591.941 W 5S n I 853 a THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY I From the collection of { Julius Doerner, Chicago i Purchased, 1918. 591.942 W58n I 653 a n LIBRARY OF THE umvfmmr or umois V GENERAL VIEW OF SELBORNE. Frontispiece. '■'. Vs,’ 0 - 0 ■n h i t\ THE MTUEAL HISTORY AM) ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE, WITH OBSEEVATIONS ON VAEIOUS PAETS OF NATUEE, AND CalenliRr. BT THE LATE EEV. GILBEET WHITE, A.M. A NEW EDITION. EriTED, WITH NOTES, BY SIE WILLIAM JAEDINE, Baht. E.E.S.E. E.L.S. &g. COMPLETELY ILLUSTRATED WITH ABOUT SEVENTY ENGRAVINGS, COMPRISING SUBJECTS FROM NATURAL HISTORY, AND VIEWS OF SELBORNE. ITS VICINITY AND ANTIQUITIES, SKETCHED FROM NATURE EXPRESSLY FOR THIS EDITION. LONDON : NATHANIEL COOKE, MILFORD HOUSE, STRAND. 1853. 5^3 /■ 342 VI^S n / ^ ^ 3 a ADTERTISEMENT TO ORIGINAL EDITION. The Author of the following Letters takes the liberty, with 'all proper deference, of laying before the public his idea of ^parochial history^ which, he thinks, ought to consist of natural ^ productions and occurrences as well as antiquities. He is also of ..^opinion that if stationary men would pay some attention to the S^istricts on which they reside, and would publish their thoughts respecting the objects that surround them, from such materials ^ might be drawn the most complete county-histories, which are still wanting in several parts of this kingdom, and in particular in the county of Southampton. ^ And here he seizes the first opportunity, though a late one, of ©^returning his most grateful acknowledgments to the reverend '' the President and the reverend and worthy the Fellows of . Magdalen College in the university of Oxford, for their liberal -behaviour in permitting their archives to be searched by a ^ member of their own society, so far as the evidences therein "^contained might respect the parish and priory of Selborne. To ^ that gentleman also, and his assistant, whose labours and \ attention could only be equalled by the very kind manner in ^ which they were bestowed, many and great obligations are also r,ndue. ^ Of the authenticity of the documents above-mentioned there ^ can be no doubt, since they consist of the identical deeds and records that were removed to the College from the Priory at the ^time of its dissolution ; and, being carefully copied on the spot, may be depended on as genuine ; and, never having been made public before, may gratify the curiosity of the antiquary, as well as establish the credit of the history. If the writer should at all appear to have induced any of his IV ADVERTISEMENT TO ORIGINAL EDITION. readers to pay a more ready attention to tlie wonders of the Creation, too frequently overlooked as common occurrences ; or if he should by any means, through his researches, have lent an helping hand towards the enlargement of the boundaries of historical and topographical knowledge ; or if he should have thrown some smalf light upon ancient customs and manners, and especially on those that were monastic ; his purpose will be fully answered. But if he should not have been successful in any of these his intentions, yet there remains this consolation behind — that these his pursuits, by keeping the body and mind employed, have, under Providence, contributed to much health and cheer- fulness of spirits, even to old age : and, what still adds to his happiness, have led him to the knowledge of a circle of gentle- men whose intelligent communications, as they have afforded him much pleasing information, so, could he flatter himself with a continuation of them, would they ever be deemed a matter of singular satisfaction and improvement. Sklborne, January 1788, OF ^ WIWOWTY « VILLAGE STREET — WHITE’S HOUSE. ■m INTHODUCTOTIY OBSEEYATIONS. In agreeing to the request of the proprietors of the National Illustrated Library^ to give my assistance to their present edition of the “Natural History of Selborne,” I have felt that there was a danger of making repetitions, and a difficulty of adding much that was new to a work which had been printed in so many forms, and had been of late years so much written about. But the wish to extend among a new generation of readers the knowledge of a book which, in the opinion of every one, is well fitted for the perusal of young persons, and is a valuable record and example how the leisure hours of a country clergyman may be profitably and innocently employed, induced me to comply. There was also the desire to make some corrections incident to our more recent information on what I had already written in a previous edition, and to explain that several editions which bore my name were accompanied with some notes, and by illustrations 62 vi INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. with which I had nothing whatever to do. In 1829, when Mr. Constable had proceeded so far with his “ Miscellany,” I was requested to read over and add some notes explanatory of various passages in Selborne,” which he then proposed to publish in his collection. To this I agreed, and that edition, with a few supplementary notes added to the volume in Mr. Bohn’s “Standard Library,” are all with which I have had any connection whatever. There is perhaps no work of the same class that has gone through more editions than White’s Selborne. It originally appeared in 1789, four years before the author’s death, in the then fashionable quarto size ; an octavo edition in two volumes, was published under the charge of Dr. Aitkin in 1802, to which various observations were added from White’s journals ; and a second quarto edition was again published in 1813, with notes by the Eev. John Mitford, several of which are copied into the present volume ; after these, the edition projected and published by Constable in his “ Miscellany” was the first to render the work better known and more popularly desired. When the disarrange- ment of Mr. Constable’s affairs took place, and