up, we found that the abdomen was crowded
with young, fifteen in number ; the shortest of which
measured full seven inches, and were about the size
of full-grown earth-worms. This little fry issued
into the world with the true viper spirit about them,
showing great alertness as soon as disengaged from
the belly of the dam : they twisted and wriggled
about, and set themselves 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.

To a thinking mind, nothing is more wonderful
than that early instinct which impresses young
animals with the notion of the situation of their
natural weapons, and of using them properly in their
own defence, even before those weapons subsist or

CASTRATION.

are formed. Thus a young cock will spar at his
adversary before his spurs are grown ; and a calf or
lamb will push with their heads before their horns
are sprouted. In the same manner did these young
adders attempt to bite before their fangs were in
being. The dam, however, was furnished with very
formidable ones, which we lifted up, (for they fold
down when not used,) and cut them off with the
point of our scissars.

There was little room to suppose that this brood
had fever 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.

LETTER LXXIV.

TO THE SAME.

CASTRATION 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

238 THE HOG.

chickens like hens. Barrow-hogs have also small
tusks like sows.

Thus far it is plain, that the deprivation of mas-
culine 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 further; 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 could restrain him.

LETTER LXXV.

TO THE SAME.

THE natural term of a 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 a 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
12

AFFECTION IN A CAT. 239

near double the number of pigs to that of teats,
many died. From long experience in the world,
this female was grown very sagacious and artful.
When she found occasion to converse 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 remarkably 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 quad-
ruped ! She was killed in spring, 1775.

LETTER LXXVI.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, May 9, 1776.
" Admorunt ubera tigres."

DEAR SIR,

WE have remarked in a former letter how much
incongruous animals, in a lonely state, may be at-
tached 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

240 AFFECTION IN A CAT.

young were dispatched and buried. The hare was
soon lost, and supposed to be gone the way of most
foundlings, to be killed by some dog or cat. How-
ever, in about a 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, arid some-
thing gamboling after, which proved to be the leveret
that the cat had supported with her milk, and conti-
nued 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 fells y the murium leo, " the
lion of mice/' as Linnseus 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 her-
self from 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 mar-

* About two years since, at a cottar's house in Annandale,
Dumfries-shire, a litter of pigs by some accident lost their mo-
ther ; at the same time, a pointer bitch happening to pup, and
the puppies suffering the lot common to most such, their place
was supplied by the pigs, which were well and affectionately
nursed by their foster-parent. — W. J. 1829.

WORMS. £41

vellous 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.

t.

LETTER LXXVII.

TO THE SAME.

SEL BORNE, May 20, 1777.
DEAR SIR,

LANDS that are subject to frequent inundations*
are always poor ; and, probably, the reason may be,
because the worms are drowned. The most insigni-
ficant insects and reptiles are of much more conse-
quence, and have much more influence in the economy
of Nature, than the incurious are aware of ; and are
mighty in their effect, from their minuteness, which
renders them less an object of attention ; and from
their numbers and fecundity. Earth-worms, though
in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain
of Nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable
chasm. For to say nothing of half the birds, and
some quadrupeds, which are almost entirely supported
by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of
vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without
them, 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 into
it ; and, most of all, by throwing up such infinite
numbers of lumps of earth, called worm-casts, which,
being their excrement, is a fine manure for grain and
grass. Worms probably provide new soil for hills
and slopes where the rain washes the earth away ;
and they affect slopes, probably, to avoid being flooded.

WORMS.

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 fermentation ; and,, consequently, sterile: and, be-
sides, 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 tipulce (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 afford much
entertainment, and information, at the same time ;
and would open a large and new field in natural his-
tory. 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 perso/n may be con-
vinced that will take the pains to examine his grass-
plots with a candle ; are hermaphrodites, and much
addicted to venery, and consequently very prolific.

* 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.

TORPIDITY OF SWALLOWS. 243

LETTER LXXVIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Nov. 22, 1777-
DEAR SIR,

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

This sudden summer-like heat was 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 neighbourhood ; the old
tortoise, near Lewes, 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 Cob-
ham, in Surrey.

But as that short warm period was succeeded as
well as preceded by harsh, severe weather, with fre-
quent frosts and ice, and cutting winds, the insects
withdrew, the tortoise retired again into the ground,
and the swallows were seen no more until the tenth
of 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-martins 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
R 2

244 TORPIDITY OF SWALLOWS.

of November, and often on the fourth day of that
month, only for one day ; and that not as if they
were in actual migration, but playing about at their
leisure, and feeding calmly, as if no enterprise of
moment at all agitated their spirits. And this was
the case in the beginning of this very month ; for, on
the fourth of November, more than twenty house-
martins, which, in appearance, had all departed
about the seventh of October, were seen again, for
that one morning only, sporting between my fields
and the Hanger, and feasting on insects which
swarmed in that sheltered district. The preceding
day was wet and blustering, but the fourth was dark,
and mild, and soft, the wind at south-west, and the
thermometer at 58§ ; a pitch not common at that
season of the year. 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 au-
tumnal and winter month.

From all these circumstances laid together, it is
obvious that torpid insects, reptiles, and quadrupeds,
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 these two species of British hirundines, do never
leave this island at all, but partake of the same be-
numbed state ; for we cannot suppose that, after a
month's absence, house-martins 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.

LEPROSY. 245

LETTER LXXIX.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Jan. 8, 1778.
DEAR 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 ten-
der, that neither his hands nor feet were able to per-
form their functions ; so that the poor object was half
his time on crutches, incapable of employ, and lan-
guishing in a tiresome state of indolence and inac-
tivity. His habit was lean, lank, and cadaverous.
In this sad plight he dragged on a miserable exist-
ence, a burden to himself and his parish, which was
obliged to support him, till he was relieved by death,
at more than thirty years of age.

The good women, who love to account for every
defect in children by the doctrine of longing, said
that his mother felt a violent propensity for oysters,
which she was 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 years.

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

246 LEPROSY.

given them in the Levitical law *. Nor was the
rancour of this foul disorder much ahated in the last
period of their commonwealth, as may be seen in
many passages of the New Testament.

Some centuries ago, this horrible distemper pre-
vailed all over Europe ; 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. Moreover,
some crowned heads, and other wealthy and chari-
table personages, bequeathed large legacies to such
poor people as languished under this hopeless infir-
mity.

It must, therefore, in these days, be, to a humane
and thinking person, a matter of equal wonder and
satisfaction, when he contemplates how nearly this
pest is eradicated, and observes that a leper is now
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 ori-
ginated 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 pro-
fusion of fruits, roots, legumes, and greens, so com-
mon in every family. Three or four centuries ago,
before there were any enclosures, sown grasses,
field turnips, or field carrots, or hay, all the cattle
that had grown fat in summer, and were not killed
for winter use, were turned out soon after Michael-
mas to shift as they could through the dead months ;
so that no fresh meat could be had in winter or

* See Leviticus, chap. xiii. and xiv.

LEPROSY. 247

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 the Second, even
so late in the spring as the 3d of May. It was from
magazines like these that the turbulent barons sup-
ported in idleness their riotous swarms of retainers,
ready for any disorder or mischief. But agriculture
has now arrived at such a pitch of perfection, that
our best and fattest meats are killed in the winter ;
and no man needs eat salted flesh, unless he prefer
it, that has money to buy fresh.

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

The use of linen changes, shirts or shifts, in the
room of sordid or filthy woollen, long worn next the
skin, is a matter of neatness comparatively modern,
but must prove a great means of preventing cuta-
neous ails. At this very time, woollen 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 people in the south, instead
of that miserable sort which used in old 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 cuta-
neous 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

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

248 GARDENS.

own memory, both in town and country, how vastly
the consumption of vegetables is increased. Green
stalls in cities now support multitudes in a comfort-
able 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 their hinds to eat with their bacon ; and those
few that do not are despised for their sordid parsi-
mony, 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 ven-
tured to taste them in the last reign.

Our Saxon ancestors certainly had some sort of
cabbage, because they call the month of February
sprout- cale ; but long after their days the cultiva-
tion of gardens was little attended to. The religious,
being men of leisure, and keeping up a constant
correspondence with Italy, were the first people
among us who had gardens and fruit-trees in any
perfection, within the walls 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 themselves that the knowledge of gar-
dening 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

* " 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 cultivated by the monks; they
were the only proficients in mechanics, gardening, and architec-
ture."— See DALRYMPLE'S Annals of Scotland.

ECHOES. 249

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 corrobo-
rates what has been advanced above ; for we find
him observing, so late as his days, that " the Italians
use several herbs for sallets, which are not yet, or
have not been but lately used 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, he adds, "curled endive blanched is
much used beyond seas, and for a raw sallet, seemed
to excel lettuce itself/' Now this journey was un-
dertaken no longer ago than in the year 1663.

LETTER LXXX.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, February 12, 1778-

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

DEAR SIR,

IN a district so diversified as this, so full of hol-
low 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 me-
lody of birds, very agreeably ; but we were still at a
loss for a polysyllabical articulate echo, till a young
gentleman, who had parted from his company in a
summer evening walk, and was calling after them,

250 ECHOES.

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 persuaded but that he
was mocked by some boys ; 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 dis-
tinctly, especially if quick dactyls were chosen. The
last syllables of

" Tityre, tu patulae recubans "

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

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

" Monstrum 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 than 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-

ECHOES. 251

kiln in Gaily Lane, which measures in front 40 feet,
and from the ground to the eaves 12 feet. The true
centrum phonicum, or just distance, is one particular
spot in the King's Field, in the path to Norehill, on
the very brink of the steep balk above the hollow
cart- way. In this case, there is no 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 120
feet for the return of each syllable distinctly ; hence
this echo, which gives ten distinct syllables, ought
to measure 400 yards, or 120 feet to each syllable;
whereas our distance is only 258 yards, or near 75
feet to each syllable. Thus our measure falls short
of the Doctor's as five to eight ; but then it must be
acknowledged, that this candid philosopher was con-
vinced afterwards, that some latitude must be ad-
mitted 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 even-
ing, the air is most elastic ; and perhaps the later the
hour the more so.

Echo has always been so amusing to the imagi-
nation, that the poets have personified her ; and in
their hands she has been the occasion of many a

252 ECHOES.

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 enter-
taining, must at least have been harmless and in-
offensive : 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,

• " Aut ubi concava pulsu

Saxa sonant, vocisque offensa resultat imago."

Or where the hollow rocks emit a sound,
And echoed voices from the cliffs rebound.

This wild and fanciful assertion will hardly be
admitted by the philosophers of these days, espe-
cially 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 repercussion of sounds,
I grant it is possible they may. Yet that these im-
pressions 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, or echoes.
Besides, it does not appear from experiment 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

ECHOES. 253

totally silent, though the object or hop -kiln remains :
nor is there any mystery in this defect, for the field
between is planted as a 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 those obstructions are re-
moved, no more of its garrulity can be expected.

Should any gentleman of fortune think an echo
in his park or outlet a pleasant 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
ensured could some canal, lake, or stream, intervene.
From a seat at the phonic centre, he and his friends
might amuse themselves sometimes of an evening
with the prattle of this 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

" Quae nee reticere loquenti,
Nee prior ipsa loqui, didicit resonabilis echo."

The vocal echo ne'er withholds reply,
But ne'er intrudes.

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 :

" Q,uae bene quom videas, rationem reddere possis
Tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loca sola

254 ECHOES.

Saxa pareis formas verborum ex ordine reddant,
Palanteis comites quom monteis inter opacos
Quserimus, et magna disperses voce ciemus.
Sex etiam, aut septem loca vidi reddere voces
Unam quomjaceres: ita colles collibus ipsis
Verba repulsantes iterabant dicta referre.
Haec loca capripedes Satyros, Nymphasque tenere
Finitimi fingunt, et Faunos esse loquuntur;
Quorum noctivago strepitu, ludoque jocanti
Adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rumpi,
Chordarumque sonos fieri, dulceisque querelas,
Tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum ;
Et genus agricolum late sentiscere, quom Pan
Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans, ^
Unco saepe labro calamos percurrit hianteis,
Fistula silvestrem ne cesset fundere musam."

LUCRETIUS, lib. iv. 1. 576.

This shows thee why, whilst men, through caves and groves,

Call their lost friends, or mourn unhappy loves,

The pitying rocks, the groaning caves return

Their sad complaints again, and seem to mourn :

This all observe, and I myself have known

Both rocks and hills return six words for one :

The dancing words from hill to hill rebound,

They all receive, and all restore the sound :

The vulgar and the neighbours think, and tell,

That there the Nymphs and Fauns, and Satyrs dwell :

And that their wanton sport, their loud delight,

Breaks through the quiet silence of the night :

Their music's softest airs fill all the plains,

And mighty Pan delights the list'ning swains :

The goat-faced Pan, whose flocks securely feed;

With long-hung lip he blows his oaken reed:

The horned, the half-beast god, when brisk and gay,

With pine-leaves crowned, provokes the swains to play.

SWIFTS. 255

LETTER LXXXI.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, May 13, 1778.
DEAR SIR,

AMONG the many singularities attending those
amusing birds, the swifts, I am now confirmed in the
opinion that we have every year the same number of
pairs invariably ; at least the result of my inquiry has
been exactly the same for a long time past. The
swallows and martins are so numerous, and so widely
distributed over the village, that it is hardly possible
to recount them ; while the swifts, though they do
not all build in the church, yet so frequently haunt it,
and play and rendezvous round it, that they are easily
enumerated. The number that I constantly find are
eight pairs, about half of which reside in the church,
and the rest build in some of the lowest and meanest
thatched cottages. Now, as these eight pairs — allow-
ance 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 re-occupy their ancient haunts ?

Ever since I have attended to the subject of orni-
thology, I have always supposed that the sudden
reverse of affection, that strange aVrtoropyrj, 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. With-
out this provision, one favourite district would be
crowded with inhabitants, while others would be des-
titute and forsaken. But the parent birds seem to
maintain a jealous superiority, and to oblige the

256 BOTANY.

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 Mono-
graphics, that the numbers returning bear no manner
of proportion to the numbers retiring.

LETTER LXXXII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, June 2, 1778.
DEAR 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 inves-
tigate the laws of vegetation, should examine the
powers and virtues of efficacious herbs, should pro-
mote their cultivation, and graft the gardener, the
planter, and the husbandman on the phytologist.
Not that system is by any means to be thrown aside
— without system the field of Nature would be a path-
less wilderness — but system should be subservient 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

BOTANY. 257

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 spi-
rits, but what secures us from inclemencies of wea-
ther, and adorns our persons. Man, in his true state
of nature, seems to be subsisted by spontaneous vege-
tation ; 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 upon his own species*.

The productions of vegetation have had a vast in-
fluence on the commerce of nations, and have been
the great promoters of navigation, 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 a mutual inter-
course ; so that by means of trade, each distant part
is supplied with the growth of every latitude. But,
without the knowledge of plants and their culture, we
must have been content with our hips and haws, with-
out enjoying the delicate fruits of India, and the
salutiferous drugs of Peru.

Instead of examining the minute distinctions of
every various species of each obscure genus, the bo-
tanist should endeavour to make himself acquainted
with those that are useful. You shall see a man
readily ascertain every herb of the field, yet hardly
know wheat from barley, or at least one sort of wheat
or barley from another.

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,

* See the late voyages to the South Seas.

258 BOTANY OF SELBORNE.

the hardy from the tender, nor the succulent and
nutritive from the dry and juiceless.

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

LETTER LXXXIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, July 3, 1778.
DEAR 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
filices, and the pastures and moist woods with fungi,
If in any branch of botany we may seem to be want-
ing, it must be in the large aquatic plants, which are
not to be expected on a spot far removed from rivers,
and lying up amidst the hill-country at the spring-
heads. To enumerate all the plants that have been
discovered within our limits, would be a needless
work ; but a short list of the more rare, and the spots
where they are to be found, may neither be unaccept-
able nor unentertaining.

Helleborus fcetidus, stinking hellebore, bear's-foot,
or setterwort — all over the Highwood and Coney-

BOTANY OF SELBORNE. 259

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 chil-
dren troubled with worms ; but it is a violent remedy,
and ought to be administered with caution.

Helleborus viridis, green hellebore — in the deep
stony lane, on the left hand, just before the turning
to Norton farm, and at the top of Middle Dorton
under the edge ; 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 oxycoccus, creeping bilberries, or cran-
berries— in the bogs of Bin's-pond ;

Vaccinium myrtillus, whortle, or bilberries — on the
dry hillocks of Wolmer 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 ;

Comarumpalustre, purple com arum, or marsh cinque -
foil— in the bogs of Bin's-pond ;

Hypericum andros&mum, Tutsan, St. John's wort —
in the stony, hollow lanes ;

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

Monatropa hypopithys, yellow monotropa, or bird'?-
nest — in Selborne-hanger under the shady beeches,
to whose roots it seems to be parasitical — at the
north-west end of the Hanger ;

Chlora perfoliata, Blackstonia perfoliata, Hudsoni,
perfoliated yellow- wort — on the banks in the King's
Field;

Paris quadrifolia, herb Paris, true love, or one-
berry — in the Church-litten-coppice ;

* Should this not have been drosera Anglica ? — W. J.
s 2

260 BOTANY OF SELBORNE.

Chrysosplenium oppositifolium, opposite golden saxi-
frage— in the dark and rocky hollow lanes ;

Gentiana amarella, autumnal gentian, or fellwort —
on the Zig-zag and Hanger ;

Lathrcea squammaria, 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 pilosus, small teasel — in the Short and
Long Lith ;

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

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

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

Serapias latifolia, helleborine — in the Highwood
under the shady beeches ;

Daphne laureola, 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 dane-
wort — 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

VERNAL AND AUTUMNAL CROCUS. 261

autumn. When we see the helleborus foetidus and
helleborus niger blowing at Christmas, the helleborus
hy emails in January, and the helleborus viridis as soon
as ever it emerges out of the ground, we do not won-
der, because they are kindred plants that we expect
should keep pace the one with the other ; but other
congenerous 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 an
affinity, that the best botanists only make them vari-
eties 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 wea-
ther ; 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 cre-
ation, 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
Congeal'd, the crocus' flamy bud to glow ?
Say, what retards, amidst the summer's blaze,
Th' autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days ?
The GOD of SEASONS ; whose pervading power
Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower :
He bids each flower his quickening word obey,
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay."

262 FLIGHT OF BIRDS.

LETTER LXXXIV.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Aug. 7, 1778.

" Omnibus animalibus reliquis certus et uniusmodi, et in suo
cuique genere incessus est ; aves solse vario meatu feruntur, et
in terra, et in aere." — PLIN. Hist. Nat. lib. x. cap. 38.

All other animals have a certain, definite, and peculiar gait ;
birds alone move in a varied manner both on the ground and in
the air.

DEAR SIR,

A GOOD ornithologist should be able to distin-
guish 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 pronounce
upon them with some certainty. Put a bird in
motion,

" Et vera incessu patuit."

And it is truly declared by its gait.

Thus kites and buzzards sail round in circles, with
wings expanded 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 windhover, 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

FLIGHT OF BIRDS. 263

in a buoyant manner, as if lighter than the air ; they
seem to want ballast. There is a peculiarity belong-
ing to ravens that must draw the attention even of
the most incurious — they spend all their leisure time
in striking and cuffing each other on the wing in a
kind of playful 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 frolicsome 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 and 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 gallince
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 power-
less wings, and make no dispatch ; herons seem en-
cumbered 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 ring-doves, though strong and rapid at
other times, yet, in the spring, hang about on the

* In some parts of Scotland, this is said and believed to be the
forerunner of stormy weather. — W. J.

264 FLIGHT OF BIRDS.

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 greenfinch,
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 butterfly. 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. Sky-larks rise and fall perpendicularly
as they sing ; woodlarks hang poised in the air ; and
titlarks rise and fall in large curves, singing in their
descent. The white-throat uses odd jerks and ges-
ticulations 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 Tringse,
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 dis-
patch ; the reason is plain, their wings are placed too

* Coots have a very powerful flight when once on the wing
and fly with their legs stretched out behind, acting the part of a
tail, in the manner of the heron. In Scotland and the north of
England, they arrive in the marshes and lakes to breed, and
retire again at the commencement of winter to the more southern
coasts. — W. J.

LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 265

forward out of the true centre of gravity; as the legs
of auks and divers are situated too backward.