the “ Miscellany” had passed into other hands, this edition assumed several forms, and was illustrated by woodcuts, some of them engraved for it, while some were inserted that had previously been used in other works on natural history. The demand for the work, however, still continued so great, as to induce Mr. Yan Yoorst and others, to speculate upon fresh reprints, some of them very beautifully illustrated, and the Eev. L. Jenyns, Mr. Bennet, and Mr. Jesse, have all contributed their share to the explanation of White’s letters, and have been assisted by some of the. first men of the day, in regard to such subjects as did not so immediately form a portion of their own studies, and we owe to Messrs. Bell and Owen, Yarrel and Herbert, many useful and instructive notes. The call now for another edition of The Natural History of Selborne, after so much has been illustrated and written about shows the continued estimation in which the work is held, and the confidence of the publishers in its value. What is the cause of this run after the correspondence of a country clergyman ? Just that it is the simple recording of valuable facts as they were really seen or learned, without embellishment except as received from truth, and without allowing the imagina- tion to ramble and assume conclusions the exactness of which it had not proved. He at the same time kept steadily in view INTRODUCTORY OBSERYATIONS. Yii the moral obligation upon himself as a man and minister, to benefit his fellow creatures by impressing upon them the beneficence of the Creator, as exemplified in his works, and the contentment and cheerfulness of spirit which their study under proper restrictions imparts to the mind. And of this man we have handed down scarcely any biographical recollections, except what can be gathered from a short sketch by his brother, or that may be interspersed among his letters ; and these are very few, as he was not given to write of himself or his private affairs. Gilbert White, at one time the recluse, and almost obscure vicar of Selborne, had no biographer to record all the little outs and ins of his quiet career, he was not thought of until his letters pointed him out as a man of observation, and it is only since they have been edited and re-edited, that every source has been ransacked, with the hope of finding some memoranda of the worthy vicar and naturalist. The sketch which his brother John appended to the octavo edition of his works in 1802, is, as we have stated, the only memorial of his life, and as it is authentic and very short, it is best to print it as it was originally published. The same modest and retired habits never tempted him, so far as is known, to sit for any likeness, and no portrait or profile remains to recal the features of one whose writings have been so much and so widely read.* “ 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 Selborne in July 18th, 1720 ; and received his school education at Basingstoke, under the Eev. 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 1739, 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 as one of the senior procters of the University in April, 1752. Being of an unambitious temper, and strongly attached to the * “ Oriel College, of which Gilbert White was for more than fifty years a fellow, some years since offered to have a portrait painted of him for their hall. An inquiry was then made of all the members of his family ; but no portrait of any description could be found. I have heard my father say that Gilbert White was much pressed by his brother Thomas (my grandfather), to have his portrait painted, and that he talked of it; but it was never done.” — A. Holt White. — otes and Queries, September, No. 204, page 304. INTHODUCTOEY OBSERVATIONS. viii 'V charms of rural scenery, he early fixed his residence 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 a patient assiduity, and a mind ever open to the lessons of piety and benevolence, 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 peculiarly happy situation for an observer. He was much esteemed by a select society of intelligent and worthy friends, to whom he paid occasional visits. 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.” And thus he was born, lived, and died, in his native parish and village, respected by those around him, contented in his own mind, and endeavouring to fulfil his various duties as a clergyman and member of society. A grave-stone, as unobtrusive as his life, marks upon the turf of the church-yard the place of his interment. While his relatives have endeavoured to erect a monument less exposed to decay, by placing in the interior of the chancel a simple marble tablet, bearing the arms of .the ^mily, and inscribed as follows. THE REV. GILBERT WHITE, M.A. Fifty Years Fellow of Oriel College in Oxford, And Historian of this his native Parish. He was the eldest son of John White, Esquire, Barrister-at-Law, And Anne his Wife, only child of Thomas Holt, Rector of Streatham in Surrey ; Which said John White was the only child of Gilbert White, Formerly Vicar of this Parish. He was kind and beneficent to his Relations, Benevolent to the Poor, And deservedly esteemed by all his Friends and Neighbours. He was born July 18, 1720, O.S. And died June 20, 1/93. Nec hono quicquam mali e venire potest nec vivo, nec mortuo. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. ix White was never married, but he had several brothers and sisters ; and the family generally seems to have been possessed of very considerable ability. I am not aware that any opinion has been handed down of his powers as a preacher ; but if we may judge from the letters, his sermons would probably possess that simplicity of language and staightforwardness of truth which would impress and render them acceptable to the minds of his hearers. The letters, though simply written, show both the poet and the scholar; and the mass of facts which they contain in relation to our native animals, formed the main foun- dation to some of the principal zoological works of that time. Pennant often seeks information from him, and quotes his authority in the description of the swallow. He writes, “ To the curious monographies on the swallow of that worthy corre- spondent (Mr. White), I must acknowledge myself indebted for numbers of the remarks above-mentioned and he is elsewhere frequently referred to. Of his four brothers all of them seem to have had tastes some- what akin to Gilbert’s, they devoted a considerable portion of their leisure to pursuits connected with literature or some of the branches of natural history. It is greatly to be regretted that the manuscripts of J ohn White have not been recovered. He also was an English clergyman ; but for some portion of his life resided at Gibraltar, where he made collections and notes evidently with th^ view of working out and publishing a volume upon the natural history of that promontory ; a Fauna Calpensis,” as he termed it. It must have been, in fact, written ; for in Letter LIII. to Mr. Barrington, Mr. White writes, ‘H shall now transcribe a passage from a ‘ Natural History of Gibraltar,’ written by the Kev. John White, late vicar of Blackburn, in Lancashire, but not yet published.” But although every inquiry has been made both by ourselves and others, no trace of that MS. can be discovered. His residence at Gibraltar is referred to in his brother’s letters upon migration ; and he corresponded during his residence abroad with Mr. Pennant, who, when writing of the contents of his projected work, the ‘‘Outlines of the Globe,” states that Volume Y. would be particularly rich in drawings of the “ birds and fishes of Gibraltar communicated to me by the reverend the late Mr. John White, long resident in that fortress.” * John White corresponded also with naturalists abroad, and * Lit. Life, page 42 . X INTRODUCTOHY OBSERVATIONS. among others with Linnaeus. Four letters from Linnaeus, were discovered a few years since, and were published in Contributions to Ornithology” for 1849. They were addressed to him while resident at Gibraltar, and showed that his assist- ance was highly valued. In thanking him for some collections and memoranda, Linnaeus writes, “ Accepi et dona ver§ aurea pro quibus omnibus ac singulis grates immortales reddo, reddamq. dum vixero.” He was the means also of procuring for Linnaeus, who had not before seen them, two birds, which his brother mentions in his letters, Hirundo {cypselus) melha and rupestris quam antea non vidi “mihi antea ignota.”* Another brother, Thomas, after retiring from business, devoted much of his time to literary pursuits and natural history, and for ten years contributed articles to the ^^Gentleman’s Magazine,” under the signature of T. H. W. A third, Benjamin White, was a publisher, and his name stands on the title-page of the first edition of “ Selborne.” There appears also to have been a fourth brother, Harry White.f Upon the death of our author Gilbert, the estate of Selborne was succeeded to by his brother Benjamin, the publisher. We are not aware of the circumstances under which this was afterwards sold, but some years since it became, and now is, the property of as worthy a successor as could have been chosen, whether we regard his abilities as a naturalist, or the respect in which he holds all that belonged to White. Professor Thomas Bell is now the possessor of White’s property and mansion ; and we know that he has been careful to preserve, as far as possibly could be done, in its original state, everything that belonged to the place, or that could throw light upon his correspondence. We consider that it is Professor Bell alone who can properly edit a new Selborne. From his own knowledge of natural history, and particularly of British Zoology, he is eminently qualified to illustrate the writings, and verify the observations, while his residence upon that spot, now his home, gives him opportunities possessed by no other. We believe that this is even now in progress : we would not wish to hurry it, but long much to see it. In writing thus, we have no desire to express ourselves dis- paragingly of previous editions ; on the contrary, we think they * Contributions to Ornithology, by Sir William Jardine, Bart., 1849, pp. 27 31, 40. t Preface to Bennett’s Edition, pp. xii. xiii. INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. XI have been all required, and that the call is still onward. Professor Bell’s edition will, in all probability, be an expensive one, for we are sure no pains or expense will be spared in any of the departments ; it will therefore not be in circulation among certain classes. Now in a work so much read, and likely still to be so, when it can be obtained at so moderate a charge as that of the volumes of the ^‘Illustrated Library,” it is essen- tial that explanations should accompany it, and this is one reason for notes to such a book. Since the time of the letters from Selborne vast advances have been made in all branches of science. White was one of those who mainly assisted or tempted persons to observe. Studying, searching out, and inquiring himself, he incited others ; and in the letters he writes to Pennant and Barrington, he often asks questions, starts sub- jects for discussion, and brings forward objects new to the existing knowledge of the physical character of the district ; and it is very important that all those should be explained to the young reader, or to the person perhaps only entering upon the study of nature, and this it will be our object to do in any notes and commentary we may now add, and which can be done we think sufficiently for every purpose, even by one who has not seen the place or resided in the district. But there are other phenomena, which can only be illustrated by one who is resident, and has resided for