LETTER LXXXV.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Sept. 9, 1778.
DEAR SIR,

FROM the motion of birds, the transition 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 devastation ; but I would be thought
only to mean, that many of the winged tribes have
various sounds and voices adapted to express their
various passions, wants, and feelings, such 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 ellip-
tical ; 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 re-

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

266 LANGUAGE OF BIRDS.

semble 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 tq 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 and 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 till day-
break, serenades his mate with the clattering of
castanets. All the tuneful passeres express their
complacency by sweet modulations, and a variety of
melody. The swallow, as has been observed in a
former letter, by a shrill alarm, bespeaks the atten-
tion of the other hirundines, and bids them be aware
that the hawk is at hand. Aquatic and gregarious
birds, especially the nocturnal, that shift their quarters
in the dark, are very noisy and loquacious ; as cranes,
wild-geese, wild-ducks, and the like ; their perpetual
clamour prevents 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 under-
stood. And first,— the peacock, with his gorgeous

LANGUAGE OF FOWLS. 267

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 mistress in a most uncouth 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 occur-
rences of 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 concerned, but catches from yard to yard, and

268 LANGUAGE OF FOWLS.

spreads to every homestead within hearing, till at
last the whole village is in an uproar. As soon as a
hen becomes a mother, her new relation demands a
new language ; she then runs clucking and scream-
ing about, and seems agitated as if possessed. The
father of the flock has also a considerable vocabulary ;
if he finds food, he calls a favourite concubine to par-
take ; and if a bird of prey passes over, with a warning
voice, he bids his family beware. The gallant chan-
ticleer has, at command, his amorous phrases, and
his terms of defiance. But the sound by which he is
best known is his crowing : by this he has been dis-
tinguished 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 crested cock, whose clarion sounds
The silent hours.'*

A neighbouring gentleman, one summer, had lost
most of his chickens by a sparrow-hawk, that came
gliding down between a fagot pile and the end of
his house to the place where the coops stood. The
owner, inwardly vexed to see his flock thus diminish-
ing, hung a setting net adroitly between the pile and
the house, into which the caitiff dashed, and was
entangled. Resentment suggested the law of re-
taliation ; he, therefore, clipped the hawk's wings,
cut off his talons, and, fixing a cork on his bill, threw
him down among the brood-hens. Imagination can--
not 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 buffeting their adversary till they had torn him
in a hundred pieces.

HELIOTROPES. 269

LETTER LXXXVL

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE.

" Monstrent

Quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles
Hyberni; vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet."

They show

Why winter-suns so rapidly descend,
And what delays the tardy nights extend.

GENTLEMEN who have outlets might contrive to
make ornament subservient to utility ; a pleasing eye-
trap might also contribute to promote science ; an
obelisk in a garden or park might be both an em-
bellishment 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 summer solstice ; and these two erections might
be constructed with very little expense ; for two pieces
of timber frame-work, about ten or twelve feet high,
and four feet broad at the base, and close lined with
plank, would answer the purpose.

The erection for the former should, if possible,
be placed within sight of some window in the com-
mon sitting parlour; because men, at that dead
season of the year, are usually within doors at the
close of the day ; while that of 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

270 HELIOTROPES.

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 retiring 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 more remote than the former or
following. When beginning its recess from the
summer tropic, it would continue more and more to
be hidden every night, till at length it would descend
quite behind the object again ; and so nightly more
and more to the westward.

HILLS. 271

LETTER LXXXVII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE.

Mugire videbis

Sub pedibus terram, et descendere montibus ornos."

WHEN I was a boy, I used to read, with astonish-
ment and implicit assent, accounts in Baker's Chro-
nicle of walking hills and travelling mountains. John
Philips, in his Cyder, alludes to the credit that was
given to such stories with a delicate but quaint vein
of humour, peculiar to the author of the Splendid
Shilling :

" I nor advise, nor reprehend, the choice
Of Marcley Hill ; the apple no where finds
A kinder mould: yet 'tis unsafe to trust
Deceitful ground : who knows but that, once more,
This mount may journey, and, his present site
Forsaking, to thy neighbour's bounds transfer
Thy goodly plants, affording matter strange
For law debates !"

But, when I came to consider better, I began
to suspect that, though our hills may never have
journeyed far, yet that the ends of many of them
have slipped and fallen away at distant periods,
leaving the cliffs bare and abrupt. This seems to
have been the case with Nore and Whetham Hills,
and especially with the ridge between Harteley
Park and Ward-le-ham, where the ground has slid
into vast swellings and furrows, and lies still in such
romantic confusion as cannot be accounted for from
any other cause. A strange event, that happened
not long since, justifies our suspicions ; which, though

FALL OF A CLIFF.

it befell not within the limits of this parish, yet as it
was within the hundred of Selborne, and as the cir-
cumstances 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 levants, began to pre-
vail, and to be near as high as in the memorable
winter of 1764. The beginning of March also went
on in the same tenor, when, in the night between
the 8th and 9th of that month, a considerable part
of the great woody hanger at 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 frag-
ment, being, perhaps, sapped and undermined by
waters, foundered, and was ingulfed, going down in
a perpendicular direction ; for a gate, which stood
in the field on the top of the hill, after sinking with
its posts for thirty or forty feet, remained in so true
and upright a position, as to open and shut with
great exactness, just as in its first situation. Several
oaks also are still standing, and in a state of vege-
tation, 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
unencumbered, but would have been buried in heaps
of rubbish, had the fragment parted and fallen for-
ward. About a hundred yards from the foot of
this hanging coppice, stood a cottage by the side
of a lane ; and two hundred yards lower, on the
other side of the lane, was a farm-house, in which
lived a labourer and his family ; and just by, a stout
new barn. The cottage was inhabited by an old
woman and her son, and his wife. These people,

FALL OF A CLIFF. 273

in the evening, which was very dark and tempes-
tuous, observed that the brick floors of their kitchens
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 earth-
quake, 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 man-
ner : that a pond near the cottage had undergone
a strange reverse, becoming deep at the shallow
end, and so vice versa : that many large oaks were
removed out of their perpendicular, some thrown
down, and some fallen into the heads of neigh-
bouring trees ; and that a gate was thrust forward,
with its hedge, full six feet, so as to require a new
track to be made to it. From the foot of the cliff,
the general course of the ground, which is pasture,
inclines in a moderate descent for half a mile, and
is interspersed with some hillocks, which were rifted
in every direction, as well towards the great woody
hanger as from it. In the first pasture the deep clefts
began, and, running across the lane and under the
buildings, made 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 with-
out many fissures in the turf, which was raised in
long ridges resembling graves, lying at right angles

274 FIELD-CRICKETS.

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.

The perpendicular height of the precipice, in gene-
ral, 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 hun-
dred and fifty-one yards. About fifty acres of land
suffered from this violent convulsion ; two 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 chasm*,
as to be rendered, for a time, neither fit for the plough,
nor safe for pasturage, till considerable labour and
expense had been bestowed in levelling the surface,
and filling in the gaping fissures.

LETTER LXXXVIII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE.
" Resonant arbusta."
The groves resound.

THERE is a steep abrupt pasture field, inter-
spersed with furze, close to the back of this village,
well known by the name of the Short Lithe, consist-
ing of a rocky dry soil, and inclining to the afternoon
sun. This spot abounds with the gryllus campestris,

FIELD-CRICKETS. 275

or field-cricket * ; which, though frequent in these
parts, is by no means a common insect in many other
counties.

As their cheerful summer cry cannot but draw
the attention of a naturalist, I have often gone down
to examine the economy of these grylli, and study
their mode of life ; but they are so shy and cautious
that it is no easy matter to get a sight of them ; for,
feeling a person's footsteps as he advances, they stop
short in the midst of their song, and retire backward
nimbly into their 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 breaking
up the ground, we inadvertently squeezed the poor
insect to death. Out of one so bruised, we took a
multitude of eggs, which were long and narrow, of
a yellow colour, and covered with a very tough skin.
By this accident we learned to distinguish the male
from the female ; the former of which is 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
present case : for, though a spade be too boisterous
and rough an implement, a pliant stalk of grass ,
gently insinuated into the caverns, will probe their
windings to the bottom, and quickly bring out the
inhabitant ; and thus the humane inquirer may

* Acheta campestris. — Fabricius.
T2

276 FIELD-CRICKETS.

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 exert them 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 brisk friction of one wing
against the other. They are solitary beings, living
singly male or female, each as it may happen ; but
there must be a time when the sexes have some
intercourse, and then the wings may be useful, per-
haps during the hours of night. When the males
meet, they will fight fiercely, as I found by some
which I put into the crevices of a dry stone wall,
where T should have been glad to have made them
settle : for though they seemed distressed by being
taken out of their knowledge, yet the first that got
possession of the chinks, would seize on any that
were obtruded 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 hand, I
could not but wonder that they never offered to
defend themselves, though armed with such for-
midable weapons. Of such herbs as grow before
the mouths of their burrows, they eat indiscrimi-
nately ; 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,

FIELD-CRICKETS. 277

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 still 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 ad-
vances, and so die away again by degrees.

Sounds do not always give us pleasure according
to their sweetness and melody ; nor do harsh sounds
always displease. We are more apt to be captivated
or disgusted with the associations which they pro-
mote, than with the notes themselves. Thus the
shrilling of the field- cricket, though sharp and stridu-
lous, yet marvellously delights some hearers, filling
their minds with a train of summer ideas of every
thing that is rural, verdurous, and joyous.

About the 10th of March, the crickets appear at
the mouths of their cells, which they then open and
bore, and shape very elegantly. All that ever I have
seen at that season were in their pupa state, and
had only the rudiments of wings lying* under a skin,
or coat, which must be cast before the insect can
arrive at its perfect state * : from whence I should
suppose that the old ones of last year do not always
survive the winter. In August, their holes begin to
be obliterated, and the insects are seen no more till
spring.

Not many summers ago, I endeavoured to trans-
plant 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 far-

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

278 HOUSE-CRICKETS.

ther distance every morning ; so that it appears that,
on this emergency, they made use of their wings in
attempting to return to the spot from which they
were taken.

One of these crickets, when confined in a paper
cage, and set in the sun, and supplied with plants
moistened with water, will feed and thrive, and be-
come 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.

LETTER LXXXIX.

^ )

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE.

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

MILTON'S II Penseroso.

DEAR SIR,

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, intruding itself upon our notice whether
we will or no. This species delights in new-built
houses, being, like the spider, pleased with the
moisture of the walls ; and, besides, the softness of
the mortar enables them to burrow and mine between
the joints of the bricks or stones, and to open com-
munications 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

HOUSE-CRICKETS. 279

the cold uncomfortable months in profound slum-
bers ; but these, residing as it were in a torrid zone,
are always alert and merry ; a good Christmas fire is
to them like the heats of the dog-days. Though
they are frequently heard by day, yet is their natural
time of motion only in the night. As soon as it
grows dusk, the chirping increases, and they come
running forth, and are from the size of a flea to that
of their full stature. As one should suppose, from the
burning 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 prognostics sometimes, she
thinks, of ill or good luck ; of the death of a near re-
lation, 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 vo-
racious ; 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

* It is a common superstition in Dumfries-shire, that, if the
crickets forsake a house which they have long inhabited, some
evil will befall the family — generally the death of some member
is portended. In like manner, the presence or return of this
cheerful little insect is lucky, and portends some good to the
family.— W. J.

280 MOLE-CRICKETS.

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

LETTER XC.

\

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE.

How diversified are the modes of life, not only of
incongruous, but even of congenerous animals ! and

* Exod. viii. 3.

MOLE-CRICKETS. 281

yet their specific distinctions are not more various
than their propensities. Thus, while the field- cricket
delights in sunny, dry banks, and the house-cricket
rejoices amidst the glowing heat of the kitchen hearth
or oven, the gryllus gryllotalpa (the mole-cricket *)
haunts moist meadows, and frequents the sides of
ponds, and banks of streams, performing all its func-
tions in a swampy, wet soil. With a pair of fore-feet,
curiously adapted to the purpose, it burrows and works
under ground like the mole, raising a ridge as it pro-
ceeds, but seldom throwing up hillocks.

As mole-crickets often infest gardens by the sides
of canals, they are unwelcome guests to the gardener,
raising up ridges in their subterraneous progress, and
rendering the walks unsightly. If they take to the
kitchen quarters, they ^occasion great damage among
the plants and roots, by destroying whole beds of
cabbages, young legumes, and flowers. When dug
out, they seem very slow and helpless, and make no
use of their wings by day ; but at night they come
abroad, and make long excursions, as I have been
convinced by finding stragglers, in a morning, in
improbable places. In fine weather, about the middle
of April, and just at the close of day, they begin to
solace themselves with a low, dull, jarring note, con-
tinued 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 a
house where I was on a visit, happening to be mow-
ing, on the 6th of that month, by the side of a canal,
his scythe struck too deep, pared off a large piece of

* Gryllotalpa milgaris, in some places where abundant, does
great damage to newly sown seeds, particularly peas, beans,
&c.— W. J.

282 MOLE-CRICKETS.

turf, and laid open to view a curious scene of domes-
tic economy : —

" Ingentem lato dedit ore fenestram :
Apparet domus intus, et atria longa patescunt :
Apparent penetralia.''

A yawning breach of monstrous size he made ;
The inmost house is now to sight display'd ;
The admitted light with sudden lustre falls
On the long galleries and the splendid halls.

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 the secret nursery were deposited near an
hundred eggs, of a dirty yellow colour, and enveloped
in a tough skin ; but too lately excluded to contain
any rudiments of young, being full of a viscous sub-
stance. The eggs lay but shallow, and within the
influence of the sun, just under a little heap of fresh
moved mould, like that which is raised by ants.

When mole-crickets fly, they move cursu undoso,
rising and falling in curves, like the other species
mentioned before. In different parts of this king-
dom, 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 structure, position, and num-
ber 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 quadru-
peds !

HIMANTOPUS. 283

LETTER XCI. f

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, May 7> 1779-

IT 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 oc-
currences 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 an Eng-
lish name, but known to naturalists by the terms of
himantopus, or loripes, and charadrius himantopus
were shot upon the verge of Frinsham Pond, a large
lake belonging to the Bishop of Winchester, and
lying between Wolmer Forest and the town of Farn-
ham, 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 pro-
cured, and found the length of the legs to be so ex-
traordinary, that, at first sight, one might have sup-
posed the shanks had been fastened on to impose on
the credulity of the beholder : they were legs in cari-
catura ; and had we seen such proportions on a Chi-
nese 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 pro-
priety, be called the stilt-plovers. Brisson, under
that idea, gives them the apposite name of I'echasse.
My specimen, when drawn, and stuffed with pepper,
weighed only four ounces and a quarter, though the

~S II IMAM TOI'l IS.

naked p:irt ol the tlu,"h measured throe inches and ;i

hall, and the Icj^s lour inches and a half. Hence we
ina\ -airly assert, that these birds exhibit, weight for
inches, incomparably the peatest length ol lej.-s of
any known bird. 'The flamingo, for instance, is one
of the most lon«»---lc««;;?;ed birds, and yet it bear; no
manner of proportion to the hiinantopns ; for a cock
flamingo weighs, at an average, about four pounds
avoirdupois; and his le^s and thii-hs measure usualK
about twenty inches. lint four pounds are fifteen
times and a fraction more than lour ounces and one
(piarter; and if four ounces and a «piarter have ei»ht
inches of le^'s, four pounds must have one hundred
and twenty inches and a fraction of lefs, vi/. some
what more than ten feet, such a monstrous propor-
tion as the world never saw ! If you should try the
experiment in still larj-vr birds, the disparity would
still increase. It must hi- matter of ^reat curiosity
to see the stilt-plover move ; to observe how it can
wield such a leni'th of lexer with such feeble muscles
as the thighs seem to be furnished with. At best,
one should expect it to be but a bad walker: but
what adds to the wonder is, that it has no back toe.
Now, without that steady prop to support its steps,
it must be liable, in speculation, to perpetual vacilla-
tions, and seldom able to preserve the true centre of
gravity.

The old name of /ihna/ifo/Jiis is taken from IMmy ;
and, by an awkward metaphor, implies that the le^'s
arc as slender and pliant as if cut, out of a thonv of
leather. Neither \Villu;;hby nor Kay, in all their
curious researches, either at home or abroad, e\er
saw this bird. Mr. IVnnant never met with it in all
Great Britain, but observed it often in t he cabinet*
of the curious at Paris. I lassehpiist says, that it
;;tes to K;;ypt in the autumn ; and a most
accurate observer of nature lias a-med me, that

TORTOISE. 285

he has found it on the banks of the streams in An-
dalusia.

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
Continent, since nobody can suppose that a species
not noticed once in an age, and of such a remark-
able make, can constantly breed unobserved in this
kingdom.

LETTER XCII.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, April 21, 1780.
DEAR SIR,

THE old Sussex tortoise, that I have mentioned
to you so often, is become my property. I dug it
cut of its winter dormitory in March last, when it
was enough awakened to express its resentments by
hissing ; and, packing it in a box with earth, carried
it eighty miles in post chaises. The rattle and hurry
of the journey so perfectly roused it, that when I
turned it out on a border, it walked twice down to
the bottom of my garden : however, in the evening,
the weather being cold, it buried itself in the loose
mould, and continues still concealed.

As it will be under my eye, I shall now have an
opportunity of enlarging my observations on its

286 TORTOISE.

mode of life, and propensities ; and perceive already,
that, towards the time of coming forth, it opens a
breathing-place in the ground near its head, requi-
ring, I conclude, a freer respiration as it becomes
more alive. This creature not only goes under the
earth from the middle of November to the middle of
April, but sleeps great part of the summer; for it
goes to bed, in the longest days, at four in the after-
noon, and often does not stir in the morning till late.
Besides, it retires to rest for every shower, and does
not move at all in wet days.

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

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

Summer birds are, this cold and backward spring,
unusually late : I have seen but one swallow yet.
This conformity with the weather convinces me more
and more that they sleep in the winter.

TORTOISE. 287

MORE PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE OLD FAMILY
TORTOISE.

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

" Much too wise to walk into a well ;"

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

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

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

Pitiable seems the condition of this poor embar-
rassed reptile : to be cased in a suit of ponderous
armour, which he cannot lay aside ; to be imprisoned,
as it were, within his own shell, must preclude, we
should suppose, all activity and disposition for enter-

* Several years ago a book was written entitled, " Fruit walls
improved by inclining them to the horizon ;" in which the author
has shown, by calculation, that a much greater number of the
rays of the sun will fall on such walls than on those which are
perpendicular,

12

288 HONEY-BUZZARDS.

prise. Yet there is a season of the year (usually the
beginning of June) when his exertions are remark-
able. He then walks on tiptoe, and is stirring by
five in the morning ; and, traversing the garden,
examines every wicket and interstice in the fences,
through which he will escape if possible ; and often
has eluded the care of the gardener, and wandered to
some distant field. The motives that impel him to
undertake these rambles seem to be of the amorous
kind : his fancy then becomes intent on sexual at-
tachments, which transport him beyond his usual
gravity, and induce him to forget for a time his
ordinary solemn deportment.

LETTER XCITI.

TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.

A PAIR of honey-buzzards, buteo apivorus, 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 set on for some time, and
contained the embryo of a young bird. The egg was
smaller, and not so round, as 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

HONEY BUZZARD.

SPARROW-HAWK.

SPARROW-HAWKS. 289

the wing, this species may be easily distinguished
from the common buzzard, by its hawk-like appear-
ance, small head, wings not so blunt, and longer tail.
This specimen contained in its craw some limbs of
frogs, and many grey snails 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 duck-
lings under their care. A boy climbed the tree, and
found the young so fledged that they all 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 blackbird, jay, 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.

LETTER XCIV.

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Nov. 30, 1780.
DEAR SIR,

EVERY incident that occasions a renewal of our
correspondence will ever be pleasing and agreeable
to me.

u

290 DOVES.

As to the wild wood-pigeon, the oenas, or vinago,
of Ray, I am much of your mind ; and see no reason
for making it the origin of the common house -dove :
but suppose those that have advanced that opinion
may have been misled by another appellation, often
given to the oenas, which is that of stock- dove.