some time, and continuously upon the spot. Sixty years, however short that time may appear, will produce important differences in particular localities ; even during White’s incumbency he complains of the changes that are occurring, and the disturbance to the “ Ferae naturae,” the increase or destruction of wood, acts remarkably on the Fauna and Flora and on the climate ; so does drainage, particularly that of any larger piece of water, and cultivation influences very materially the habits of the wild animals. Do the stone curlews now abound as they did in White’s time, and is their shrill whistle yet heard at the parsonage ? Do the ring-ousels still find their resting places as formerly, are all the suiiimer visitants yet found, and have no new ones been added and become common ? How does the meteorology now agree with White’s tables ? What are the changes in the Hanger and in Wolmer Forest ? these are all subjects for Professor Bell’s edition, besides many others which the place itself will suggest, and which he will not omit to introduce. Meanwhile, let those who wish to hand down the annals of their own districts, study to follow White’s example, INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. xii describe everything simply and truthfully, — record only as facts such as are known and can be proved to be such, — and never forget that one hand only fashioned all the objects which it gives them pleasure and interest to observe, and that the same power regulates their continuance or change. No pains have been spared by the publishers of the present edition to illustrate it fully. An artist, Mr. Pearson, was sent to Selborne to procure authentic sketches of the village and surrounding country, so that these may be depended upon as faithful representations, and not mere copies from previous engravings. These have also been accompanied by some notes describing the present condition of Selborne, which cannot fail to be interesting. ‘‘ Selborne has probably suffered as little from change as any village that has obtained a similar celebrity. It has been so often described in former editions of White’s fascinating and instructive volume, that any farther account of its present aspect might appear unnecessary, yet in some few particulars it may be interesting to note the result of a recent visit. The first view of Selborne obtained by the visitor as he approaches the village from the New Elton road is peculiarly striking. The church and vicarage with a few of the houses lie embosomed among trees in the valley ; beyond these a small wooded park belonging to the residence of White extends to the Hanger,” or hanging wood, which is a striking feature in this locality. This wood, composed of luxuriant beech-trees, rises on the side of a steep hill to a great height, appearing to overhang the village and giving to the landscape a particular and striking beauty. Nore Hill, seen upon the left, is also a richly wooded eminence, divided from the Hanger by an undulating slope.” The above is descriptive of the view placed at the commence- ment of our Introductory remarks. The view which has been selected as a frontispiece to this volume, and apparently taken from some point at no great distance from that chosen by the modern artist, is copied from the large engraving published with the first and original 4to edition, and upon comparing the one with the other it will be at once seen that there can be comparatively very little change, except such as would necessarily^occur by the growth of the timber and other unavoidable natural circumstances. In looking along the village street of Selborne the ‘ Queen’s Arms ’ is seen upon the left, the chief inn of the place, where the visitor will be hospitably entertained ; but upon the right is INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS. presents the appearance of a manorial residence, and with its walls covered with ivy and creeping plants, and its many roofs discoloured by the lapse of time, gives just that impression which one would wish to receive of the residence of our author. At the end of the lawn, opposite the house, stands White’s sun- dial, set up and used by himself, and here also are pointed out the great oak-tree and juniper-tree referred to in his letters. The space from the lawn to the foot of the ^ Hanger ’ is occupied by a park now much improved.” It has not been mentioned by any of his later editors whether the original manuscript of White’s letters yet exist, and if so by whom they are possessed — neither are we aware of the preserva- tion of any of John’s collections, or of the correspondence of his other brothers, and if we except the remains of the old tortoise BACK VIEW OF WHITE’S HOUSE. the habitation which no pilgrim to this favourite locality will contemplate without extreme interest. It is the residence of the naturalist himself, remaining almost in the same condition externally as when tenanted by him. One wing has been added since his death, and this has been built in exact keeping with the other portions, and the present distinguished occupier has admirably improved the grounds and park behind the house without diminishing the interest attached to the locality by altering its leading features. The house as seen from behind XIV INTEODUCTOEY OBSEEVATIO^^S, and the picture of the hybrid pheasant by Elmer, which we learn from Mr. Bennet are still preserved in his former habita- white’s sun-dial. tion, few personal relics remain. His wortli was not known until he had himself passed away, but his friends and relations may rejoice that in the simple annals of Selborne he has left a far more imperishable memorial than any that could have been erected by his most attached friends or well wishers. white’s tombstone in churchyard. CONTENTS, THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 1 THE ANTIQUITIES OP SELBORNE 201 OBSERVATIONS ON VARIOUS PARTS OF NATURE .... 