Unless the stock- dove in the winter varies greatly
in manners from itself in summer, no species seems
more unlikely to be domesticated, and to make a
house-dove. We very rarely see the latter settle on
trees at all, nor does it ever haunt the woods ; but
the former, as long as it stays with us, from Novem-
ber perhaps to February, lives the same wild life with
the ring-dove, (palumbus torquatus ;) frequents cop-
pices 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 con-
struct their nests on trees, like the ring-dove, as I
much suspect 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 corre-
spondent determine the place of its nidification, whe-
ther on rocks, cliffs, or trees ? If he was not an adroit
ornithologist, 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 sup-
posing that house-doves are 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
domestication, which generally enlarges the breed.
Again, those two remarkable black spots on the
remiges of each wing of the stock- dove, which are so
characteristic of the species, would not, one should

WOOD-PIGEONS.

think, be totally lost by its being reclaimed; but
would often break out among its descendants. But
what is worth a hundred arguments, is the instance
you give in Sir Roger Mostyn's house- doves in Caer-
narvonshire ; 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 fast-
nesses of Ormshead, and deposit their young in safety
amidst the inaccessible caverns and precipices of that
stupendous promontory.

" Naturam expellas furca. .tamen usque recurret."
Nature, expell'd by force, will still return.

I have consulted a sportsman, now in his seventy-
eighth year, who tells me, that fifty or sixty years
back, when the beechen woods were much more ex-
tensive 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 head : he more-
over adds, which I was not aware of, that often
there were among them little parties of small blue
doves, which he calles rockier s. 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 in-
crease 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
u 2

292 RING-DOVES.

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 Novem-
ber, and ceases early in the spring. Last winter we
had, in Selborne High-wood, about a hundred of
these doves ; but in former times the flocks were so
vast, not only with us, but all the district around,
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,

" Their rising all at once was like the sound
Of thunder heard remote."

It will by no means be foreign to the present pur-
pose to add, that I had a relation in this neighbour-
hood 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-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 dis-
playing a strange ferocity of nature, so as scarcely to
bear to be looked at, and snapping with their bills by
way of menace. Tn short, they always died, perhaps

* Some old sportsmen say, that the main part of these flocks
used to withdraw as soon as the heavy Christmas frosts were
over.

DOVES. 293

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 cannot refrain from
quoting the passage ; and John Dry den has rendered
it so happily in our language, that without farther ex-
cuse, I shall add his translation also.

" Qualis spelunca subito commota columba,
Cui domus, et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi,
Fertur in arva volans, plausumque exterrita pennis
Dat tecto ingentem : mox aere lapsa quieto
Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas."

" As when the dove her rocky hold forsakes,

Roused in a fright, her sounding wings she shakes ;
The cavern rings with clattering ; out she flies,
And leaves her callow care, and cleaves the skies :
At first she flutters ; but at length she springs
To smoother flight, and shoots upon her wings."

LETTER XCV.

TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.

SELBORNE, Sept. 3, 1781.

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

In some former letters, I expressed my suspicions
that many of the house -martins do not depart in the
winter far from this village. I therefore determined
to make some search about the south-east end of
the hill, where I imagined they might slumber out

294 HOUSE-MARTINS.

the uncomfortable months of winter. But supposing
that the examination would be made to the best ad-
vantage in the spring, and observing that no martins
had appeared by the llth of April last, on that day
I employed some men to explore the shrubs and
cavities of the suspected spot. The persons took
pains, but without any success ; however, a remark-
able incident occurred in the midst of our pursuit, —
while the labourers were at work, a house-martin,
the first that had been seen this year, came down the
village in the sight of several people, and went at
once into a nest, where it stayed a short time, and
then flew over the houses ; for some days after, no
martins were observed, not till the 16th of April,
and then only a pair. Martins in general were re-
markably late this year.

LETTER XCVL

TO THE SAME.

SELBORNE, Sept. 9, 1781.

I HAVE just met with a circumstance respecting
swifts, which furnishes an exception to the whole
tenor of my observations ever since I have bestowed
any attention on that species of hirundines. Our
swifts, in general, withdrew this year about the first
day of August, all save one pair, which in two or
three days was reduced to a single bird. The perse-
verance of this individual made me suspect that the
strongest of motives, that of an attachment to her
young, could alone occasion so late a stay. I watched
therefore till the 24th of August, and then discovered
that, under the eaves of the church, she attended

SWIFTS. 295

upon two young, which were fledged, and now put
out their white chins from a crevice. These remained
till the 27th, looking more alert every day, and seem-
ing 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 31st, 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 hippoboscfs 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 begin-
ning of August, yet that they can subsist longer is
undeniable. The second is, that this uncommon
event, as it was owing to the loss of the first brood,
so it corroborates my former remark, that swifts
breed regularly but once ; since, was the contrary
the case, the occurrence above could neither be new
nor rare.

P.S. One swift was seen at Lyndon, in the
county of Rutland, in 1782, so late as the 3d of
September.

LETTER XCVII.

TO THE SAME.

As I have sometimes known you make inquiries
about several kinds of insects, I shall here send you
an account of one sort which I little expected to
have found in this kingdom. I had often observed
that one particular part of a vine, growing on the
walls of my house, was covered in the autumn with

296 coccus.

a black, dust-like appearance, on which the flies fed
eagerly ; and that the shoots and leaves thus affected
did not thrive, nor did the fruit ripen. To this sub-
stance I applied my glasses ; but could not discover
that it had any thing to do with animal life, as I at
first expected : but upon a closer examination behind
the larger boughs, we were surprised to find that
they were coated over with husky shells, from whose
sides proceeded a cotton-like substance, surrounding
a multitude of eggs. This curious and uncommon
production put me upon recollecting what I have
heard and read concerning the coccus vitis viniferce of
Linnaeus, which, in the south of Europe, infests many
vines, and is a horrid and loathsome pest. As soon
as I had turned to the accounts given of this insect,
I saw at once that it swarmed on my vine ; and
did not appear to have been at all checked by the
preceding winter, which had been uncommonly
severe.

Not being then at all aware that it had any thing
to do with England, I was much inclined to think
that it came from Gibraltar, among the many boxes
and packages of plants and birds which I had formerly
received from thence ; and especially as the vine
infested grew immediately under my study window,
where I usually kept my specimens. True it is, that
T had received nothing from thence for some years :
but as insects, we know, are conveyed from one
country to another in a very unexpected manner,
and have a wonderful power of maintaining their
existence till they fall into a nidus proper for their
support and increase, I cannot but suspect still that
these cocci came to me originally from Andalusia.
Yet, all the while, candour obliges me to confess,
that Mr. Lightfoot has written me word, that he
once, and but once, saw these insects on a vine at
Weymouth, in Dorsetshire; which it is here to be

coccus. 297

observed, is a seaport town to which the coccus might
be conveyed by shipping.

As many of my readers may possibly never have
heard of this strange and unusual insect, I shall
here transcribe a passage from a Natural History of
Gibraltar, written by the Reverend John White, late
Vicar of Blackburn, in Lancashire, but not yet pub-
lished : —

" In the year 1770, a vine, which grew on the
east side of my house, and which had produced the
finest crops of grapes for years past, was suddenly
overspread, on all the woody branches, with large
lumps of a white fibrous substance, resembling
spiders' webs, or rather raw cotton. It was of a
very clammy quality, sticking fast to every thing
that touched it, and capable of being spun into long
threads. At first I suspected it to be the product
of spiders, but could find none. Nothing was to be
seen connected with it, but many brown oval husky
shells, which by no means looked like insects, but
rather resembled bits of the dry bark of the vine.
The tree had a plentiful crop of grapes set, when
this pest appeared upon it ; but the fruit was mani-
festly injured by this foul encumbrance. It remained
all the summer, still increasing, and loaded the woody
and bearing branches to a vast degree. I often
pulled off great quantities by handfuls ; but it was so
slimy and tenacious that it could by no means be
cleared. The grapes never filled to their natural
perfection, but turned watery and vapid. Upon pe-
rusing the works afterwards of M. de Reaumur, I
found this matter perfectly described and accounted
for. Those husky shells which I had observed, were
no other than the female coccus, from whose sides
this cotton-like substance exudes, and serves as a
covering and security for their eggs."

298 SMOTHER-FLIES.

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

As we have remarked above, that insects are often
conveyed from one country to another in a very
unaccountable manner, I shall here mention an
emigration of small aphides, which was observed in
the village of Selborne, no longer ago than August
the 1st, 1785.

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

* For various methods by which several insects shift their
quarters, see DERHAM'S Physico- Theology.

GOLD AND SILVER FISHES.

LETTER XCVIII.
TO THE SAME.

DEAR SIR,

WHEN I happen to visit a family where gold
and silver fishes are kept in a glass bowl, I am al-
ways pleased with the occurrence, because it offers
me an opportunity of observing the actions and pro-
pensities of those beings, with whom we can be little
acquainted in their natural state. Not long since,
I spent a fortnight at the house of a friend, where
there was such a vivary, to which I paid no small
attention, taking every occasion to remark what
passed within its narrow limits. It was here that I
first observed the manner in which fishes die. As
soon as the creature sickens, the head sinks lower
and lower, and it stands, as it were, on its head;
till, getting weaker, and losing all poise, the tail
turns over, and, at last, it floats on the surface of
the water, with its belly uppermost. The reason
why fishes, when dead, swim in that manner, is very
obvious ; because, when the body is no longer
balanced by the fins of the belly, the broad muscu-
lar back preponderates by its own gravity, and turns
the belly uppermost, as lighter, from its being a
cavity, and because it contains the swimming blad-
ders, which contribute to render it buoyant. Some
that delight in gold and silver fishes, have adopted
a notion that they need no aliment. True it is,
that they will subsist for a long time without any
apparent food but what they can collect from pure
water frequently changed ; yet they must draw some
support from animalcula, and other nourishment

300 GOLD AND SILVER FISHES.

supplied by the water; because, though they seem
to eat nothing, yet the consequences of eating often
drop from them. That they are best pleased with
such jejune diet may easily be confuted, since, if
you toss them crumbs, they will seize them with
great readiness, not to say greediness : however,
bread should be given sparingly, lest, turning sour,
it corrupt the water. They will also feed on the
water plant called lemna (duck's meat,) and also on
small fry.

When they want to move a little, they gently
protrude themselves with their pinned pectorales ;
but it is with their strong muscular tails only that
they, and all fishes, shoot along with such incon-
ceivable rapidity. It has been said, that the eyes
of fishes are immoveable ; but these apparently turn
them forward or backward, in their sockets, as their
occasions require. They take little notice of a
lighted candle, though applied close to their heads,
but flounce, and seem much frightened, by a sudden
stroke of the hand against the support whereon the
bowl is hung ; especially when they have been mo-
tionless, and are perhaps asleep. As fishes have no
eyelids, it is not easy to discern when they are sleep-
ing or not, because their eyes are always open.

Nothing can be more amusing than a glass bowl
containing such fishes : the double refractions of the
glass and water represent them, when moving, in a
shifting and changeable variety of dimensions, shades,
and colours; while the two mediums, assisted by
the concavo-convex shape of the vessel, magnify
and distort them vastly ; not to mention that the
introduction of another element and its inhabitants
into our parlours engages the fancy in a very agree-
able manner.

Gold and silver fishes, though originally natives
of China and Japan, yet are become so well recon-

HOUSE-MARTINS. 301

ciled to our climate, as to thrive and multiply very
fast in our ponds arid stews. Linnaeus ranks this
species of fish under the genus of cyprinus, or carp,
and calls it cyprinus auratus.

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

I

" Qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter imam."

Who loves to vary every single thing
Prodigiously.

LETTER XCIX.

TO THE SAME.

October 10, 1781.
DEAR SIR,

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

Having taken notice, in October, 1780, that the

•

302 HOUSE-MARTINS.

last flight was numerous, amounting perhaps to one
hundred and fifty, and that the season was soft and
still, I was resolved to pay uncommon attention to
these late birds, to find, if possible, where they
roosted, and to determine the precise time of their
retreat. The mode of life of 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 man-
ner, and feasting on those insects which love to
haunt a spot so secure from ruffling winds. As my
principal object was to discover the place of their
roosting, I took care to wait on them before they
retired to rest, and was much pleased to find that,
for several evenings together, just at a quarter past
five in the afternoon, they all scudded away in great
haste towards the south-east, and darted down among
the low shrubs above the cottages at the end of the
hill. This spot, in many respects, seems to be well
calculated for their winter residence, for, in many
parts, 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 to 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.

INSTINCT. 303

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 third 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, 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.

LETTER C.

TO THE SAME.

THEY 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
denned 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

12

304 INSTINCT.

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 schoolboy would at once pronounce on the sort of
nest before him. This is the case among fields, and
woods, and wilds ; but, in the villages round London,
where mosses, and gossamer and cotton from vege-
tables, 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 compactness
so remarkable in the edifices of that little architect.
Again, the regular nest of the house -martin is
hemispheric ; but where a rafter, or a joist, or a
cornice, may happen to stand in the way, the nest
is so contrived as to conform to the obstruction, and
becomes flat, or oval, or compressed.

In the following instances, instinct is perfectly
uniform and consistent. There are three creatures,
the squirrel, the .field-mouse, and the bird called
the nut-hatch (sitta europ&a), which live much on
hazel-nuts, and yet they open them each in a dif-
ferent way. The first, after rasping off the small
end, splits the shell into 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

MUSIC. 305

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 a concert is over.
What I mean, the following passage will most readily
explain :

" Prsehabebat porro vocibus humanis, instrumen-
tisque harmonicis, musicam illam avium : non quod
alia quoque non delectaretur ; sed quod ex musica
humana relinqueretur in animo continens qusedam,
attentionemque et somnum conturbans agitatio : dum
ascensus, exscensus, tenores, ac mutationes illse so-
norum et consonantiarum, euntque, redeuntque per
phantasiam : — cum nihil tale relinqui possit ex modu-
lationibus avium, quse, quod non sunt perinde a nobis
imitabiles, non possunt perinde internam facultatem
commovere." — GASSENDUS, in Vitd Peireskii. — •" He
preferred, also, the music of birds to vocal and in-
strumental harmony ; not that he did not take plea-
sure in any other, but because there was left in the
mind some constant agitation, disturbing the sleep
and the attention, whilst the several variations of
sound and concord go and return through the imagina-
tion, when no such effect can be produced by the mo-
dulation of birds, because, as they are not equally
imitable by us, they cannot equally excite the internal
faculty."

This curious quotation strikes me much by so well
representing my own case, and by describing what I

306 PETTICHAPS.

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 teaze
my imagination, and recur irresistibly to my recol-
lection at seasons, and even when I am desirous of
thinking of more serious matters.

LETTER CI.

TO THE SAME.

A RARE, and I think a new, little bird frequents
my garden, which, I have great reason to think, is
the pettichaps : it is 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.

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 even-
ing, 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

PEREGRINE FALCON. 307

pond* . His attention was first drawn by the twittering
of these birds, which sat motionless in a row on the
bough, with their heads all one way, and, by their
weight pressing down the twig, so that it nearly
touched the water. In this situation, he watched
them till he could see no longer. Repeated accounts
of this sort, spring and fall, induce us greatly to
suspect, that house -swallows have some strong at-
tachmment to water, independent of the matter of
food; and, though they may not retire into that
element, yet they may conceal themselves in the
banks of pools and rivers during the uncomfortable
months of winter.

One of the keepers of Wolmer Forest sent me a
peregrine falcon, which he shot on the verge of that
district, as it was devouring a wood-pigeon. The
falco peregrinus, or haggard falcon, is a noble species
of hawk, seldom seen in the southern counties. In
winter 1767, one was killed in the neighbouring
parish of Faringdon, and sent by me to Mr. Pennant
into North Walesf. Since that time, I have met
with none till now. The specimen mentioned above
was in fine preservation, and not injured by the shot :
it measured forty-two inches from wing to wing, and
twenty -one from beak to tail, and weighed two
pounds and a half standing weight. This species is

* Spallanzani says, very decidedly, that swallows retire under
water at the time of their disappearance from this country ; but
acknowledges that he had never himself observed it, though his
belief of the fact seemed certain. He had performed a variety
of experiments to resolve the question, if cold would have the
effect of producing torpidity, and confined swallows in different
ways under snow and ice, and in an ice-house. The result,
however, was always death, when the temperature and period of
immersion were prolonged beyond a certain period ; and the con-
clusion he draws is, that, at least, our species of hirundinidce do
not become torpid. — W. J.

f See Letters X. and XI. to Thomas Pennant, Esq.
x 2

308 PEREGRINE FALCON.

very robust, and wonderfully formed for rapine : its
breast was plump and muscular ; its thighs long,
thick, and brawny; and its legs remarkably short
and well-set : the feet were armed with most for-
midable, sharp, long talons : the eyelids and cere
of the bill were yellow ; but the irides of the eyes
dusky : the beak was thick and hooked, and of a
dark colour, and had a jagged process near the end
of the upper mandible on each side: its tail, or train,
was short in proportion to the bulk of its body ; yet
the wings, when closed, did not extend to the end
of the train. From its large and fair proportions, it
might be supposed to have been a female ; but I was
not 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 vo-
racious birds do not eat grain ; but, when devouring
their quarry, with undistinguishing vehemence, swal-
low bones and feathers, and all . matters, indiscrimi-
nately *. 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.

* The bones and feathers are swallowed naturally, and assist
to promote the digestion. The Abbe Spallanzani, in his experi-
ments on various birds and animals, by changing gradually the
food, at last brought some of the falcons to live on a vegetable
diet ; and, as a reverse, fed a pigeon upon animal substances —
proving that, by degrees, the natural food of an animal may be
changed, for a time at least, without-harm. — W. J.

CHINESE DOGS. 309

Of

LETTER CII.

TO THE SAME.

MY near neighbour, a young gentleman in the
service of the East India Company, has brought
home a dog and a bitch of the Chinese breed from
Canton ; such as are fattened in that country for
the purpose of being eaten : they are about the
size of a moderate spaniel ; of a pale yellow colour,
with coarse bristling hair on their backs ; sharp
upright ears, and peaked heads, which give them
a very fox-like appearance. Their hind legs are un-
usually 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, 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

310 DOGS.

much from their dam ; yet they did not relish flesh
when they came to England. 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 Kamtschatdales 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 remarkable for finding that sort of
game. But, when we came to offer the bones of
partridges to the two Chinese dogs, they devoured
them with much greediness, and licked the platter
clean.

No sporting dogs will flush woodcocks till inured
to the scent, and trained to the sport, which they
then pursue with 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,

FOSSIL WOOD. 311

since the end of hunting seems to be, that the chase
pursued should be eaten. Dogs, again, will not de-
vour the more rancid water-fowls ; nor indeed the
bones of any wild-fowls ; nor will they touch the fetid
bodies of birds that feed on offal and garbage ; and
indeed there may be somewhat of providential in-
stinct 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 of
the earth J.

LETTER CUT.

TO THE SAME.

THE fossil wood buried in the bogs of Wolmer
Forest, is not yet all exhausted ; for the peat- cutters
now and then stumble upon a log. I have just seen
a piece which was sent by a labourer of Oakhanger
to a carpenter of this village : this was the butt- end
of a small oak, about five feet long, and about five
inches in diameter. It had apparently been severed

* 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.

f The Chinese word for a dog, to a European ear, sounds
like quihloh.

J See some very interesting observations on the natural his-
tory and origin of our domestic race of dogs, in the fifth number
of the Journal of Agriculture, by Mr. J. Wilson. The origin of
all our domestic breeds is there traced to the wolf and jackal ;
allowing, of course, the native dogs of Africa and America,
with the New Holland Dingo, to be distinct species. — W. J.

312 ROOKS.

from the ground by an axe, was very ponderous, and
as black as ebony. Upon asking the carpenter for
what purpose he had procured it, he told me that it
was to be sent to his brother, a joiner at Farnham,
who was to make use of it in cabinet work, by inlay-
ing it along with whiter woods.

Those that are much abroad on evenings after it is
dark, in spring and summer, frequently hear a noc-
turnal bird passing by on the wing, and repeating
often a short quick note. This bird I have remarked
myself, but never could make out till lately. I am
assured now, that it is the stone -curlew (charadrius
oedicnemus.J Some of them pass over or near my
house almost every evening after it is dark, from
the uplands of the hill and Northfield, away down
towards Dorton ; where, among the streams and
meadows, they find a greater plenty of food. Birds
that fly by night are obliged to be noisy ; their notes,
often repeated, become signals or watch- words to keep
them together, that they may not stray or lose each
other in the dark.

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

RAIN. 313

the deep beechen woods of Tisted and Ropley. We
remember a little girl, who, as she was going to bed,
used to remark on such an occurrence, in the true
spirit of physico-theology, that the rooks were saying
their prayers ; and yet this child was much too
young to be aware that the Scriptures have said of
the Deity, that " he feedeth the ravens who call upon
him/'

LETTER CIV.

TO THE SAME.

IN reading Dr. Huxham's Observationes de Aere,
&c., written at Plymouth, I find, by those curious
and accurate remarks, which contain an account of
the weather from the year 1727 to the year 1748,
inclusive, that though there is frequent rain in that
district of Devonshire, yet the quantity falling is
not great ; and that some years it has been very
small; for in 1731^ the rain measured only 17 inch.
266thou. ; and in 1741, 20*354 ; and again, in 1743,
only 20*908. Places near the sea have frequent
scuds, that keep the atmosphere moist, yet do not
reach far up into the country ; making thus the
maritime situations appear wet, when the rain is not
considerable. In the wettest years at Plymouth,
the doctor measured only once 36 ; and again once,
viz., 1734, 37*114 ; a quantity of rain that has twice
been exceeded at Selborne in the short period of my
observations. Dr. Huxham remarks, that frequent
small rains keep the air moist ; while heavy ones
render it more dry, by beating down the vapours.
He is also of opinion, that the dingy smoky appear-
ance in the sky, in very dry seasons, arises from the

314 ECHOES — BAROMETER.

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 great
effect; but the experiment did not answer his ex-
pectation. He 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 Harteley Hangers, and to die away at last
among the coppices and coverts of Ward-le-ham.
It has been remarked before, that this district is an
Anathoth, a place of responses, or echoes, and, there-
fore, proper for such experiments ; we may farther
add, that the pauses in echoes, when they cease, and
yet are taken up again, like the pauses in music,
surprise the hearers, and have a fine effect on the
imagination.

The gentleman above mentioned has just fixed a
barometer in his parlour at Newton Valence. The
tube was first filled here (at Selborne,) twice with
care, when the mercury agreed, and stood exactly
with my own ; but being filled again twice at Newton,
the mercury stood, on account of the great eleva-
tion 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.

WEATHER. 315

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 house : but if the rule holds good,
which says that mercury in a barometer sinks one-
tenth of an inch for every hundred feet elevation,
then the Newton barometer, by standing three -
tenths lower than that of Selborne, proves that
Newton-House must be three hundred feet higher
than that in which I am writing, instead of two
hundred.

It may not be impertinent to add, that the baro-
meters 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 Weybridge, 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 considered,
cannot be less than a hundred miles.

LETTER CV.

TO THE SAME.

SINCE the weather of a district is undoubtedly part
of its natural history, I shall make no farther 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

316 SHRUBS.

distinguished themselves from the rest during the
course of my observations.

As the frost in January, 1768, was, for the small
time it lasted, the most severe that we had then
known for many years, and was remarkably injurious
to 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.

For the last two or three days of the former year,
there were considerable falls of snow, which lay deep
and uniform on the ground without any drifting,
wrapping up the more humble vegetation in perfect
security. From the first 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 neigh-
bour'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 his plantations
are small, to avail himself of mats, cloths, peas-haum,
straw, reeds, or any such covering, for a short time ;

FROSTS — BEES. 317

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, but also because, thus
circumstanced, 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 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 cf 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 wall 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
unseasonable warmth awakens the inhabitants too
early from their slumbers ; and, by putting their
juices into motion too soon, subjects them after-
wards 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

318 THAWS.

people's beds foi several nights ; that meat was so
hard frozen that it could not be spitted, and could
not be secured but in cellars ; that several redwings
and thrushes were killed by the frost ; and that the
large titmouse continued to pull straws lengthwise
from the eaves of thatched houses and barns in a
most adroit manner, for a purpose that has been
explained already*.

On the third of January, Benjamin Martin's ther-
mometer, within doors, in a close parlour where
there was no fire, fell in the night to 20, and on the
fourth to 1 8, and on the seventh to 1 7§, 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 eighth, 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 circum-
stance, we may conclude, that 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 ten degrees ; and
a clear sky shall again compel it to descend to its
former gage.

And here it may be proper to observe, on what has
been said above, that though frosts advance to their
utmost severity by somewhat of a regular gradation,
yet thaws do not usually come on by as regular a

* See Letter LXIII., to Thomas Pennant, Esq.

WINTER OF 1776. 319

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 Ameri-
can junipers, be it remembered, that they remained
untouched amidst the general havoc : hence men
should learn to ornament chiefly with such trees as
are able to withstand accidental severities, and not
subject themselves to the vexation of a loss which
may befall 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, laurustines, 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 fourteenth of January, the snow was en-
tirely 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.

LETTER CVI.

TO THE SAME.

THERE were some circumstances attending the
remarkable frost in January, 4776, so singular and

320 WINTER OF 1776.

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 the
earth is completely glutted and chilled with water * ;
and hence dry autumns are seldom followed by
rigorous winters.

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

On the fourteenth, 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 shapes, 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 ani-

* The autumn preceding January, 17#8, 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 sea-
son, and when the springs were very high.

WINTER OF 1776. 321

mals, that the drifts and heaps treacherously betray
their footsteps, and prove fatal to numbers of them.

From the fourteenth, the snow continued to in-
crease, and began to stop the road-waggons 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 Queen'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 eighteenth passed over, leaving
the company in very uncomfortable circumstances at
the Castle and other inns.

On the twentieth, 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 twenty-first 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 twenty- second, 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

322 WINTER OF 1776.

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 twenty- seventh, 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 degrees below the freezing point ; but by eleven
in the morning, though in the shade, it sprung up to
1 6^ * — 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 day,
the wind was so keen, that persons of robust consti-
tutions 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 trode dusty; and, turning gray, resem-
bled 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 housekeepers

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

The thermometer used at Selborne was graduated by Benjamin
Martin.

12

WINTER OF 1776. 323

living. According to all appearances, we might now
have expected the continuance of this rigorous wea-
ther for weeks to come, since every night increased
in severity ; hut behold, without any apparent cause,
on the first of February, a thaw took place, and some
rain followed before night ; making good the observa-
tion above, that frosts often go off, as it were, at
once, without any gradual declension of cold. On
the second of February, the thaw persisted ; and on
the third, 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 cur-
rents; for at the same juncture, as. the author was
informed by accurate correspondents, at Lyndon, in
Jhe county of Rutland, -the thermometer stood at 19;
at Blackburn, in Lancashi^grt 19 ; and at Manches-
ter, at 21, 20, and 18. j?hus does some unknown
circumstance strangeljH&verbalance latitude, and ren-
der the cold sometiiifes much greater in the southern
than the northern .p£rts of^this kingdom.

The consequences of this severity were, that, in
Hampshire!' dt theviftelting of the snow, the wheat
looked wfell, arid the turnips came forth little injured.
The laurels aifd lailimstiliesfwere somewhat damaged,
but only # hot -Expects. No evergreens were quite
destroy/la; and not half the damage sustained that
befell 'in Januarf, 1-768. 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-ffaurel hedge, in a high situation, and
facing to the north, was perfectly green and vigorous ;
and the Portugal laurels remained unhurt.
Y 2

324} WINTER OF 1784.

As to the birds, the thrushes and blackbirds were
mostly destroyed ; and the partridges, by the weather
and poachers, were so thinned, that few remained
to breed the following year.

LETTER CVII.

TO THE SAME.

As the frost in December, 1784, was very extra-
ordinary, you, I trust, will not be displeased to hear
the particulars ; and especially when I promise 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 seventh, with the baro-
meter at 28. 5-10ths, 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 ninth, the works of men were quite overwhelmed,
the lanes filled so as to be impassable, and the ground
covered twelve or fifteen inches without any drifting.
In the evening of the ninth, the air began to be so
very sharp, that we thought it would be curious to
attend to the motions of a thermometer ; we, there-
fore, hung out two, one made by Martin and one by
Dolland, 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 tenth,
in the morning, the quicksilver of Dolland' s glass was
down to half a degree below zero, and that of Mar-
tin's, which was absurdly graduated only to four de-
grees above zero, sunk quite into the brass guard of
the ball, so that, when the weather became most in-
teresting, this was useless. On the tenth, at eleven

WINTER OF 1784.

at night, though the air was perfectly still, Dolland's
glass went down to one degree helow 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 tenth, written to
Mr. , and entreated him to hang out his ther-
mometer, made by Adams, and to pay some attention
to it morning and evening, expecting wonderful phe-
nomena, in so elevated a region, at two hundred feet
or more above my house. But, behold! on the tenth,
at eleyen 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, some-
how, be wrongly constructed. But, when the in-
struments came to be confronted, they went exactly
together, so that, for one night at least, the cold at
Newton was 18 degrees less than at Selborne, and,
through the whole frost, 10 or 12 degrees; and,
indeed, when we came to observe consequences, we
could readily credit this, for all my laurustines, bays,
ilexes, arbutuses, cypresses, and even my Portugal
laurels,* and, which occasions more regret, my fine
sloping laurel-hedge, were scorched up, while, at
Newton, the same trees have not lost a leaf !

We had steady frost on the 25th, when the ther-
mometer, in the morning, was down to 10 with us,
and at Newton only to 21. Strong frost continued
till the thirty-first, when some tendency to thaw was

* 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.

326 WINTER OF 1784.

observed, and by January the third, 1785, the thaw
was confirmed, and some rain fell.

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

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

I must not omit to tell you, that, during those
two Siberian days, my parlour cat was so electric,
that had a person stroked her, and been properly
insulated, the shock might have been given to a whole
circle of people.

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

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

SUMMERS OF 1781 AND 1783. 327

LETTER CVIII.

TO THE SAME.

As the effects of heat are seldom very remarkable
in the northerly climate of England, where the
summers are often so defective in warmth and sun-
shine, as not to ripen the fruits of the earth so well
as might be wished, I shall be more concise in my
account of the severity of a summer season, and so
make a little amends for the prolix account of the
degrees of cold, and the inconveniences that we
suffered from some late rigorous winters.

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

328 SUMMERS OF 1781 AND 1783.

produce of my garden had we not 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 effect^on
these marauders, and will keep them under. Though
wasps do not abound but in hot summers, yet they
do not prevail in every hot summer, as I have in-
stanced 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 eye could behold,
became the next the most loathsome, being enveloped
in a viscous substance, and loaded with black aphides,
or smother-flies. The occasion of this clammy ap-
pearance seems to be this, that in hot weather, the
effluvia of flowers in fields, and meadows, and gar-
dens, are drawn up in the day by a brisk evaporation,
and then in the night fall down again with the dews
in which they are entangled ; that the air is strongly
scented, and therefore 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.

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

SUMMER OF 1783. 329

the vast effluvia from our woodlands temper and
moderate our heats.

LETTER CIX.

TO THE SAME.

THE summer of the year 1783, was an amazing
and portentous one, and full of horrible phenomena ;
for, besides the alarming meteors and tremendous
thunder storms that affrighted and distressed the dif-
ferent countries 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,
unlike any thing known within the memory of man.
By my journal, I find that I had noticed this strange
occurrence from June 23 to July 20, inclusive, during
which period, the wind varied to every quarter, with-
out making any alteration in the air. The sun, at
noon, looked as black as a clouded moon, and shed a
rust- coloured ferruginous light on the ground and
floors of rooms, but was particularly lurid and blood-
coloured at rising and setting. All the time, the
heat was so intense that butchers' meat could hardly
be eaten, the day after it was killed ; and the flies
swarmed so in the lanes and hedges, that they ren-
dered the horses half frantic, and riding irksome.
The country people began to look with a superstitious
awe at the red lowering 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 con-
vulsed with earthquakes ; and about that juncture,
a volcano sprung out of the sea on the coast of
Norway. On this occasion, Milton's noble simile of

330 THUNDER STORMS.

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 un-
usual phenomena : —

" 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."

LETTER CX.

TO THE SAME.

WE 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
reach this village ; for, before they get over us, they
take a direction to the east or to the west, or some-
times divide into two, and go in part to one of
those quarters, and in part to the other; as was
truly the case in summer 1783, when, though the
country round was continually harassed with tem-
pests, and often from the south, yet we escaped
them all ; as appears by my journal of that summer.
The only way that I can at all account for this fact
— for such it is — is, that on that quarter, between
us and the sea, there are continual mountains, hill
behind hill, such as Nore-hill, the Barnet, Burter-
hill, and Ports-down, which, somehow divert the
storms, and give them a different direction. High
promontories, and elevated grounds, have always
been observed to attract clouds, and disarm them
of their mischievqus contents, which are discharged

THUNDER STORMS. 331

into the trees and summits, as soon as they come
in contact with these turbulent meteors; while the
humble vales escape, because they are so far beneath
them.

But when I say I do not remember a thunder-
storm from the south, I do not mean that we never
have suffered from thunder storms at all; for on
June 5th, 1784, the thermometer in the morning
being at 64, and at noon at 70, the barometer at 29
— six-tenths one half, and the wind north, I observed
a blue mist, smelling strongly of sulphur, hang 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 clat-
tering of tiles and the jingling of glass. There fell
at the same time prodigious torrents of rain on the

CONCLUSION.

farms above-mentioned, which occasioned a flood
as violent as it was sudden ; doing great damage to
the meadows and fallows, by deluging the one, and
washing away the soil of the other. The hollow
lane towards Alton was so torn and disordered as
not to be passable till mended, rocks being removed
that weighed two hundred weight. Those that saw
the effect which the great hail had on the ponds and
pools, say that the dashing of the water made an
extraordinary appearance, the froth and spray stand-
ing up in the air three feet above the surface. The
rushing and roaring of the hail, as it approached,
was truly tremendous.

Though the clouds at South Lambeth, near London,
were at that juncture thin and light, and no storm
was in sight, nor within hearing, yet the air was
strongly electric ; for the bells of an electric ma-
chine at that place rang repeatedly, and fierce sparks
were discharged.

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

With all due deference and regard,
Your most obliged,

And most humble servant,

GIL. WHITE.
SELBORNE, June 25, 1787.

OBSERVATIONS

ON

VARIOUS PARTS OF NATURE,

FROM

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

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 much
sweeter fruit than red, yet they seldom touch the
former till they have devoured every branch of the
latter.

Redstarts, fly-catchers, and black-caps, arrive
early in April. If these little delicate beings are

* Mr. White has remarked, page 51, " that food has great
influence on the colour of animals." The dark colour in wild
birds is a great safeguard to them against their enemies ; and
this is the reason, that, among birds of bright plumage, the
young do not assume their gay colours till the second or third
year, as the cygnet, the gold and silver pheasants, &c. The
remarkable change of plumage among the gull tribe, is a curious
and intricate subject. Is the circumstance mentioned by Mr.
Pegge true, " that butterflies partake the colour of the flowers
they feed on ?" I think not. See Anonymiani, p. 469.

MITFORD.

336 OBSERVATIONS

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 turbulence, as one should
suppose would embarrass and retard the most hardy
and resolute of the winged nation ? Yet they keep
their appointed times and seasons ; and, in spite of
frost and winds, return to their stations periodically,
as if they had met with nothing to obstruct them.
The withdrawing and appearance of the short- winged
summer birds is a very puzzling circumstance in
natural history !

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 insect- eating bird would do the same; and
therefore I have often wondered that the accurate
Mr. Ray should call one species of buzzard buteo
apivorus 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 doubt-
less for the sake of the maggots or nymphs, and not
for their honey; since none is to be found in the
combs of wasps. Birds of prey occasionally feed on
insects ; thus have I seen a tame kite picking up the
female ants full of eggs, with much satisfaction.

WHITE.

That redstarts, 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

ON BIRDS. 337

these delicate creatures come to us from a distant
country, they will probably be exposed in their pas-
sages, as Mr. White justly remarks, to much greater
difficulties from storms 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 guarded
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 get over the still greater difficulty of their
revivification from their torpid state ? What degree
of warmth in the temperature of the air is necessary
to produce that effect, and how it operates on the
functions of animal life, are questions not easily
answered.

How could Mr. White suppose that Ray named
this species the honey-buzzard because it fed on
honey, when he not only named it in Latin buteo
apivorus et vespivorus, but expressly says, that " it

* There certainly does exist a difficulty in conceiving how
some of the birds of passage, such feeble and bad fliers, should
be able to migrate to such a vast distance ; but some of our won-
der will perhaps diminish when we read the account of the
manner in which the quail crosses the Mediterranean, for the
coast of Africa. " Towards the end of September the quails
avail themselves of a northerly wind to take their departure from
Europe, and flapping one wing, while they present the other to
the gale, half sail, half oar, they graze the billows of the Medi-
terranean with their fattened rumps, and bury themselves in the
sands of Africa, that they may serve as food to the famished in-
habitants of Zara." — ST. PIERRE'S Studies of Nature, vol. u

p. 91. MlTFORD.

z

338 OBSERVATIONS

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 think I have observed the common buz-
zard, ffalco buteo,) to settle on the ground and pick
up insects of some kind or other *. MARK WICK.

ROOKS. — Rooks are continually fighting, and pull-
ing 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 brush-
wood to light their fires. Some unhappy pairs are
not permitted to finish any nests till the rest have
completed their building. As soon as they get a few
sticks together, a party comes and demolishes the
whole. As soon as rooks have finished their nests,
and before 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 blan-
dishments that are expressed by the young, while in
a helpless state. This gallant deportment of the
male is continued through the whole season of in-
cubation. These birds do not copulate on trees, nor
in their nests, but on the ground in the open fields f.

WHITE.

* There is reason to believe, that insects form also part of the
food even of the larger beasts of prey. " Beetles, flies, worms,
form part of the lion and tiger's food, as they do that of the fox."
See JARROLD'S Dissert, on Man. MITFORD.

f The very beautiful, one may almost say poetical, way in
which the male bird procures a mate by the power of his song,
may be seen in the preface to Mr. Moritagu's Ornithological Die-

ON BIRDS, 339

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.

THRUSHES. — Thrushes, during long droughts, are
of great service in hunting out shell snails, which
they pull in pieces for their young, and are thereby
very serviceable in gardens. Missel thrushes do not
destroy the fruit in gardens like the other species of
turdi, but feed on the berries of misseltoe, and, in
the spring, on ivy berries, which then begin to ripen.
In the summer, when their young become fledged,
they leave 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 to my windows, and

tionary, p. xxx ; from which this corollary may be inferred, that
if a confined bird had learned the song of another, without re-
taining any part of its natural notes, and was set at liberty, it is
probable it would never find a mate of its own. MITFORD.
z 2

340 OBSERVATIONS

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 dis-
turbed their nest, with great violence, and loud
shrieks. MARK WICK.

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 neigh-
bour^ poultry watch for wagons 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 gallince
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 se-
curity, let the weather be ever so cold or blowing.
Partridges, it is true, roost on the ground, not hav-

ON BIRDS. 341

ing the faculty of perching ; but then the same fear
prevails in their minds ; for, through apprehensions
from polecats 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 night long in peace and security.

WHITE.

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

Last winter, when the ground was 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 ; I ordered them to be driven down, lest
they should be frozen to death in so elevated a
situation; but this was not effected without much
difficulty, they being very unwilling to quit their
lofty abode, notwithstanding one of them had its
feet so much frozen, that we were obliged to kill it.
I know not how to account for this, unless it was
occasioned by their aversion to the snow on the
ground, they being birds that came 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

342 OBSERVATIONS

instance of which I have seen in the Earl of Ashburn-
ham's menagerie, where the summer duck (anas sponsa
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 se-
cure, as will appear from the following circumstance,
which happened in this neighbourhood a few years
since, as I was credibly informed. A female fox was
found in the morning drowned in the same pond in
which were several geese, and it was supposed, that,
in the night, the fox swam into the pond to devour
the geese, but was attacked by the gander, which,
being most powerful in its own element, buffeted the
fox with its wings about the head till it was drowned.

MARK WICK.

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

WHITE.

It is not uncommon to see an old partridge feign
itself wounded, and run along on the ground flutter-
ing 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 with a young
pointer, the dog ran on a brood of very small par-
tridges ; the old bird cried, fluttered, and ran tumbling

ON BIRDS.

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

MARKWICK.