267 SUMMARY OF THE WEATHER 307 A COMPARATIVE VIEW OP THE NATURALIST’S CALENDAR AS KEPT BY THE LATE GILBERT WHITE AND WILLIAM MARKWICK, ESQ. 313 POEMS SELECTED FROM THE MSS. OP THE REV. GILBERT WHITE . 331 'y'. ♦ . A: ■ yf. A, LIST OE ILLUSTRATIONS, FRONTISPIECE — GENERAL VIEW OF SELBORNE. OLD VIEW OF SELBORNE . . . . , WELL-HEAD WYCH ELM OSTREA CARINATA HOLLOW LANE ROCKY HOLLOW LANE WOLMER FOREST TEAL AND WIDGEON WILD BOAR WATER-RAT HOOPOE miller’s thumb and STICKLE-BACK . PIPISTRELLE AND LONG-EARED BAT . HARVEST MICE BOHEMIAN WAX-WING .... ORIFICE IN FALLOW-DEER '. . . . WEASEL .... ARUM ... . . . THE NUTHATCH WATER-NEWTS BLIND WORM SANDPIPER RING OUSEL COCKCHAFFER STONE curlew’s EGG . . . . . WOODCHAT SNOW- FLECK HEDGEHOG ‘ . HEAD OF MOOSE DEER .... TROUT OTTER ROCK SWALLOW .... PAGE 3 5 7 . 10 . 13 . 14 . 21 . 23 . 26 . 27 . 28 . 29 . 30 . 31 . 35 37 . ib. . 41 . 43 . 44 . 48 . 49 . 55 . 59 . 60 . 61 . 63 . 64 . 67 . ib. . 70 xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE^ 1. ATHALIA CENTIFOLIA. 2. BLACK DOLPHIN. 3. HALTICA NEMORUM . . 73 HEADS OF EELS 81 STOCK DOVE 87 CUCKOO 97 REED-BUNTING 101 SPOTTED FLYCATCHER 113 1. HIPPOBOSCA HIP.UNDINIS. 2. NIRMI ... * 116 ESCULENT SWALLOW 127 WHITE-BELLIED SWIFT . 133 RUSH-HOLDER 142 SHREW-MOUSE ... * 144 RAVEN 164 RIVULET IN SHORT LITHE 172 MOLE-CRICKET 175 LONG-LEGGED PLOVER 177 MARTIN 184 SELBORNE CHURCH AND VICARAGE 204 VILLAGE PLEYSTOW 221 IRON KEY OF ANCIENT CONSTRUCTION 240 STEEL HINGE WITH GRIFFIN ON IT i&. OLD COINS 241 ENCAUSTIC TILES, NOW FORMING THE FLOOR OF THE SUMMER-HOUSE IN THE FARM-HOUSE GARDEN . 245 STONE COFFIN, KEPT IN THE FARM-HOUSE GARDEN 247 LEADEN TAP . . ’ . 249 PRIORY FARM-HOUSE 261 PRIORY SEAL 265 COCKCHAFFER 288 PHALiENA QUERCUS 290 SPHYNX OCELLATA 291 GLOW-WORMS 296 PLATES. GREAT BAT— HONEY BUZZARD. PEREGRINE FALCON — HYBRID PHEASANT. viper’s HEAD — TORTOISE. FALLOW DEER — RED DEER— STONE CURLEW. OF THE UMWERSITY Of WllW» OLD VIEW OF SELBORNE. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. LETTEE 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 fifty-one, and near mid-way between the towns of Alton and Petersfield. Being very large and extensive it abuts on twelve parishes, two of which are in Sussex, viz., Trotton and Hogate. If you begin from the south * The first series of Mr. White’s Letters are addressed to Pennant, and run over a period of several years, during which that gentleman was engaged in writing his British Zoology; whether they were originally commenced as real letters between friends and naturalists, and were afterwards brought together for publication we are unable to say. Some bear the stamp of replies to actual letters, but when the idea of publication was fixed upon, it is probable that others may have been introduced, and such as this first one written as intro- ductory to his parochial history. Mr. White tells us that they are published with the view of “laying before the public his idea of a Parochial History, which he thinks ought to consist of natural productions and occurrences as well as antiquities,” (See Advertisement.) It is from such materials and records as these that the most complete County Histories might be drawn, aud he remarks that such are still wanting in several parts of the kingdom. In 1853 the same remark would continue to apply. The parish registers do not always go so far back, and have not always at an early period been kept with that exactness which White would have recommended, and it is often difficult to trace the origin of some old custom or pastime, or the etymology of some of the apparently now meaningless names of places, farms, or villages. Accordingly, in this his first letter, he at once goes into the necessary, though to some the dry and more tedious information, of the boundaries and situation of the parish ; some of its statistics, produce, springs, with a slight sketch of its geology and physical character. This is one of the few letters where the geology of the district is touched upon, and in only one of the numerous editions has this been explained ; Mr. Bennet is the only editor who seems to have examined it for himself and to him, as others have done we must apply for information. This is necessary, as upon the explanation depends the proper understanding of several 2 NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE. and proceed westward, the adjacent parishes are Emshot, i^ewton Yalence, Earingdon, Harteley Mauduit, Great Ward le ham, Kingsley, Hadleigh, Bramshot, Trotton, Eogate, Lyffe, and Greatham. The soils of this district are almost as various and diversified as the views and aspects. The high part of the south-west consists 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 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, wood-lands, 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 Eyegate in Surrey, to the north-east, which altogether, with the country beyond Alton and Earnham, 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 appear- ance removed from chalk ; but seems so far from being calcareous, that it endures extreme heat. Yet that the freestone still preserves some- what that is analogous 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 remarkable manner, two very incongruous soils. To the south-west is a rank clay, that requires of White’s remarks and expressions in the other parts of his work. Mr. Bennet writes in his note to page 5 of his edition ; “The parish of Selborne is situated in the lower part of the chalk formation, and embraces within it the upper members of the Weald, These are well displayed as they occur in succession, forming strips which run along the parish from north to south : in crossing it from east to west each of the strata is visited in the order of their superposition. They are four in number ; comprising the chalk, the upper green-sand, the gault, and the lower green-sand. The chalk constitutes the mass of the Selborne hill, which is covered towards the village by the Hanger. Next in succession to the chalk is the formation technically known as the upper green-sand, designated in the text, ‘ freestone, or firestone.’ Below the rock of the upper green-sand formation is the gault, generally presenting a uniform level, of the most fertile character; within Selborne it exists only as a perfect fiat, but to the north in the forest of the Holt, it rises into hills. Last of the Selborne strata is the lower green-sand, which rises immediately east of the gault into ridges of various elevations, having usually a direction not very dissimilar to that of the Hanger.” White also in this letter shows his appreciation of the beautiful, in celebrating the appearance of the beech tree, which grows with such peculiar grace or elegance on the chalk or oolite formations, and in spring forms groves of the freshest green. We have elsewhere stated that we thought other trees possessed more eleganee of form, but this is a matter of mere taste and opinion, and need not be entered upon here ; certainly in spring it is preeminent for its enlivening green, and in autumn it exhibits a foliage of the warmest tints. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, 3 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 join- well-head. ing 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 sailing 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 * This spring produced, September 10, 1781, after a severe hot summer, and a preceding dry spring and winter, nine gallons of water in a minute, which is 640 in an hour, and 12,960, or 216 hogsheads, in twenty-four hours, or one natural day. At this time many of the wells failed, and all the ponds in the vale were dry. The “Well Head,” as represented in the vignette, “breaks out of the land at the foot of the Hanger, and spreading into a picturesque pond contracts again into a narrow stream, which flows past the village, and swells into a river at Godaiming. ” B 2 4 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. Hedleigh, and the Alton and Farnham stream at Tilford-bridge^ swells into a considerable river, navigable at Godaiming; from whence it passes to Guilford, and so into the Thames at Wey bridge; and thus at the Nore into the German Ocean. Our wells, at an average, run to about 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 in the freestone, and have their poles and wood for charcoal growing just at hand. The 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 timber, and infamous for roads. The oaks of Temple and Blackmoor stand high in the estimation of purveyors, and have furnished much naval timber ; while the trees on the freestone grow large, but are what workmen call shaky, and so brittle as often to fall to pieces in sawing. Beyond the sandy 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. LETTEE 11. 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 scdbro of Ray, which, though it had lost a considerable leading 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 oflf at seven feet above the butt, where it measured near eight feet in the diameter. This elm I mention to show to what a bulk planted elms may attain ; as this tree must certainly have been such from its situation, f * This soil produces good wheat and clover, t Mr. White seems to have adopted no plan or rule in arranging the subjects of these letters. They are taken up as they occur or have been observed. This may have its advantages, as recording the observations when freshly made, or before the memory had failed, but a correspondence or journal kept in this way would almost require for the sake of convenience to have the subjects brought more together. Thus there are frequent observations afterwards upon the NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 6 In the centre of the village, and near the church, is a square piece ot forestry of Selborne,' while here we have now only some of the more remarkable trees noted. The wych elm, the first tree alluded to has been a subject always annotated upon, this species being far less commonly grown in England than in Scotland. In the former country it is supplanted almost entirely by the small-leaved or English elm, as it is commonly named, a tree which reaches a large size, and of which there are magnificent specimens in our public parks or promenades ; but it produces a wood of mferior quality, and as it is now planted in the hedge- rows of the small enclosures of the south, it must very materially injure the crops by its spreading roots, which shoot up and would soon cover the ground. The tree mentioned in this letter is the ulinus campestris, Linn, it yields a timber valuable for various agricultural purposes, and is esteemed for making naves for cart-wheels ; it is of a more spreading character than the others, and often attains to a large size. The Selborne elm, though of less size than some others, the measurements of which have been recorded, must have been a large and very fine tree. The oak trees mentioned in the latter part of this letter gained their peculiar character by being very thickly planted, and as it might be called “neglected.” According to our notion of timber management thinning is indispensable, but to obtain trees of the kind alluded to, the thicker they can be grown, the better. Beech trees with a clean stem of from fifty to seventy feet are very valuable for keel pieces, but the practice of growing wood of any kind in this way has scarcely been practised. Larch planted for hop-poles, or sweet chesnut grown for the same purpose, are treated in this manner ; and what in commerce is called Norway poles, are I beheve the first thinnings of the Baltic forests, which 6 NATTJEAL HISTORY OP SELBORNE. ground surrounded by houses, and vulgarly called The Plestor.” * In the midst of this spot stood, in old times, a vast oak, with a short