A HYBRID PHEASANT. — Lord Stawell sent me, from
the great lodge in the Holt, a curious bird for my
inspection. It was found by the spaniels of one of
his keepers in a coppice, and 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 large full-grown cock pheasant, yet
there was no sign of any spurs on the legs, as is usual
with all grown cock pheasants, who have long ones.
The legs and feet were naked of feathers, and there-
fore it could be nothing of the grouse kind. In the
tail were no long, bending feathers, such as cock
pheasants usually have, and are characteristic of the
sex. The tail was much shorter than the tail of a hen
pheasant, and blunt and square at the end. The back,
wing-feathers, and tail were all of a pale russet, curi-
ously streaked, somewhat like the upper parts of a

* Hen pheasants usually weigh only two pounds ten ounces.

344 OBSERVATIONS

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 black-cock ; 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.

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 had just
begun to assume the plumage of the cock *.

MARKWICK.

* See the account by John Hunter, in the Philosophical
Transact. Art. xxx. 1760. "The subject of the account is a
hen pheasant with the feathers of the cock. The author con-
cludes, that it is most probable that all those hen pheasants
which are found wild, and have the feathers of the cock, were
formerly perfect hens, but that now they are changed with age,
and perhaps by certain constitutional circumstances." It appears
also, that the hen taking the plumage of the cock, is not con-
fined to the pheasant alone ; it takes place also with the pea-

ON BIRDS. 345

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

When we came to draw it, we found the entrails
so soft and tender, that 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 peb-
bles, and might grind one another. Land-rails used
to abound formerly, I remember, in the low, wet,
bean fields of Christian Malford, in North Wilts, and
in the meadows near Paradise Gardens, at Oxford,
where I have often heard them cry, crex, crex. The
bird mentioned above weighed 7-J oz. 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

hen, as may be seen in the specimen belonging to Lady Tynte,
which was in the Leverian Museum. After many broods, this
hen took much of the plumage of the cock, and also the fine
train belonging to that bird. See also MONTAGU'S Ornitholog.
Diet. Art. Pheasant. MITFORD.

346 OBSERVATIONS

neighbourhood of Selborne. I have found four brace
in an afternoon, and a friend of mine lately shot nine
in two adjoining fields ; but I never saw them in any
other season than the autumn.

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

What Mr. White remarks respecting the small
shell snails found in its gizzard, 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 FOR THE RING-DOVE. — One of my neigh-
bours 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 pro-
vided in this extraordinary manner.

Hence we may see that graminivorous birds, when
grain fails, can subsist on the leaves of vegetables.
There is reason to suppose that they would not long
be healthy without ; for turkeys, though corn-fed,

ON BIRDS. 347

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

The shepherd tends his flock, that daily crop
Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf
Sufficient: after them, the cackling goose,
Close grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want."

PHILIP'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 frequently con-
tracts 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, seem 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 imme-
diately 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

348 OBSERVATIONS

bird of prey was rendered very daring and bold by
hunger, and that hawks cannot always seize their
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 resistance,
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 cowring
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 gallin(e
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 in-
stances ; 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 disco-
vered.

At another time, when partridge -shooting with a
friend, we saw a ring-tail hawk rise out of a pit with
some large bird in its claws ; though at a great dis-
tance, we both fired, and obliged it to drop its prey,
which proved to be one of the partridges which we
were in pursuit of : and lastly, in an evening, I shot
at and plainly saw that I had wounded a partridge,
but, it being late, was obliged to go home without
finding it again. The next morning, I walked round
my land without any gun ; but a favourite old spaniel
followed my heels. When I came near the field
where I wounded the bird the evening before, I heard
the partridges call, and they seemed to be much dis-
turbed. On my approaching the bar-way, they all

HEN HARRIBR3.

ON BIRDS. 349

rose, some on my right and some on my left hand;
and just before and over my head, I perceived
(though indistinctly, from the extreme velocity of
their motion) two birds fly directly against each
other, when instantly, to my great astonishment,
down dropped a partridge at my feet : the dog imme-
diately seized it, and, on examination, I found the
blood flow very fast from a fresh wound in the head,
but there was some dry clotted blood on its wings
and side; whence I concluded, that a hawk had
singled out my wounded bird as the object of his
prey, and had struck it down the instant that my
approach had obliged the birds to rise on the wing;
but the space between the hedges was so small, and
the motion of the birds so instantaneous and quick,
that I could not distinctly observe the operation.

MARKWICK.

GREAT SPECKLED DIVER, OR LOON. — As one of
my neighbours was traversing Wolmer Forest, from
Bramshot across the moors, he found a large uncom-
mon bird fluttering in the heath, but not wounded,
which he brought home alive. On examination it
proved to be colymbus glacialis, Linn, the great
speckled diver, or loon, which is most excellently de-
scribed in Willughby's Ornithology.

Every part and proportion of this bird is so incom-
parably adapted to its mode of life, that in no in-
stance do we see the wisdom of God in the creation
to more advantage. The head is sharp, and smaller
than the part of the neck adjoining, in order that it
may pierce the water ; the wings are placed forward,
and out of the centre of gravity, for a purpose which
shall be noticed hereafter; the thighs quite at the
podex, in order to facilitate diving ; and the legs are
flat, and as sharp backwards almost as the edge of a
knife, that, in striking, they may easily cut the

350 OBSERVATIONS

water : while the feet are palmated and broad for
swimming, yet so folded up, when advanced to take
a fresh stroke, as to be full as narrow as the shank.
The two exterior toes of the feet are longest ; the
nails flat and broad, resembling the human, which
give strength, and increase the power of swimming.
The foot, when expanded, is not at right angles to
the leg or body of the bird ; but the exterior part in-
clining towards the head, forms an acute angle with
the body ; the intention being, not to give motion in
the line of the legs themselves, but, by the combined
impulse of both in an intermediate line, the line of the
body.

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

This colymbus was of considerable bulk, weighing
only three drachms short of three pounds avoirdu-
pois.. It measured in length, from the bill to the
tail (which was very short,) two feet, and to the
extremities of the toes four inches more ; and the

ON BIRDS. 351

breadth of the wings expanded was 42 inches. A
person attempted to eat the body, but found it very
strong and rancid, as is the flesh of all birds living
on fish. Divers, or loons, though bred in the most
northerly parts of Europe, yet are seen with us in
very severe winters ; and on the Thames, are called
sprat loons, because they prey much on that sort of
fish.

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

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

I have had in my possession two birds, which,
though of a different genus, bear a great resemblance
to Mr. White's colymbus, in their manner of life,
which is spent chiefly in the water, where they swim
and dive with astonishing rapidity ; for which pur-
pose, their fin-toed feet, placed far behind, and very
short wings, are particularly well adapted, and show

352 OBSERVATIONS

the wisdom of God in the creation as conspicuously
as the hird before mentioned. These birds were the
greater and lesser crested grebe (podiceps cristatus et
auritus.) What surprised me most was, that the first
of these birds was found alive on dry ground, about
seven miles from the sea, to which place there was
no communication by water. How did it get so far
from the sea, its wings and legs being so ill adapted
either to flying or walking ? The lesser crested grebe
was also found in a fresh water pond, which had no
communication with other water, at some miles dis-
tance from the sea.

MARKWICK.

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

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

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

On the 31st of January, 1792, I received a bird
of this species, which had been recently killed by
a neighbouring farmer, who said that he had fre-
quently seen it in his fields during the former part of
the winter : this perhaps was an occasional straggler,

ON BIRDS. 353

which, by some accident, was prevented from accom-
panying its companions in their migration.

MARKWICK.

THE SMALLEST UNCRESTED WILLOW WREN. — The
smallest uncrested willow-wren, or chiff-chaf, is the
next early summer bird which we have remarked ;
it utters two sharp piercing notes, so loud in hol-
low woods, as to occasion an echo, and is usually
first heard about the 20th of March.

WHITE.

This bird, which Mr. White calls the smallest
willow -wren, or chiff-chaf, makes its appearance
very early in the spring, and is very common with
us ; but I cannot make out the three different species
of willow- wrens, which he assures us he has disco-
vered. Ever since the publication of his History of
Selborne, I have used my utmost endeavours to dis-
cover his three birds, but hitherto without success.
I have frequently shot the bird which " haunts only
the tops of trees, and makes a sibilous noise," even
in the very act of uttering that sibilous note ; but it
always proved to be the common willow-wren, or his
chiff-chaf. In short, I never could discover more
than one species, unless my greater pettichaps (sylvia
hortensus of Latham,) is his greatest willow- wren.

MARKWICK.

FERN-OWL, OR GOAT-SUCKER. — The country people
have a notion that the fern-owl, or churn-owl, or
eve-jarr, which they also call a puckeridge, is very
injurious to weanling calves, by inflicting, as it strikes
at them, the fatal distemper known to cow-leeches
by the name of puckeridge. Thus does this harm-
less, ill-fated bird, fall under a double imputation,
which it by no means deserves, — in Italy, of sucking
A a

354 OBSERVATIONS

the teats of goats, whence it is called caprimulgus ;
and with us, of communicating a deadly disorder to
cattle. But the truth of the matter is, the malady
ahovementioned is occasioned by the oestrus bovis, a
dipterous insect, which lays its eggs along the chines
of kine, where the maggots, when hatched, eat their
way through the hide of the heast into the flesh, and
grow to a very large size. I have just talked with
a man, who says he has more than once stripped
calves who have died of the puckeridge ; that the ail
or complaint lay along the chine, where the flesh
was much swelled, and filled with purulent matter.
Once I myself saw a large rough maggot of this sort
squeezed out of the back of a cow. These maggots
in Essex are called wrornils.

The least observation and attention would convince
men that these birds neither injure the goatherd nor
the grazier, but are perfectly harmless, and subsist
alone, being night birds, on night insects, such as
scarabcei, and phaltfna ; and through the month of
July, mostly on the scarabteus solstitialis, which, in
many districts, abounds at that season. Those that
we have opened, have always had their craws stuffed
with large night-moths and their eggs, and pieces of
chaffers ; nor does it anywise appear how they can,
weak and unarmed as they seem, inflict any harm
upon kine, unless they possess the powers of animal
magnetism, and can affect them by fluttering over
them.

A fern-owl, this evening (August 27,) showed off
in a very unusual and entertaining manner, by hawk-
ing round and round the circumference of my great
spreading oak for twenty times following, keeping
mostly close to the grass, but occasionally glancing
up amidst the boughs of the tree. This amusing
bird was then in pursuit of a brood of some particular
phalance belonging to the oak, of which there are

ON BIRDS. 355

several sorts ; and exhibited on the occasion a com-
mand of wing superior, I think, to that of the swallow
itself.

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

Fern-owls have attachment to oaks, no doubt on
account of food ; for the next evening we saw one
again several times among the boughs of the same
tree; but it did not skim round its stem over the
grass, as on the evening before. In May, these
birds find the scarab&ns melolontha on the oak ; and
the scarabceus solstitialis at midsummer. These pe-
culiar birds can only be watched and observed for
two hours in the twenty-four: and then in a dubious
twilight, an hour after sun-set, and an hour before
sun-rise.

On this day (July 14, 1789), a woman brought
me two eggs of a fern-owl, or eve-jarr, which she
found on the verge of the Hanger, to the left of the
Hermitage, under a beechen shrub. This person,
who lives just at the foot of the Hanger, seems well
acquainted with these nocturnal swallows, and says
she has often* found their eggs near that place, and
that they lay only two at a time on the bare ground.
The eggs were oblong, dusky, and streaked some-
what in the manner of the plumage of the parent
bird, and were equal in size at each end. The dam
was sitting on the eggs when found, which contained
the rudiments of young, and would have been hatched,
perhaps, in a week. From hence we may see the time
of their breeding, which corresponds pretty well with
A a 2

356 OBSERVATIONS

the swift, as does also the period of their arrival.
Each species is usually seen about the beginning of
May , each breeds but once in a summer ; each lays
only two eggs.

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

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

No author that I am acquainted with has given
so accurate and pleasing an account of the manners
and habits of the goat -sucker as Mr. White, taken
entirely from his own observations. Its being a noc-
turnal bird, has prevented my having many opportu-
nities of observing it. I suspect that it passes the
day in concealment amidst the dark and shady gloom
of deep-wooded dells, or, as they are called here,
gills ; having more than once seen ifr roused from
such solitary places by my dogs, when shooting in
the day-time. I have also sometimes seen it in an
evening, but not long enough to take notice of its
habits and manners. I have never seen it but in the
summer, between the months of May and September.

MARKWICK.

SAND-MARTINS. — March 23, 1788. — A gentle-

ON BIRDS. 357

man, who was this week on a visit at Waverley, took
the opportunity of examining some of the holes in
the sand-banks with which that district abounds.
As these are undoubtedly bored by bank-martins,
and are the places where they avowedly breed, he
was in hopes they might have slept there also, and
that he might have surprised them just as they
were awaking from their winter slumbers. When
he had dug for some time, he found the holes were
horizontal and serpentine, as I had observed before ;
and that the nests were deposited at the inner end,
and had been occupied by broods in former summers ;
but no torpid birds were to be found. He opened
and examined about a dozen holes. Another gentle-
man made the same search many years ago, with as
little success. These holes were in depth about two
feet.

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

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

This incident confirms my suspicions that this
species of hirundo is to be seen first of any ; and
gives great reason to suppose that they do not leave
their wild haunts at all, but are secreted amidst the
clefts and caverns of those abrupt cliffs where they
usually spend their summers.

The late severe weather considered, it is not very
probable that these birds should have migrated so
early from a tropical region, through all these cutting
winds and pinching frosts : but it is easy to suppose
that they may, like bats and flies, have been awakened
by the influence of the sun amidst their secret latebrce,

358 OBSERVATIONS

where they have spent the uncomfortable foodless
months in a torpid state, and the profoundest of
slumbers.

There is a large pond at Wish- Hanger, which in-
duces these sand-martins to frequent that district.
For I have ever remarked that they haunt near great
waters, either rivers or lakes. WHITE.

Here, and in many other passages of his writings,
this very ingenious naturalist favours the opinion
that part, at least, of the swallow tribe pass their
winter in a torpid state, in the same manner as
bats and flies, and revive again on the approach of
spring.

I have frequently taken notice of all these circum-
stances, which induced Mr. White to suppose that
some of the hirundines lie torpid during winter. I
have seen, so late as November, on a finer day than
usual at that season of the year, two or three swal-
lows flying backwards and forwards under a warm
hedge, or on the sunny side of some old building ;
nay, I once saw, on the 8th of December, two martins
flying about very briskly, the weather being mild.
I had not seen any considerable number, either of
swallows or martins, for a good while before : from
whence, then, could these few birds come, if not
from some hole or cavern where they had laid them-
selves up for the winter ? Surely it will not be as-
serted that these birds migrate back again, from some
distant tropical region, merely on the appearance of
a fine day or two at this late season of the year.
Again, very early in the spring, and sometimes im-
mediately after very cold, severe weather, on its
growing a little warmer, a few of these birds sud-
denly make their appearance, long before the gene-
rality of them are seen. These appearances certainly
favour the opinion of their passing the winter in a

ON BIRDS. 359

torpid state, but do not absolutely prove the fact ;
for who ever saw them reviving of their own accord
from their torpid state, without being first brought to
the fire, and, as it were, forced into life again ; soon
after which revivification, they constantly die.

MARKWICK.

SWALLOWS, CONGREGATING AND DISAPPEARANCE
OF, — During the severe winds that often 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 matter 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 the heat of the day, preparing for their
emigration, and, as it were, consulting when and
where they are to go. The flight about the church
seems to consist chiefly of house-martins, about four
hundred 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

360 OBSERVATIONS

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 seen
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 : sometimes, in the first week in Novem-
ber, and that only for one day. Do they not with-
draw and slumber in some hiding-place during the
interval ? for we cannot suppose they had migrated
to warmer climes, and so returned again for one day.
Is it not more probable that they are awakened from
sleep, and, like the bats, are come forth to collect a
little food * ? Bats appear at all seasons through the

* Concerning swallows, the reader will see, that Mr. White
appears to incline more and more in favour of their torpidity,
and against their migration. Mr. D. Barrington is still more
positive on the same side of the question. See his Miscellanies,
p. 225. The ancients generally mention this bird as wintering
in Africa. See Anacreon, Xy. ed. Brunk. p. 38. The Rhodians
had a festival called %eXt^6vi«, when the hoys brought about
young swallows : the song which they sang may be seen in the
works of Meursius, v. iii. p. 974. fol.

"OjOa£ dyovcra, Ka\ KO\OVQ 'I&VICLVTOVQ
'ETTI yaarspa Xtvica K' airi vatra peXaiva.

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

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

ON BIRDS. 361

autumn and spring months, when the thermometer is
at 50, because then phalante and moths are stirring*
These swallows looked like young ones. WHITE.

Of their migration, the proofs are such as will
scarcely admit of a doubt. Sir Charles Wager and
Captain Wright saw vast flocks of them at sea, when
on their 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. 78 of his History of Selborne ; and of their
congregating together on the roofs of churches and
other buildings, and on trees, previous to their de-
parture, many instances occur; particularly, I once
observed a large flock of house-martins on the roof
of the church here at Catsfield, which acted exactly
in the manner here described by Mr. White, some-

" Nam cum vere novo, tellus se dura relaxat,
Culminibusque cavis, blandum strepit ales hirundo
Gens devota chores agitat !''

When the hard earth grows soft in early spring,
And on our roofs the noisy swallows sing.

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

Mr. White says, p. 148, it is strange that rooks and starlings
accompany each other : but this is the case with other birds ; the
short-eared owl often accompanies flights of woodcocks in this
country. See Pennant's Scotland, i. p. 11. In Greece, the
cuckoo migrates with the turtle flocks, thence they call him tri-
gonokractes, or turtle leader. MITFORD.

362 , OBSERVATIONS

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

WAGTAILS. — While the cows are feeding in the
moist low pasture, broods of wagtails, white and
gray, 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 larva 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.

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 red-breast attends the gardener in digging his
borders ; and will, with great familiarity and tame-
ness, 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.

WRYNECKS. — 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

GREY WA O T A I L .

ON BIRDS. 363

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 havock among the buds of the cherries, goose-
berries, and wall-fruit of all the neighbouring or-
chards. 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 dam-
sons. The Latin ornithologists call this bird cocco-
thraustes, i. e. 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.

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

OWLS. — Mr. White has observed, p. 159, that the
owl returns to its young with food once in five
minutes. Mr. Montague has observed, that the wren
returns once in two minutes, or upon an average
thirty- six times in an hour; and this continued full
sixteen hours in a day, which, if equally divided be-
tween eight young ones, each would receive seventy-
two feeds in the day, the whole amounting to five
hundred and seventy-six. See Ornitholog. Diet. p.
35. To this, I will add, that the swallow never fails

364 OBSERVATIONS

to return to its nest at the expiration of every second
or third minute. MITFORD.

CUCKOOS. — Since Mr. White's time, much has
been added to our knowledge of the cuckoo, by the
patient attention of Dr. Jenner. Concerning the
singing of the cuckoo, mentioned by Mr. White at
p. 140, I will add the following curious memoranda
from the 7th volume of the Transactions of the Lin-
naan Society. " The cuckoo begins early in the
season with the interval of a minor third, the bird
then proceeds to a major third, next to a fourth,
then a fifth, after which his voice breaks without
attaining a minor sixth." This curious circumstance
was, however, observed very long ago ; and it forms
the subject of an epigram in that scarce black-letter
volume, the Epigrams of John Hey wood, 1587.

MITFORD.

ON QUADRUPEDS. 365

OBSERVATIONS ON QUADRUPEDS.

SHEEP. — 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 be-
fore. 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 notus odor, discriminating each individual per-
sonally : which also is confounded by the strong scent
of the pitch and tar wherewith they are newly
marked ; for the brute creation recognize each other
more from the smell than the sight ; and in matters
of identity and 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.

RABBITS. — Rabbits make incomparably the finest
turf, for they not only bite closer than larger quad-
rupeds, 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.

366 OBSERVATIONS

CAT AND SQUIRRELS. — A boy has taken three little
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 that she nurses and suckles them with the same
assiduity and affection as if they were her own off-
spring. This circumstance corroborates my suspi-
cion, that the mention of exposed and deserted chil-
dren being nurtured by female beasts of prey who
had lost their young, may not be so improbable 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 shews her affection for these
foundlings, and that she supposes the squirrels to be
her own young. Thus hens, when they have hatched
ducklings, are equally attached to them as if they
were their own chickens. WHITE.