squat body, and huge horizontal arms extending almost to the extremity of the area. This venerable tree, surrounded with stone steps, and seats above them, was the delight of old and young, and a place of much resort in summer evenings; where the former sat in grave debate, while the latter frolicked and danced before them. Long might it have stood, had not the amazing tempest in 17 03 overturned it at once, to the infinite regret of the inhabitants, and the vicar, who bestowed several pounds in setting it in its place again : but all his care could not avail ; the tree sprouted for a time, then withered and died. This oak I mention to show to what a bulk planted oaks also may arrive : and planted this tree must certainly have been, as will appear from what will be said farther concerning this area, when we enter on the antiquities of Selborne. On the Blackmoor estate there is a small wood called Losel’s, of a few acres, that was lately furnished 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 advantage, that many of them answered the description at sixty feet. These trees were sold for twenty pounds apiece. In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, though shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into a large excrescence about the middle of the stem. On this a pair of ravens had fixed their residence for such a series of years, that the oak was distinguished by the title of the Raven Tree. Many were the attempts of the neighbouring youths to get at this eyry : 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 these birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the butt, — the wedges were inserted into the opening, — the woods echoed to the heavy blow of the beetle or malle or mallet,— the tree nodded to its fall ; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the ground.f have been spindled up by the more vigorous trees to great length and uniformity of thickness, and which in all probability would have been ultimately killed. * Vide the plate in the antiquities. f We have always foiind the raven, whether nesting upon a rock or upon a tree, most unapproachable after she had been disturbed or alarmed. NATUllAL HISTOEY OF 6ELBORNE. 7 LETTER III 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 an head and mouth. It is in reality a bivalve of the Linnaean Genus of Mytilus, OSTREA CARINATA. and the species of Crista Galli ; called by Lister, Rastellum ; by Rumphius, Ostreum plicatum minus ; by D’Argenville, Auris Porc% s. Crista Galli; and by those who make collections. Cock’s Comb. Though I applied 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 disap- pointed as to the fossil, I was highly gratified with the sight of several of the shells themselves 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. The curious foldings of the suture the one into the other, the alternate flutings or grooves, and the curved form of my specimen being much easier expressed by the pencil than by words, I have caused it to be drawn and engraved.* * Our author was mistaken in referring this fossil to the Mytilus crista galli of Linnaeus. Mr. Bennet, who has explained the subject in a note to his edition 8 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, 'V Cornua Ammonis are very common about this village. 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 Wall-head, 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 dimensions, perhaps fourteen or sixteen inches in diameter. But as these did not consist of firm stone, but were formed of a kind of terra lapidosa, or hardened 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. LETTEE IV. TO THE SAME. As in a former letter the freestone of this place has been only mentioned incidentally, I shall here become more particular. This stone is in great request for hearth-stones, and the beds of ovens ; and in lining of lime-kilns it turns to good account ; for the workmen use sandy loam instead of mortar ; the sand of which fiuxes,* 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 chiseled smooth, it makes elegant fronts for houses, equal in colour and grain to the Bath stone; and superior in one respect, that, when seasoned, it does not scale. Decent chimney-pieces are worked from it of much closer and finer grain than Portland ; and rooms are floored with it ; but it proves rather too soft for this purpose. It is a freestone cutting in all directions ; yet has something of a grain parallel with the horizon, and therefore should not be surbedded, but laid in the same position that it grows in the quarry .f On the ground abroad this w of Selbome, refers it to the Ostrea carinata of Lamarck, a species peculiar to the greeu-sand formation, upon which the village of Selbome is built, and which from its white colour would be easily confounded with the chalk, especially at a time when geology was much less attended to than at present. * There may probably be also in the chalk itself that is burnt for lime a proportion of sand : for few chalks are so pure as to have none. t To surhed stone is to set it edgewise, contrary to the posture it had in the quarry, says Dr Plot, “ Oxfordshire,” 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. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 9 firestone will not succeed for pavements, because, probably some degree of saltness prevailing within it, the rain tears the slabs to pieces.