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

HOUNDS. — The king's stag hounds came down to
Alton, attended by a huntsman and six yeomen
prickers, with horns, to try for the stag that has

* The squirrel's nest is not only called a drey in Hampshire,
but also in other counties ; in Suffolk it is called a bay. The
word "drey," though now provincial, I have met with in some
of our old writers. MITFORD.

ON QUADRUPEDS. 367

haunted Harteley Wood for so long a time. Many
hundreds of people, horse and foot, attended the dogs
to see the deer unharboured ; but though the hunts-
men drew Harteley Wood, and Long Coppice, and
Shrubwood, and Temple Hangers, and, in their way
back, Harteley and Ward-le-ham Hangers, yet no
stag could be found.

The royal pack, accustomed to have the deer
turned out before them, never drew the coverts with
any address and spirit, as many people that were
present observed ; and this remark the event has
proved to be a true one : for as a person was lately
pursuing a pheasant that was wing-broken, in Harte-
ley 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.

368 OBSERVATIONS

OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES.

INSECTS IN GENERAL.

THE day and night insects occupy the annuals alter-
nately : the papilios, muscce, and apes, are succeeded
at the close of day by phalanx, earwigs, wood-
lice, &c. In the dusk of the evening, when beetles
begin to buzz, partridges begin to call: these two cir-
cumstances are exactly coincident.

Ivy is the last flower that supports the hymen-
opterous and dipterous 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 them-
selves 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. MARKWICK.

Spiders, woodlice, lepismx in cupboards and among
sugar, some empedes, gnats, flies of several species,
some phaltfnce in hedges, earth-worms, &c. are stir-
ring at all times, when winters are mild ; and are of
great service to those soft-billed birds that never
leave us.

ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 369

On every sunny day, the winter through, clouds
of insects, usually called gnats, (I suppose tipulce and
empedes,) appear sporting and dancing over the tops
of the evergreen trees in the shrubbery, and frisking
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 ob-
served swarms of little winged insects playing up and
down in the air in the middle of the winter, even
when the ground has been covered with snow.

MARKWICK.

HUMMING IN THE AIR. — There is a natural occur-
rence to be met with upon the highest part of our
down in hot summer days, which always amuses me
much, without giving me any satisfaction with respect
to the cause of it; and that is, a loud audible hum-
ming 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 sup-
pose that a large swarm of bees was in motion, and
playing about over his head. This noise was heard
last week, on June 28th.

" Resounds the living surface of the ground,
Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum

To him who muses at noon.

Thick in yon stream of light, a thousand ways,
Upward and downward, thwarting and convolv'-d,
The quivering nations sport." — THOMSON'S Seasons.

WHITE.
Bb

370 OBSERVATIONS.

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

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

The scarab&us solstitialis first appears about
June 26 : they are very punctual in their coming
out every year. They are a small species, about
half the size of the May-chaffer, and are known in
some parts by the name of the fern-chaffer.

WHITE.

A singular circumstance relative to the cock-
chaffer, or, as it is called here, the May-bug, (scara-
btfus melolonthaj 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 sum-
mer, crawling about as briskly as ever : yet I saw no
more of this insect till the 22d of May, when it began
to make its appearance. How comes it, that though
it was perfectly formed so early as the 24th of March,
it did not show itself above ground till nearly two
months afterwards ? MARK WICK.

PTINUS PECTINICORNIS. — Those maggots that make
worm-holes in tables, chairs, bed-posts, &c. and de-
stroy wooden furniture, especially where there is any
sap, are the larvce 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 pup& state,
and so come forth winged in July : eating their way
through the valances or curtains of a bed, or any

ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 371

other furniture that happens to obstruct their pas-
sage.

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

WHITE.

BLATTA ORIENTALIS, (COCKROACH.) — A neigh-
bour complained to me that her house was overrun
with a kind of black beetle, or, as she expressed her-
self, with a kind of black-bob, which swarmed in her
kitchen when they got up in the 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 rudi-
ments 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, lucifuga,
never coming forth till the rooms are dark and still,
and escaping away nimbly at the approach of a
B b 2

372 OBSERVATIONS

candle. Their antennee are remarkably long, slen-
der, and flexile.

October, 17CO. — After the servants are gone to
bed, the kitchen hearth swarms with young crickets,
and young blattce molendinarice 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 blattce molendinaria, 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 at the casements from the neighbouring
houses, which swarm with 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
blatttf have been so much kept under, the crickets
have greatly increased in number. WHITE.

GRYLLUS DOMESTICUS (HOUSE CRICKET). — No-
vember.— After the servants are gone to bed, the
kitchen hearth swarms with minute crickets, not so
large as fleas, which must have been lately hatched.
So that these domestic insects, cherished by the
influence of a constant large fire, regard not the
season of the year, but produce their young at a
time when their congeners are either dead, or laid
up for the winter, to pass away the uncomfortable
months in the profoundest slumbers, and a state of
torpidity.

When house -crickets are out and running about in
room in the night, if surprised by a candle, they

ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 373

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

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

WHITE.

PHALJLNA QUERCUS. — Most of our oaks are naked
of leaves, and even the Holt in general, having
been ravaged by the caterpillars of a small phaltena,
which is of a pale yellow colour. These insects,
though a feeble race, yet, from their infinite num-
bers, 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 near Greatham I saw a flight of swifts
busied in catching their prey near the ground ; and
found they were hawking after these phalanx . 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.

374 OBSERVATIONS

I suspect that the insect here meant is not the
phalcena quercus, but the phal&na viridata, concerning
wh;ch, I find the following note in my Naturalist's
Calendar for the year 1785 : —

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

EPHEMERA CAUDABISETA, (MAYFLY). — June 10,
1771. Myriads of Mayflies appeared 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 day when I observed them. MARK WICK.

SPHYNX OCELLATA. — A vast insect appears after it
is dusk, flying with a humming noise, and inserting

ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 375

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.

I have frequently seen the large bee moth, (sphynx
stellatarum,) inserting its long tongue, or proboscis
into the centre of flowers, and feeding on their
nectar without settling on them, but keeping con-
stantly on the wing. MARK WICK.

WILD BEE. — There is a sort of wild bee fre-
quenting 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, be-
sides 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 contem-
plating the grandeur of the scenery around me, and
have thought myself in danger of being stung.

WHITE.

WASPS. — Wasps abound in woody wild districts,

376 OBSERVATIONS

far from neighbourhoods : they feed on flowers, and
catch flies and caterpillars 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 are kneaded up with a mix-
ture of saliva from their bodies, and moulded into
combs.

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

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

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

MARKWICK.

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 some-
times 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 those organs, or perhaps in both.
When these abound, horses in woodland districts
become very impatient at their work, continually

ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 377

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 also very troublesome at such seasons.
Country people call this insect the nose fly.

WHITE.

Is not this insect the oestrus nasalis of Linnaeus,
so well described by Mr. Clark in the third volume
of the Linncean Transactions, under the name of oestrus
veterinus ? M ARK w i c K .

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 back-
wards, drew her prey very nimbly over the walk
into the standing grass. This spider would be de-
posited 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 injected into the
body of the spider, in the act of stinging. Some
ichneumons deposit their eggs in the aurelia of moths
and butterflies. WHITE.

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

It is not uncommon for some of the species of
ichneumon flies to deposit their eggs in the chry-
salis of a butterfly. Some time ago, I put two of
the chrysalis of a butterfly into a box, and covered
it with gauze, to discover what species of butterfly

378 OBSERVATIONS

they would produce ; but instead of a butterfly,
one of them produced a number of small ichneumon
flies.

There are many instances of the great service
these little insects are to mankind in reducing the
number of noxious insects, by depositing their eggs
in the soft bodies of their larvae ; but none more re-
markable than that of the ichneumon tipula, which
pierces the tender body 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. MARK WICK.

BOMBYLIUS MEDIUS. — The bombylius medius is
much about in March and the beginning of April,
and soon seems to retire. It is a 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 insect 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.

MUSCLE, (FLIES.) — In the decline of the year, when
the mornings and evenings become chilly, many spe-
cies of flies (muscce) 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

ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 379

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, besides
their sharp -hooked nails, have also skinny palms, OT
flaps to their feet, whereby they are enabled to stick
on glass and other smooth bodies, and to walk on
ceilings with their backs downward, by means of
the pressure of the atmosphere on those flaps ; the
weight of which they easily overcome in warm wea-
ther, 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 win-
dows, as if they stuck fast to the glass, and it is
with the utmost 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 sup-
port 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.

TIPUL^E, OR EMPEDES. — May. — Millions of em-
pedes, or tipula, 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 ever remember to have seen such swarms,
except in the fens of the Isle of Ely. They appear
most over grass grounds. WHITE.

APHIDES. — On the 1st of August, about half an

380 OBSERVATIONS

hour after three in the afternoon, the people of Sel-
borne were surprised by a shower of aphides, which
fell in these parts. They who were walking 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 then in a
state of emigration, and shifting their quarters ; and
might, perhaps, come from the great hop planta-
tions of Kent or Sussex, the wind being that day
at north. They were observed at the same time at
Farnham, and all along the Vale at Alton.

WHITE.

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 emolu-
ment of the hirundines, which fare luxuriously.
Those that escape the swallows, return no more to
their nests, but, looking out for fresh settlements,
ay 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 ap-
pearance, 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

ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 381

flies, which they have caught, and the aurelia 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 trees, and others rising up from the
ground : many of them were joined togethei in co-
pulation : 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 an-
other place, a large sort, which were yellowish. On
the 8th of September, 1785, I again 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 from the field to the bank 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

382 OBSERVATIONS

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 quite leave their holes, but keep the ends of
their tails fixed therein, so that, on the least alarm,
they can retire with precipitation under the earth.
Whatever food falls within their reach when thus
extended, they seem to be 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.

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
tyepeoiKoz, does not come forth at all till about April
10th, and not only lays itself up pretty early in
autumn, in places secure from frost, but also throws
out round the mouth of its shell a thick operculum
formed from its own saliva ; so that it is perfectly
secured, and corked up, as it were, from all incle-
mencies. The cause why the slugs are able to en-
dure 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

ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 383

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

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

SNAKES' SLOUGH.

There the snake throws her enamelPd skin.

SHAKSPEARE, 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 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

-" Lubrica serpens

Exuit in spinis vestem." — LUCRET.
Smooth serpents that in thickets leave their skin.

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,

12

OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS, &C.

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 encumbrance.

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.

385

OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES.

TREES, ORDER OF LOSING THEIR LEAVES.

ONE of the first trees that become 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 Novem-
ber: 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. WHITE.

SIZE AND GROWTH. — Mr. Marsham, of Stratton,
near Norwich, informs me by letter thus : "I became
a planter early ; so that an oak, which I planted in
1720, is become now, at one foot from the earth,
12 feet 6 inches in circumference, and, at 14 feet,
(the half of the timber length,) is 8 feet 2 inches.
So, if the bark were to be measured as timber, the
tree gives 116| feet, buyer's measure. Perhaps you
never heard of a larger oak, while the planter was
living. I flatter myself that I increased the growth
by washing the stem, and digging a circle, as far as
I supposed the roots to extend, and by spreading
sawdust, &c., as related in the Phil. Trans. I wish

386 OBSERVATIONS

I had 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 5 feet from the ground, 6 feet 3 inches in
girth, and, with its head, spreads a circle of 20 yards
diameter. This tree was also dug round, washed, &c.
Stratton, 24th July, 1790."

The circumference of trees planted by myself, at
one foot from the ground (1790) : —

Oak in
Ash
Great fir

]
1730
1730
1751

Feet. :
4
4
5

[nches.
5

o2

Greatest beech
Elm
Lime

1751
1750
1756

4
5
5

0
3
5

The great oak in the Holt, which is deemed by
Mr. Marsham to be the biggest in this island, at 7
feet from the ground, measures, in circumference,
34 feet. It has, in old times, lost several of its
boughs, and is tending to decay. Mr. Marsham com
putes, that, at 14 feet length, this oak contains 1000
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 peer over an opposite
roof at the beginning of summer ; but, before the
growing seasor. was over, the whole shoot of the
year, and three or four joints of the body beside,
became visible to him as he sits on his form in his
shop. According to this supposition, a tree may

ON VEGETABLES. 387

advance in height considerably, though the summer
shoot should be destroyed every year. WHITE.

FLOWING OF SAP. — If the bough of a vine is cut
late in the spring, just before the shoots push out, it
will bleed considerably; but, after the leaf is out,
any part may be taken off without the least incon-
venience. 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 de-
faced by those insects, never recover their beauty
again for the whole season. WHITE.

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

WHITE.

BEECH. — Beeches love to grow in crowded situa
tions, 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.

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 or

c c 2

388 OBSERVATIONS

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 indif-
ferent observer ; but the wood is very shakey, and,
towards the heart, cup-shakey, (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 ordi-
nary barrels, buckets, &c. Chestnut sells for half
the price of oak ; but has sometimes been sent into
the king's dock, and passed off instead of oak.

WHITE.

LIME BLOSSOMS. — Dr. Chandler tells, that in the
south of France, an infusion of the blossoms of the
lime tree, (tilm^) is in much esteem as a remedy
for coughs, hoarsenesses, fevers, &c. ; and that at
Nismes, he saw an avenue of limes that was quite
ravaged and torn in pieces by people greedily gather-
ing the bloom, which they dried and kept for these
purposes.

Upon the strength of the information, we made

ON VEGETABLES. 389

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 N. E. winds blow ; so that the harsh rugged
weather obtaining at this season, is called, by the
country people, blackthorn winter. WHITE.

IVY BERRIES. — Ivy berries afford a noble and pro-
vidential 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 corresponded
very exactly with the modern management of hops.
I might instance in the perpetual diggings and hoe-
ings, in the tying to the stakes and poles, in pruning
the superfluous shoots, &c. ; but lately, I have ob-
served a new circumstance, which was, a neighbour-
ing 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 vineta juvencos."

Georgic II.

The struggling steers between the vine-rows bend.

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 natu-
ral state : hence we may suppose the frequent failure
of crop so incident to hop -grounds. No other growth,

390 OBSERVATIONS

cultivated by man, has such frequent and general
failures as hops.

Two hop-gardens much injured by a hail-storm,
June 5, show now (September 2) a prodigious crop,
and larger and fairer hops than any in the parish.
The owners seem now to be convinced that the hail,
by beating off the tops of the binds, has increased the
side -shoots, and improved the crop. Query. There-
fore, 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 ad-
mitted. 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 straw-
berries 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.

BEANS SOWN BY BIRDS. — Many horse-beans sprang
up in my field- walks in the autumn, and are now
grown to a considerable height. As the Ewel was in
beans last summer, it is most likely that these seeds
came from thence ; but then the distance is too con-
siderable 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,

ON VEGETABLES. , 391

and then to have forgotten where they had stowed
them. Some peas are growing also in the same situ-
ation, and probably under the same circumstances.

WHITE.

CUCUMBERS SET BY BEES. — If bees, who are much
the best setters of cucumbers, do not happen to take
kindly to the frames, the best way is to tempt them
by a little honey, put on the male and 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. Proved by experience. WHITE.

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

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

Truffles never abound in wet winters and springs.
They are in season, in different situations, at least
nine months in the vear. WHITE.

392 OBSERVATIONS ON VEGETABLES.

TREMELLA No STOC.— • Though the weather may
have been ever so dry and burning1, yet, after two or
three wet days, this jelly-like substance abounds on
the walks. WHITE.

FAIRY RINGS. — The cause, occasion, call it what
you will, of fairy rings, subsists in the turf, and is
conveyable with it ; for the turf of my garden-walks,
brought from the down above, abounds with those
appearances, which vary their shape, and shift situ-
ation 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.

393

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

BAROMETER. — November 22, 1768. — A remark-
able 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 dis-
tance. WHITE.

PARTIAL FROST. — The country people, who are
abroad in winter mornings long before sun-rise,
talk much of hard frost in some spots, and none in
others. The reason of these partial frosts is obvious,
for there are at •gtrctTtimes 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, seem to come down from
above : for the coming over of a cloud in severe
nights raises the thermometer abroad at once full ten
degrees. The first notices of thaws often seem to
appear in vaults, cellars, &c.

If a frost happens, even when the ground is con-

394 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

siderably dry, as soon as a thaw takes place, 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 affirms,
many dozen so disabled. WHITE.

MIST, CALLED LONDON SMOKE. — This is a blue
mist, which has somewhat the smell of coal- smoke,
and as it always comes to us with a north-east 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 ON FOG. — When people walk in 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 phenomenon seems not to have been attended
to, but implies the great density of the meteor at
that juncture. WHITE.

HONEY DEW. — June 4, 1783. — Vast honey dews
this week. The reason of these seems to be, that,
in hot days, the effluvia of flowers are drawn up by

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 395

a brisk evaporation, and then, in the night, fall down
with the dews, with which they are entangled *.

This clammy substance is very grateful to bees,
who gather it with great assiduity ; but it is injurious
to the trees on which it happens to fall, by stopping
the pores of the leaves. The greatest quantity falls
in still, close weather ; because winds disperse it, and
copious dews dilute it, and prevent its ill effects. It
falls mostly in hazy, warm weather. WHITE.

MORNING CLOUDS. — After a bright night and vast
dews, the sky usually becomes cloudy by eleven or
twelve o'clock in the forenoon, and clear again to-
wards 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
afte,r 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 10, there is an agreeable prospect of plenty.

WHITE.

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

MITFORD.

396 METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

AURORA BOREALIS. — November 1, 1787. The north
aurora made a particular appearance, forming itself
into a broad, red, fiery belt, which extended from east
to west across the welkin : but the moon rising at
about ten o'clock, in unclouded majesty, in the east,
put an end to this grand, but awful meteorous pheno-
menon. 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 fol-
lowing that dreadful period. Whole dairies missed
being in calf together.

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

WHITE.

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

ss

$

i

CO
01

r—(
t^

O
00

to
to

^

01

O

to

|

t^
Ol

CO

O5

CO

to

0

H

0
10

CO
CO

CO
CO

CO

CO
CO

Ol
01

Ol

Th

Ol

CO

^f
^

CO
^

c

O)

05

O

CO

o

Ol

CO

CO
OQ

Ol

CO

^

05

CO
O5

r-H

Q

O

1— 1

CO

Tf

tO

0

Tf

to

^h

Ol

>

o

10

0

0

!>.

r^ a

01 c*

) 0>

5

CO
CO

]>.

CO

tO
05

CO

to

CO

fc

01

CO

Tf

01 ^

? ^

0

CO

CO

CO

^

o

CO
05

!>.

Oi
CO

rH ^

01

h ^

O

^

0

O5
^f

tO

10

O

•-•

**

0

»O tf

5 ^0

0

tO

Ol

CO

tO

«J

&H

(M
£>.

01

to

to

Th a

Cft 1>

^ co

* to

1 — 1
!>.

01

CO

CO

co

CO
t>*

CO

to

C/2

CO

to

01

to T

h rH

to

01

o

-H

to

81

00
(M

^

(M

CO
CO

r— 1 T

01 ^

h co

3 00

Ol
Ol

05
Oi

0
CO

CO

t>.

tO
01

<i

00

(M

CO

co r

h o

CO

O

Ol

^

^

j>>

05

O

tO
"f

0

Th

00 C

•> co
•^ to

CO

to

05
CO

•^

Ol

•>o
to

CO

H*

t^

r— i

01

00 i-

H CO

CO

CO

CO

to

»0

0)

tO
1**

01

GO

to

CO

cy^ c

CO C

5 0
^1 to

t^.

Ol

^
Ol

CO

05

00
£^

*-s

^

01

CO

1— 1 1-

H r— H

(-H

"f

0

O

01

>»

ci

Tf
CO

^

CO

01

to

o c

CO T

5 O
^ co

CO

r^

to

CO
CO

CO
CO

o
o

Ol

S

CO

01

i-H

o c

<l 01

O

^

^

"-5

CO

^

^

r^

to

CO
CO

Ol

a^

JC^ f

i— i 0

H T^

0 t^

CO

CO

Tf

CO

CO

GO

o

O5

P-

<3

Tf

0

CO

O <-

H O

O

1 — 1

CO

^

^

CO

jj
ctf

Tt«

tO

CO
1 — 1

01

CO

CO CJ

<l 00
D 01

CO

r^

^

to
^

O5
tO

0
1>»

CO

CO

X

CO

01

CO

O ••

-1 TJH

"-1

Ol

0

^

CO

CO

,c{

00
O5

Tt<

to

t^
t-^

O C

00 T

<J l>-

p CO

!>.

CO

f~H

O5

^

•^f

CO

CO
CO

01

CO

£

^H

to

o

r-H r-

H CO

CO

^

0

Tf

^

01

B

TF

CO

CO

Tt<

CO

$c

H 00

r> oo

s

CO

^

O5
05

CO
!>.

t^

J>.

*-s

Tp

Tf

CO

01 CJ

0 0

I— 1

rf

*H

CO

CO

CO

n

o
>

(M

00

! ^

CO
GO
!>.

Tf

CO

r^

»o c.

CO 0

1^ t

D t^
0 00
^ !>.

CO
GO
i^

05
CO
1^

0

05
!>.

r— 1

O5

l^

01

O5
t^.

CO
O5

t^

399

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

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 rain. To the end
of March, dry and windy. To the middle of April,
stormy, with rain. To the end of June, fine weather,
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 Octo-
ber, frosty mornings, with fine days. The next fort-
night 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, chequered
with gleams of sunshine. The first fortnight in

400 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

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.

1771. Severe frosts till the last week in January.
To the first week in February, rain and snow ; to
the end of February, spring weather. To the end
of the third week in April, frosty weather. To the
end of the first fortnight in May, spring weather,
with copious showers. To the end of June, dry, warm
weather. The first fortnight 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. Fre-
quent showers to the latter end of April. To the
end of June, warm showers, with intervals of sun-
shine. To the end of August, dry weather, with a
few days of rain. To the end of the first fortnight

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 401

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 fort-
night in March ; thence to the end of the month, dry
weather. To the 15th 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 every day. To the first week in April,
cold winds, with showers of rain and snow. To the
end of June, warm, bright weather, with frequent
showers. The first fortnight in July, almost inces-
sant rains. To the 26th August, sultry weather, with
frequent showers. To the end of the third week in
September, rain, with a few intervals of fine weather.
To the end of the year, rain, with intervals of hoar-
frost and sunshine.

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

"1777. To the 10th of January, hard frost. To
the 20th of January, foggy, with frequent showers.
To the 18th of February, hard, dry frost, with snow.
To the end of May, heavy showers, with intervals
of warm, dry spring days. To the 8th July, dark,
D d

402 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER.

with heavy rain. To the 1 8th July, dry, warm weather.
To the end of July, very heavy rains. To the 12th
October, remarkably fine, warm weather. To the end
of the year, gray mild weather, with but little rain,
and still less frost.

1778. To the 13th of January, frost, with a little
snow ; to the 24th January, rain ; to the 30th, hard
frost. To the 23d February, dark, harsh, foggy wea-
ther, with rain. To the end of the month, hard frost
with snow. To the end of the first fortnight in March,
dark, harsh weather. From the 1st to the end of the
first fortnight in April, spring weather. To the end
of the month, snow and ice. To the llth of June,
cool, with heavy showers. To the 19th July, hot,
sultry, parching weather. To the end of the month,
heavy showers. To the end of September, dry, warm
weather. To the end of the year, wet, with consi-
derable intervals of sunshine.

1779. Frost and showers to the end of January.
To the 2 1 st April, warm, dry weather. To 8th May,
rainy. To the 7th June, dry and warm. To the 6th
July, hot weather, with frequent rain. To the 18th
July, dry, hot weather. To August 8th, hot weather,
with frequent rains. To the end of August, fine dry
harvest weather. To the end of November, fine au-
tumnal weather, with intervals of rain. To the end
of the year, rain with frost and snow.

1780. To the end of January, frost. To the end
of February, dark, harsh weather, with frequent in-
tervals of frost. To the end of March, warm, showery,
spring weather. To the end of April, dark, harsh
weather, with rain and frost. To the end of the first
fortnight in May, mild, with rain. To the end of
August, rain and fair weather in pretty equal propor-
tions. To the end of October, fine autumnal weather,
with* intervals of rain. To the 24th November, frost.
To December 16, mild, dry, foggy weather. To the
end of the year, frost and snow.

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 403

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

1782. To February 4, open, mild weather. To
February 22, hard frost. To the end of March, cold,
blowing weather, with frost, and snow, and rain. To
May 7, cold, dark rains. To the end of May, mild,
with incessant rains. To the end of June, warm, and
dry. To the end of August, warm, with almost per-
petual rains. The first fortnight in September, mild
and dry ; thence to the end of the month, rain. To
the end of October, mild, with frequent showers.
November began with hard frost, and continued
throughout, with alternate frost and thaw. The first
part of December frosty ; the latter part mild.

1783. To January 16, rainy, with heavy winds.
To the 24th, hard frost. To the end of the first
fortnight in February, blowing, with much rain. To
the end of February, stormy, dripping weather. To
the 9th of May, cold, harsh winds (thick ice on 5th
of May.) To the end of August, hot weather, with
frequent showers. To the 23d September, mild, with
heavy driving rains. To November 12th, dry, mild
weather. To the 1 8th December, gray, soft weather,
with a few showers. To the end of the year, hard
frost.

1 784. To February 19, hard frost, with two thaws ;
one the 14th January, the other 5th February. To
February 28, mild, wet fogs. To the 3d March,
frost, with ice. To March 10, sleet and snow. To
April 2, snow and hard frost. To April 27, mild
weather, with much rain. To May 12, cold, drying
winds. To May 20, hot, cloudless weather. To June

Dd2

404 SUMMARY, OF THE WEATHER.

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

1785. A thaw began on the 2nd of January, and
rainy weather, with wind, continued to January 28.
To 15th March, very hard frost. To 21st March,
mild, with sprinkling showers. To April 7, hard
frost. To May 17, mild, windy weather, without a
drop of rain. To the end of May, cold, with a few
showers. To June 9, mild weather, with frequent
soft showers. To July 13, hot, dry weather, with
a few showery intervals. To July 22, heavy rain.
To the end of September, warm, with frequent
showers. To the end of October, frequent rain.
To 18th of November, dry, mild weather. (Hay-
making finished November 9, and the wheat harvest
November 14.) To December 23, rain. To the end
of the year, hard frost.

1786. To the 7th January, frost and snow. To
January 13, mild, with much rain. To the 21st
January, deep snow. To February 11, mild, with
frequent rains. 21st February, dry, with high winds.
To 10th March, hard frost. To 13th April, wet,
with intervals of frost. To the end of April, dry,
mild weather. On the 1st and 2nd May, thick ice.
To 10th May, heavy rain. To June 14, fine, warm,
dry weather. From the 8th to the llth July, heavy
showers . To October 1 3 , warm, with frequent sho wers .
To October 19, ice. To October 24, mild, pleasant
weather. To November 3, frost. To December 16,
rain, with a few detached days of frost. To the end
of the year, frost and snow.

1787. To January 24, dark, moist, mild weather.
To January 28, frost and snow. To February 16,

SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. 405

mild, showery weather. To February 28, dry, cool
weather. To March 10, stormy, with driving rain.
To March 24, bright, frosty weather. To the end
of April, mild, with frequent rain. To May 22,
fine, bright weather. To the end of June, mostly
warm, with frequent showers, (on June 7, ice as
thick as a crown piece.) To the end of July, hot
and sultry, with copious rain. To the end of Sep-
tember, hot, dry weather, with occasional showers.
To November 23, mild, with light frosts and rain.
To the end of November, hard frost. To December
21, still and mild, with rain. To the end of the
year, frost.

1788. To January 13, mild and wet. To January
18, frost. To the end of the month, dry, windy
weather. To the end of February, frosty, with
frequent showers. To March 14, hard frost. To the
end of March, dark, harsh weather, with frequent
showers. To April 4, windy, with showers. To
the end of May, bright, dry, warm weather, with a
few occasional showers. From June 28 to July 17,
heavy rains. To August 12, hot dry weather. To
the end of September, alternate showers and sun-
shine. To November 22, dry, cool weather. To
the end of the year, hard frost.

1789. To January 13, hard frost. To the end
of the month, mild, with showers. To the end of
February, frequent rain, with snow showers, and
heavy gales of wind. To 1 3th March, hard frost,
with snow. To April 1 8, heavy rain, with frost, and
snow, and sleet. To the end of April, dark, cold
weather, with frequent rains. To June 9, warm
spring weather, with brisk winds, and frequent
showers. From June 4, to the end of July, warm,
with much rain. To August 29, hot, dry, sultry
weather. To September 11, mild, with frequent
showers. To the end of September, fine autumnal

406 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER. ,

weather, with occasional showers. To November
17, heavy rain, with violent gales of wind. To
December 18, mild, dry weather, with a few showers.
To the end of the year, rain and wind.

1790. To January 16, mild, foggy weather, with
occasional rains. To January 21, frost. To January
28, dark, with driving rains. To February 14, mild,
dry weather. To February 22, hard frost. To
April 5, bright, cold weather, with a few showers.
To April 15, dark and harsh, with a deep snow.
To April 21, cold, cloudy weather, with ice. To
June 6, mild, spring weather, with much rain. From
July 3 to July 14, cool, with heavy rain. To the
end of July, warm, dry weather. To August 6,
cold, with wind and rain. To August 24, fine har-
vest weather. To September 5, strong gales, with
driving showers. To November 26, mild autumnal
weather, with frequent showers. To December 1,
hard frost and snow. To the end of the year, rain
and snow, and a few days of frost.

1791. To the end of January, mild, with heavy
rains. To the end of February, windy, with much
rain and snow. From March to the end of June,
mostly dry, especially June. March and April,
rather cold and frosty. May and June, hot. July,
rainy. Fine harvest weather, and pretty dry, to
the end of September. Wet October, and cold
towards the end. Very wet and stormy in Novem-
ber. Much frost in December.

1792. Some hard frost in January, but mostly
wet and mild. February, some hard frost, and a
little snow. March, wet and cold. April, great
storms on the 13th, then some very warm weather.
May and June, cold and dry. July, wet and cold ;
indifferent harvest, rather late and wet. September,
windy and wet. October, showery and mild. No-
vember, dry and fine. December, mild*

A

COMPARATIVE VIEW

OF THE

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR,

AS KEPT

AT SELBORNE, IN HAMPSHIRE, BY THE LATE
REV. GILBERT WHITE, M.A.

AT CATSFIELD, NEAR BATTLE, IN SUSSEX, BY
WILLIAM MARKWICK, ESQ. F.L.S.

FROM

THE YEAR 1768, TO THE YEAR 1793.

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

NATURALIST S CALENDAR.

409

Q
fc

W
J

cS

02

«H

s

02

HJ

S
>

w

(— <

I

2

s
8

410 NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

*

cop

^ s .

^

. u £< o

55 i§

<N

,a

•*A**.fl

>>?"•* -

fe^

2^ e8

^^ a 'S A u

l^lSi-S

1r »*-^ 02 o> CLpi3 i^3

o^^2 o^S^fl
*- to *r >H ^"* ta cri
« s oj S no tJ ™
0 JH ^ .g CU 2 etf
*-" -G g E °J C! ^3

S |^«
^ &££

^ w ^ .*- .

-
llalfg

jaHltiili

££

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 411

H«, CO <r .. »*C _j

o

<M "-1

pB4 I-, fe fin t-s I-B pit p^

ttU-i

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

IS'g |^

i ,; £ \J

cs i
.-

|| I t§|i|III| | ||l

I Sir jf^vtfiftfrf. gss^

^S &Sss co

111 1 1

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 413

IS

R

"^ O ' O *" OOy O WOO

§ c £,3 ^^^ fe?3d^ & ^3!3^

^g£s££gs^ g

t^^ ? a « SS^H* *~

!! S ! 1 SlSl! fit i

'''

«

1?

I r

1

'

1

414 NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

£3 xO y CO S3 CO >->CO O b£

DC^I o^ C5 <l> (N c3 <N CO £3

^ . O • """ ' ° • § • * -*

.^QJ § ^«"^"P-.>>

wQ S3i-s ^MQ^2O<!-

X .- S «- ?* S eo e-T OJ C &

u O ° S3 N — £3 c^ S M L^j*<

Cj "JH ^5'S 3l5^'^^ fr^T 1^ »^C

5 il^rf^!

g
8 S 8

« '§. •* SJ. S>

|< 7 ^- |!

to o-«2_-rt ^^ — '• S %B? S T3 on » s^5 c—jTi B -s ", > Sx^.

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

C fl a <N

415

S

s-s
II

s

IS

• cu ^ «
n qg g <x~

'

^ « ^T

ill

c (JL r > • ^ ^ > s

C/j 5M,Cri-*P*OQQQPH

8-S.E.i °;3«55

416

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

»o ccof

u

eS oS

CO O5

C «JS *3 rn en «

5 ^D S S g g

Miijjj

§i^it2-ii

Illtlfii
"ill I III

NATURALIST S CALENDAR.

411

l> /^K «T C

M Os 5<| ^ QI C3

? £> I ^^^^

^ *-H 5 Gtf S % B

CS S ^ ^ ^ rt 3

< «« «^l^

S co ~ -2 o -

^ Soso »> »S

1—1 >•>*>•» >^2 ^ >.

rt ^2^^^ ^JbD sS ^H

§ „ ^ *•

CO CO C^l C^l C^l •» Ci ^|

(N ^^^ ^|2! "^,£3

— H 'o'o'y 'o r73 'u

•5 >^ s-, >-i H-9 C>a

pf oS cti cS

<

^ CC

05 o cT i— i i-T

I— I (M (MC<I(N

E e

418

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

lit &

>— 5 ^5 ^ ^

\%*

I ^ :E '"3 :S '£ '£ '£ '£ 'C '£ ;S >^

PH"P-< i— i (M (M CO "

KS
ifc

'S3 a

2s$ s

3cd.22 S gqs

Jillll?

liiHll

i| fji ^BrJjBtM

•o

1°

'B<o

??
||

cj ,*

"C

faw

O ^ O! CC Cd 3-1 r-i

lH*iis!i

:ls^isl^l

E & x S * *§ 1 .8 S -frS S .S 5 M V 6*8 1*^1 '

3 A a, ^ ^x s'^^g^o gc, ^"bb ^2 ^ o ^S w QJ £,-
^ ^^ « -cu^ g -g w "g ^sS fi e fe s_^^3N~Xa!3^r

1 1 -a Wz ll-Jt-5 S.I l|*1 si II 1 1

a ^ ^ § ^ Q, r^' ci M -3 ?? § s

"~^P S^K. S^.tx^s g*'C o ^^

i !!tflirii.:|ll|

sIg.|t|||IM||Iii|j

r=^"!>;g^ I'g § s >&* s %£%*

SSfli^jinSriCa) ^^-*= n-i fll « C O

a I

I :

~ p,'>

ifji

Iff

V^ So

^^•T1 Ti

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 419

" (M

\ I fill til! iffjfij

a o SeoVtf

"| PH PH

.2

13

j*3

cj

CC

"?

1

03

3

o

02

K

"e?

d,

lio atalanta)

iamines) ap
fl.

03 03" "C .

~^S>«

S-c ^

to cS O S

S,^^ 2
§ >£<£

ipendulse) a
i

d
i 1

7*

S4?
^^

c £*

'S ^Q
^§

1
o

&

<w'.2<

^•2^

d

OJ

^;

•p O" u

^3 §-8
^P'S w

^T OS

IS
'5s

.2

420

NATURALIST S CALENDAR.

M

2 2
* 2

M

co~

CO CO <M O CO — .

i— i i— i P-H <N CM p— i (N

3 — . <« ,G ro ^ «j . *o n JH »* _G £

53 '§ ^ ^ * .2 ,3 « <rH g ,£3 2> U, s

_._o fi*oCi— 1^< . t» r* r^ hrg —

,^-:.!35-!So_a5^ — ««Jss^::.s_2'i*-e.sseua

I lt|?i-ifi illfJllilMlIl
i.lifliilidliillSimil

a >>^,

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

If

CO

§ %™

3 3 j>^

Illlllllllf

B SS 5

= SS

S 2 |2

^(N^C^G^^MCMfMC^COCO

oi

O 0)

f» t-*

SCC

I-S I-B H-6 H

jTio iO »0 f^CO~CO

O^OjQjCU^ODHJO

q e q;Q a d a c fl

-^333^

NATURALIST S CALENDAR.

O iO~ - CO" CO 10 2" ^ 4, "T 2

^g ^^^^<q ^^^^ gn?^^^ §j?h?4r$

CN CM

>» £>

S

q=

^fl

jc'S

S « rt

^

ci

£

&

2

IT

'S

w QJ

8-g

> ^J

?1

fl — S
S . o> C

.5^13 ee

s

o

S
ft

ft .

4U-

3

3

H Efl

ti S

JD ^~. G 'S

S_i

«V2

1

&

C

r (tamus comin

sum sativum a
3ion (cucubalui

3

;'§

^s

^1

ifffl

11

s!S O

q3
08

'So

OJ
!H

i;

dicus ap.
)w-herb (epilo
um hybernum
iphytum offici
?rnel (lysimacl

toe, ap.
•hamnus catba:

insect (cicada

sa canina) fl.

O ci
ft ^

O _Q

1

ill

*• r» ea <->.t:O2: oj^?i3 ^ fl *S ^ ^ M <u s— '^ ^^s1^ ^ -" -o

l-s g,^ s x| is i ^r^>|^ i s^.s «-s ||^«
l^sl^§fll||il|l|||sSvl|t|l

^^.2i^ ° ^.g -^ §g 1-3 g S § if§ ^.^^J^S-^
^pqp^pq pq W PQ ^ PH (^ ^ O ^ H W u Q Pk S > S 02 CQ 01

NATURALIST S CALENDAR.

423

CO

7

^•a1 ® *„ *'>>>•£•'* i

- s -5 si- t^iti

59 ~ . I--, <S ^ >-!>

^'CrtS a'^^^c^sT'

§^§ § §5^4§4s

>-5 •< i-» *-s HS <5 ^ g HJ g g

T":

COCO^^^^^Tf^^^^COt-i't^
<N(N<N(N<N(N(Ne<l<M(N<N<N<M(N(N

424

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

^ O °3 "

~ c§.~<

s

20 3
£ ^

CC _- (M
^ N

bJO fl.

^

3

^C C fl C fl
333333
t-5 HS i-s 1-5 i-s HS

a s?

I s*

5 s-

<N O5 -^ "— i

C 0) >. O» < ^c

c fl ^ fl S.

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

425

* 2

*

crj fac

3-34

3 3 fl 3

'g

•r«d

•8'

trt=

I

ffi

x-N 3 PH

S s s

.T! t« 3
T3 <1> >H

s .-s-s

5 « fl i>
o ^~. «8 b
^^ a >>

fl £°£ ^
I^^S

s-a,« M

^ ? 8 -.a

ftg S H

5^ H -M Ctf

-S IrS-l

iiU -

,f IT8 V°

^«'S'S

.2 aj * , • "i

•err? -

<rt^ facq3

.S fl Hs

F-I fl 3

c3 33

£ O> — <L> ^

«j««iy-5i

x—x'-^ — >-i TO

o> *s S "S 'Q

^ S s S S

iip*ll

M r! Cfl rr j «5 O <L>

S-^4S -d S .2^ £ o

J-l M ^ 'S f-> A*^*

O ^ ^

.S3'1

oTC^ g -fl oj — o

^-?II1I^

426 NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

M

2

»« 5S cc *o <N 2 «o

-/•s <N <N sas ^ 0 ^ ^ o co

5 <u ^ ^ C^ II CO ^^ ^S .' S «

tf § t/5* « J* >> ^ •& IK • ^ ^ ^ « far

<; 3 >>^ r^ i5 ^3 r--< 33 H .2* OJ 3 3 ,5 OC

S ^3^ § s ^ ^^ ^3 c»<!<!S

"

+J PH

M * & >»

3^ CC 3

|ll | | | 3! II |§l|

<-il^l~S f=4 ^ F=3 *^^ l^^ ^N*"% >S*»!

<^^UU U OH^i-5c»PH^ WufeSc«iJfeQc«ek<

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

427

53 CO »C TH

".

§33 §3 3 §

»-s >-» i-s "-a •-» "^ H8

I'll-o

*JJB

428

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

£ 2 <£> SS 2 &* S
»4. T«r . ^ ^:

faD ^ ^C

ei ,>-

•< a

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 429

g§3

«« ^ £ s 20 ^ £o §

£p£<Abb 5 !* ^ g> s°> jf §°bx) 6*

<^r^^ ^<?jl^^^ ^<^

gjfodjc ^ ^ 4 ^ 55 «- ^7 ci^ 2"

3>>>>be>-»"n r; S r2 •>~>fl fl >>>-» faD

^^^^ % 333 3 § § "33 5

H-sh-j^Hs <] l-s l-s (-B l-^H-6 •-» t-9"^ <J

CO
^J

^^^ be be bo be bo be bo bb bb bb bb be be bb be bb be bo be be bo

d'E

"" '' "" &^~^ *** W fl

«di?l 1 H .I."1!

ill i il Jill!

ill I

ssiil .|j.sts:|.:.-s

^ >/& rt ^« S^P fl c S .S *g ^
H g'^oT^^
» 43 o ro •- 13 a cs'T3 3 ° -3 ^» g u t2

eiisillll'a ^PT*/!

430

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

S3

(N

bb

-M

OJ

co

bo be bo be bD faC bD ao bD bD bJD bJD bD bD be fee fcD bX) bJD ho fcfl fcfl bjD fcJD be hr,
SS33S2S33S33SSSS3333^S3SSs'

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 431

0-co fl.

~S i

II

^co & ^ wS^lS fccoQO §>££

- CO | G ^ ^ (N ^ Q ^

2 O t^. PH~ „ I -CO „ ^_j^CO «0M-3M

^^ —" co »« ^oi--HTp ^^c^^ ^p-r^^

'£>> c tsb bJD '^bO'S.,-1 jj<i*^»"o. > jj S jj

^3 § ^ ^

_ _ O O CJ ^i

GG GG GG

8 c

A oj ^ D

|| | 1 fl

«g,|J A±ts | a ,3 «

'ws 'e.'" ^C-^ '43 £ ^ 7? ™

w 3 ^ir^N-^^"^ ^"^ fl o " 02 fl

faJD rj ro 00 OS ^J^ ^3 ^^» 1-rt QJ >H

floj^rfl3 135"^ fl,5 O

'S'£^| I ggig § I § « 8 £

?" »L1 .23 ^ ? 1 i ^, ^ ^

cc w r3 .S

^§^g^ d S | . J 3.s

rr,& P-«3Wx-v« OS % rf ffl ^U^

•| S «^Slig^| §" s '« ^

fi-I'ill«sl§)sii i - I I-

S § S -2 § 8^.2 g- fi> W * 1 « § a 5§

^-HrTr^aj-ji^^J-iU^r-fO.v1 ^fe""^ Cx ^^^^^

|5«|J8|ISt1l|| £i|^g> |^

or§^8?c.fl)>,|>,!sSjJ gj'gj'g -3|

££o£££Sw£££££ Sfcl tf Eo

432 NATURALIST'S CALENDAR.

CO~<M S OS SO — < (^ »

tC •"•• ^t^ •— I •— ! M PH C<l^

.^ «J 4>. .... •

Q Z

INDEX.

ANNE, Queen, came to Wolmer
Forest to see the red deer, 29

Ants, particulars respecting, 380

Aphides, great shower of, in Au-
gust, 379

April, 1770, the remarkable in-
clemency of its weather, 122

Arum, the cuckoo-pint, eaten in
the hard weather by the thrush,
59

Ash-tree, a ruptured one, what,
229 ; a shrew one, what, ib. ;
particulars of, 387

August, the most mute month re-
specting the singing of birds,
198

Aurora Borealis, singular appear-
ance of, November 1, 1787, 396

Ayles Holt, alias Alice Holt, the
forest of, 38.

Barometer, remarkable fall of,
November 22, 1768,393

Barometers, Selborne and Newton
compared, 314 ; South Lam-
beth, 315

Barragon, a genteel corded stuff,
where manufactured, 25

Bat, a tame one, some particulars
about 45 ; drink on the wing
like swallows, 46 ; the large
sort, some particulars about,
107 ; nondescript in 1769, ib. ;
further account of, 153

Beans, sown by birds, 390
Bee, wild, account of, 375
Beech-trees, love to grow in

crowded situations, 387
Beech, loveliest of forest trees, 12
Beetles, buz at the time that

partridges call, 368
Bin's, or Bean's Pond, for what

remarkable, 33

Birds, common in England that
have no English name, 42;
influenced in colour by food,
59 ; that fly by night, obliged
to be noisy, 266 ; summer, of
passage, a list of, 62, 93 ; liv-
ing ones shown here, when
from distant regions, why
usually of the thick-billed ge-
nera, 125; of summer passage
— seen spring and autumn at
Gibraltar, 136; soft-billed, that
winter with us, how supported,
213 ; of winter passage, a list
of, 95 ; that continue in full
song till after mid -summer,
100 ; why fatten in moderate
frosts, 117; what sorts are
pulveratrices, 128
Birds, what occasions their con-
gregating, 156 ; in the season
of nidification, tame, 211 ; va-
rious manner of motion of,
262 ; notes and language of,
265 ; in general, observations
on, 335 ; of prey, boldness and

f

434

INDEX.

rapacity of, when urged by
hunger, 348

Black-cap, an elegant songster,
201

Black-game, seen at Selborne, 28

Black - thorn, usually blossoms
while cold winds blow, 389

Black spring, 1771> account of
the remarkable severity of, 396

Bohemian chatterer, 47

Bombylius medius, description of,
378

Boy, an idiot, his strange propen-
sity, 227

Brimstone Lodge, some account
of, 33

Brooks at Selborne, what fishes
they produce, 44

Bug, harvest, some account of,
146

Bullfinch, turns black, 59

Bunting, a very rare bird at Sel-
borne, 51

Butcher-bird, red-backed, 76

Buzzards, honey, some account
of, 288.

Cane, a species of weasel, 58
Caprimulgus, or fern-owl, some

new observations about, 82, 154
Castration, its strange effects, 237
Cats, house, strange that they

should be so fond of fish, 1 20
Chaffinches, vast flocks of hens,

50 ; hens, more account of,

138

Chalk-hills, why peculiarly beau-
tiful, 181
Charadrius himantopus described,

283
Chestnut timber, very like oak,

388

Chif-chaff, or willow-wren, 353
Chinese dog and bitch, 309

Cimex Linearis, account of, 373
Clouds, morning, occasion of, 395
Cobwebs, shower of, 217
Coccus vitis viniferte, strange and

rare insect in England, 296
Cock-chaffers, particulars relative

to, 370

Cock-roach, monography of, 371
Cornua Ammonis, where found,

20

Cold descends, 318
Colymbus Glacialis, description

of, 349

Cricket, field, a monography of,
275 ; hearth, a monography of,
278 ; more particulars respect-
ing, 372 ; mole, a monography
of, 281

Crista Galli, a fossil shell, 19
Crocus, the spring and saffron,
their different seasons of blos-
soming wonderful, why, 261
Cuckoo, particulars about, 110,
117 ; sing in different keys,
150; a young one in the nest
of a titlark, 129 ; several skim-
ming over a pond, why, ib.
Cucumbers set by bees, 391
Cumberland, William, Duke of,
takes away the red-deer from
Wolmer Forest, 29.

Daws breed in unlikely places,
80 ; reason of their doing so, 81
Deer, red, in Wolmer Forest,
some account of, 28 : fallow,
in Holt Forest, 37 ; their spi-
racula, or breathing places, 56
Derham, Mr., mistaken, 148
Dew, honey, remarks on, 394
Dispersion of birds, pretty equal,

why, 255

Diving birds, how their feet and
wings placed, 349

INDEX.

435

Downs, Sussex, a lovely range,

181
Ducks, foreign, roost on trees,

341 ; betake themselves to the

water in the night time, and

why, ib.

Echo, a polysyllabical one, 250 ;

why since mute, 253 ; several

remarks on echoes, 251
Echoes. A charming description

of echoes from Lucretius, 254 ;

occasioned by the discharge of

swivel guns, 314
Elm, Wych, size of a transplanted

one, 15
Empedes, or Tiptilce, vast swarms

of, in May, 379.

Fairy rings, occasion of, 392

Falcon, peregrine, particulars
about, 307

Fieldfares, strange that they do
not breed in England, nor in
the Highlands of Scotland,
104 ; roost on the ground, 113

Fishes, gold and silver, why very
amusing in a glass bowl, 299

Flies, many species of, retire into
houses in the decline of the
year, 378

Fly, bacon, injurious to the house-
wife, 146 ; whame, or burrel,
oestrus curvicauda, 148 ; May,
great swarms of, June, 1771)
374 ; nose, very tormenting to
horses, 376; ichneumon, de-
stroys spiders, 377

Fly-catcher, some particulars of,
201

Fogs, reflection of, a singular
phenomenon, 394

Freestone, analogous to chalk, 12 ;

makes the wood of trees grow-
ing on it shakey, 14
Frogs, particulars relating to, 67
Frost, that in January, 1768, de-
scribed, 316 ; that in January,
1776,319; that in December,
1784, 324 ; partial, reason of,
393 ; gentle, fattens animals,
&c., 116; dependent on wet,
316.

Galls of Lombardy poplar, 388
Gassendus,curious quotation from,

306
German silk-tail, garrulus Bohe-

micus, shot, 47 ; boars, turned

out in Wolmer, 38
Gossamer, a wonderful shower of,

217
Greatham, the manor farm of, its

privileges in Wolmer Forest, 31
Grosbeak, account of, 363
Gipsies, some particulars about,

221.

Hail-storm at Selborne in summer,

1784, 331
Hanger, the, 11
Hawkley - hanger, the amazing

fall thereof, 271
Hawk, sparrow, the dread of

house- wives, 289; blue, or

hen-harrier, boldness of when

urged by hunger, 347
Haze, or smoky fog, the peculiar

one which prevailed in summer,

1783, 329

Heath fires, why lighted up, 32
Hedgehog, some account of, 111 ;

cannot contract when young,

112
Heliotropes, summer and winter,

how to make, 269

f2

436

INDEX.

Hellebores, order of blowing,

259
Herissant, Monsieur, mistaken in

his reason why cuckoos do not

use incubation, 235
Hirundines, British, when they

arrived in three very distant

counties, 210
Hogs, would live, if suffered, to a

considerable age, 238
Hoopoes, seen at Selborne, 42
Hops, observations on, 389 ; soil

suited to, 14
Hounds, the royal, do not draw

the coverts with address, and

why, 366
Howe, General, turns out wild

boars in Holt Forest, 38
Horns, room containing many, at

Lord Pembroke's, 125
Hornets' nests, how made, 376
Horse and hen, curious instance

of affection between, 220
Humming in the air, 369
Huxham, Dr., his account of rain

at Plymouth, 313.

Insects in general, observations

on, 368
Instinct, sometimes varies and

conforms to circumstances, 304
Ireland, why worthy the attention

of a naturalist, 215
Ivy-berries do not seem to freeze,

389.

Jar-bird, what 63

Lanes, hollow, rocky, their pecu-
liarities, 23

Land-rail, an insectivorous bird,
346; generally deemed birds

of passage, but appear to be ill
qualified for migration, 346
Larks, white, probably snow-
flakes, 58 ; grasshopper, some
curious circumstances about, 61
Leper, a miserable one in this

village, 245

Leprosy, why probably less com-
mon than of old, 246
Leveret, suckled by a cat, 240
Lime blossoms, infusion of, a re-
medy for coughs, 388
Linnets, congregate and chirp, 51
Loaches from Ambresbury, 72
Loon, or diver described, 349
Losel's Wood, its taper oaks, 18 ;
its raven-tree, ib.

Malm, what sort of soil, 13

March, the month of, two won-
derful hot days in March, 1777;
the effects of that heat, 243

Mare, singular incident relating
to an old hunting one, 366

Martin, house, seen very late 79 ;
house, a monography of, 175;
sand, or bank, a monography
of, 193 ; house, builds her nest
only in the morning, 176 ;
house, farther circumstances
about, 293, 301, 357

Mice, small red, nondescript, 46,
53

Migration, actual, somewhat like
it, 86 ; at Gibraltar, ocular de-
monstration of, 142

Missel-bird, the largest singing
bird, 101 ; pugnacious, 211

Mist, called London smoke,usually
followed by dry weather, 394

Moose-deer, a female, some ac-
count of, 113; a male, where
killed, 124

Museum, countryman's, where,
42

INDEX.

437

Music, its powerful effect on some
men's minds, 305 ; of birds,
depends on incubation, 108

Mytilus crista galli, a curious
fossil-shell, 19.

Naturalist's Calendar, 407
Newt, or eft, water, some account

of, 68, 73
Norehill, 13
Northern birds seen in the south,

75.

Oak, a vast one planted on the
Plestor, 16

Osprey, or sea-eagle, where shot,
171

Otter, one, where killed, 121

Owl, brown, a tame one, 44 ;
white, or barn-owl, the young
not easily bred up, ib.

Owls, white, do not hoot, 168;
brown, live without water, 1 69 ;
hoot in different keys, 150;
white, several particulars of,
167; fern, superstitious notions
of the country people respect-
ing, 353.

Partridges, hen, instances of their

remarkable solicitude to save

their brood, 342
Passeres, order of, contains all the

singing birds, 102
Peacocks, their train not a tail,

149
Pettichaps, a very rare bird at

Selborne, 306
Phalcena Quercus devour the

leaves of oak trees, 373
Pheasant, hybrid, description of,

343

Pheasants, reason of their cowring
and squatting, 348

Pigeons drink like quadrupeds,
199

Plants, the more rare in Selborne,
258

Plestor, the, in the midst of the
village, what, 16

Plover, the stilt, a rare and cu-
rious bird, 283

Ponds, on elevations, why seldom
dry, 233

Poultry, endowed with great dis-
cernment to see what will turn
to their own advantage, 340

Ptinus Pectinicornis, account of,
370

Puffins, breed in holes on the flat
ground, 79.

Queen's bank, why so called, 29.

Rabbits make the finest turf, and
why, 365

Rain, the mean of, not to be as-
certained at any place till after
many years, 24; what has
fallen at Selborne of late years,
ib. ; that of Selborne compared
with that of Plymouth, 313;
measure of, in inches and hun-
dreds, from 1782 to 1793, 398

Rat, whether two kinds of, 41 ;
water, a curious anecdote con-
cerning one, 106

Raven -nest, account of, 18

Ray, Mr., why a superior writer,
152

Red-breasts, why supposed to sing
in autumn only, 199

Red-start, moves its tail horizon-
tally, ] 98 ; its singularities,
201

438

INDEX.

Red-wings, the first birds that

suffer by frost, 151
Ring-dove, food of the, 346
Ringousel, where found, 48 ; more

particulars of, 76, 89, 97, 163 ;

breed in Dartmoor and the Peak

of Derby, 126
Rooks, perfectly white, 58; an

amusing anecdote about, 312;

are continually fighting, 338 ;

have their wings frozen by the

sleet, 394
Ruperta, whose daughter and

wife, 36
Rupert, Prince, a great mechanic,

37

Rushes, instead of candles, mat-
ter of much utility in humble

life, 223
Rutland, county of, what rain

fell there, 141

Sand-martin, seen before any of
its congeners, 357

Scallops, or pectines, where found,
20

Scopoli, account of his works,
127

Scotland, in what its maps are
defective, 216

Sedge - bird, some particulars
about, 98, 174 ; a delicate po-
lyglot, 109

Seed lying dormant, 390

Selborne parish, its situation and
abuttals, 11 ; village, how cir-
cumstanced, 12 ; the manor of,
abounds with game, 23 ; pa-
rish of, of vast extent, why,
ib. ; population of, 24 ; rain,
quantity of, considerable, why,
ib. ; produces near half the
birds of Great Britain, 201

Serpent kind, eat but once a year,
70

Sexes, of birds and beasts, when
they separate, 138

Sheep, Sussex, horned and horn-
less, 182 ; observations on, 365

Slugs, very injurious to wheat
just come out of the ground,
by eating oft* the blade, and,
by their infinite numbers, oc-
casioning incredible havock,
242, 382

Snails, remarks on, 382 ; water,
vulgar error, 69

Snake, stinks se defendendo, 99 ;
slough of, curious particulars
concerning, 383

Snipes, their piping and hum-
ming, 65

Snow-fleck, sometimes seen at
Selborne, 105

Sociality in the brute creation,
instances of, 219

Soft-billed birds, how many stay
the winter, 95

Sow, prodigious fecundity of one,
239

Sphynx Ocellata, account of, 374

Squirrels, three young ones suck-
led by a cat, 366

Stock-dove, bird of passage, 171 ;
often confounded with the ring-
dove, 290

Stone, free, its uses and advan-
tages, 20 ; rag, its qualities
and uses, 21 ; sand, or forest,
22 ; yellow, or rust colour, ib.

Stone-curlew, some account of,

• 59 ; farther account of, 60,
136 ; additional particulars
concerning, 352

Srojoy/} of animals, several in-
stances, 163

Summer birds of passage, list of,
62,93

Summers, 1781 and 1783 un-
usually sultry, 327

INDEX.

439

Swallow, the house, or chimney,
a monography of, 185, 301 ;
congregating and disappear-
ance of, 359

Sweden produces two hundred
and twenty-one birds, 201

Swift, or black-martin, a mono-
graphy of, 202 ; the same
number usually seems to re-
turn to the same place, 255 ;
more circumstances about, 294;
swift and large bat feed in the
same high region of air, 107

Sycamore tree, forms a beautiful
appearance in May, 387.

Teals, where bred, 167

Tender plants, in what aspect to
be placed, 316

Thaws, why sometimes sur-
prisingly quick, 393

Thrush, missel, very fierce and
pugnacious, 211 ; thrushes are
very serviceable in gardens,
339; reason of their building
near houses, ib.

Timber, a large fall of, in the
Holt Forest, 38

Titmice, their mode of life and
support, 214

Tortoise, a family one, 134, 158,
285, 287

Trees, subterraneous, how disco-
vered, 26 ; why perfect alem-
bics, how, 230 ; order of
>?ing their leaves, 385; size
and growth of, ib. ; flowing of
sap from, 387 '•> renovation of
'ves of, ib.

TremeHa nustoc, remark concern-
ing, 392

Truffles, observations on, 391.

Vine, disease of, 295

Viper, blind-worm, and snake,
some account of, 70 ; pregnant
one, some circumstances about,
236.

Wagtails run round the cows
when feeding in moist pas-
tures, and why, 362 ; smallest
birds that walk, 95

Waldon- lodge, what, and by
whom kept up, 33

Waltham blacks, much infested
Wolmer Forest, and, by their
enormities, occasioned the black
act, 30

Wasps, observations on, 375

Weather, dripping after drought,
influence of, 395 ; summary of,
from 1768 to 1792, 399

Well - head, a' fine perennial
spring, 13

Wells, their usual depth in Sel-
borne village, 14

Wheat, mistaken notion concern-
ing, 391

Wheatear, the bird so called,
some account of, 51 ; Sussex
bird, so called, more particu-
lars of, 183

White-throat, some particulars
about, 200

Winchester, Hoadly, Bishop of,
his humane objection to re-
stocking Waltham Chase with
deer, 30

Wolmer, Forest of, some account
of, 25, 36; how abutted
upon, 25 ; has abounded with
fossil trees, 26; haunted by
many sorts of wild-fowl, ib. ;
once abounded with heath-
cocks, or black-game, ibid. ;
with red deer, 28; Wolmer
Pond, its measurement, fowls,
&c., 35

12

440

INDEX.

Woodcocks, sometimes sluggish
and sleepy, 144", 152 ; Scopoli's
assertion about, 127 ; hen with
egg before she leaves England,
139

Wood, fossil, where found, 311
Worms, earth, no inconsiderable
link in the chain of nature,
some account of, 241 ; farther
particulars of, 381 ; glow, put
out their lamps between eleven
and twelve, ib.

Wrens, willow, three species, 74 ;
wren, smallest uncrested wil-
low, the second early summer
birds, 353

Wryneck, walks a little, 362 ;
account of, ib.

Yellow-hammer, sings later in
the year than any other bird,
16

Yeomen-prickers, their agility as
horsemen, 29.

GILBERT & RIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London*

iOCKCO
CASE

j