* Though this stone is too hard to be acted on by vinegar, yet both the white part, and even the blue rag, ferments strongly in mineral acids. Though the white stone will not bear wet, yet in every quarry at intervals there are thin strata of blue rag, which resist rain and frost ; and are excellent for pitching of stables, paths and courts, and for building of dry walls against banks, a valuable species of fencing much in use in this village, and for mending of roads. This rag is rugged and stubborn, and will not hew to a smooth face, but is very durable ; yet, as these strata are shallow and lie deep, large quantities cannot be procured but at considerable expense. Among the blue rags turn up some blocks tinged with a stain of yellow or rust colour, which seem to be nearly as lasting as the blue ; and every now and then balls of a friable substance, like rust of iron, called rust balls. In Wolmer Forest I see but one sort of stone, called by the workmen sand, or forest-stone. This is generally of the colour of rusty iron, and might probably be worked as iron ore ; is very hard and heavy, and of a firm, compact texture, and composed of a small 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 fiat pieces, it makes good pavement for paths about houses, never becoming slippery in frost or rain ; is excellent for dry walls, and is sometimes used in buildings. In many parts of that waste it lies scattered on the surface of the ground ; but is dug on Weaver’s Down, a vast hill on the eastern verge of that forest, where the pits are shallow and the stratum thin. This stone is imperishable. From a notion of rendering their work the more elegant, and giving it a finish, masons chip this stone into small fragments about the size of the head of a large nail, and then stick the pieces into the wet mortar along the joints of their freestone walls ; this embellishment carries an odd appearance, and has occasioned strangers sometimes to ask us pleasantly, whether we fastened our walls together with ten- penny nails.” * “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 Stqf. p. 152. 10 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 'V HOLLOW LANE. LETTEE 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 furlongs together. In many places they are reduced sixteen or eighteen feet beneath the level of the fields ; and after floods, and in frosts, exhibit very grotesque and wild appearances, from the tangled roots that are twisted among the strata, and from the torrents rushing down their broken sides ; and especially when those cascades are frozen into icicles, hanging in all the fanciful shapes of frost-work. These rugged gloomy scenes affright the ladies when they peep down into them from the paths above, and make timid horsemen shudder while they ride NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 11 along them ^ but delight the naturalist with their various botany, and particularly with their curious filices with which they abound. The manor of Selborne, was it strictly looked after, with all its kindly aspects, and all its sloping coverts, would swarm with game ; even now hares, partridges, and pheasants abound ; and in old days woodcocks 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 bounds are employed part of three days in the business, and are of opinion that the outline, in all its curves and indentings, does not comprise less than thirty miles. The village stands in a sheltered spot, secured by the Hanger from the strong westerly winds. The air is soft, but rather moist from the effluvia of so many trees ; yet perfectly healthy and free from agues. The quantity of rain that falls on it is very considerable, as may be supposed in so woody and mountainous a district. As my experience in measuring the water is but of short date, I am not qualified to give the mean quantity.* I only know that From May 1, 1779, to the end of the year there fell Jan. 1, 1780, to Jan. 1, 1781 Jan. 1, 1781, to Jan. 1, 1782 .... Jan. 1, 1782, to Jan. 1, 1783 Jan. 1, 1783, to Jan. 1, 1784 .... Jan. 1, 1784, to Jan. 1, 1785 Jan. ], 1785, to Jan. 1, 1786 .... Jan. 1, 1786, to Jan. 1, 1787 . Inch. Ilund. . 28 37 ! . 27 32 . 30 71 . 50 26 ! . 33 71 . 33 80 . 31 55 . 39 57t The village of Selborne, and large hamlet of Oakhanger, with the single farms, and many scattered houses along the verge of the forest, contain upwards of six hundred and seventy inhabitants.^ * A very intelligent gentleman ^ assures me (and he speaks from upwards ot 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^ inches, from 1763 and since 25^ inches, from 1770 to 1780, 26 inches. If only 1773, 1774 and 1775, had been measured, Lyndon mean rain would have been called 32 inches. t Mr. Bennet has given a continuation of the register of the rain-gauge up to 1793. Some of the years show a greater quantity than any of the previous ones, except 1782. Three of them considerably above 40, the last 48-56. X A State of the Parish of Selborne, taken October 4, 1783. , The number of tenements or families, 136. The number of inhabitants in the street is 313 ) Total 676 ; near five inhabitants In the rest of the parish . . . . 363 j to each tenement. In the time of the Rev. Gilbert White, Vicar, who died in 1727-8, the number of inhabitants was computed at about 500. 1 The intelligent gentleman, referred to in the author’s note to this letter, was Thomas Barker, of an ancient and respectable family in the county of Rutland, brother-in-law to Mr. White. The vignettes at commencement and conclusion of the letter represent those hollow lanes so quaintly alluded to in its first paragraph. 12 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. We abound with poor ; many of whom are sober and industrious, and live comfortably in good stone or brick cottages, which are glazed, and Average of baptisms for 60 years. From 1720 to) 1729, both [ years inclus. j From 1730 to) 1739, both J- years inclus. j Males 6, 9 ) . 0 Fern. 6, 1749 inch j 1-15,8 From 1760 ) to 1769 inch J [M. 9,ll (F. 8,9J 1-18,0 Males 6, 9 ) T K Q Fern. 8, From^l750 W_^^g] 1759 inch [•15,7 From 1770'] to 1779 inch J 1 M.10,5l |F. 9,8 J [•20,3 Total of baptisms of Males • ^1^640 . 465 1 „ , , Females . Total of baptisms from 1720 to 1779, both inclusive, 60 years . . 9S0 Average of burials for 60 years. From 1720 to) 1729, both V years inclus. j From 1730 to) 1732, both V years inclus. J Males 4, 8 Fern. 5, 1 Males 4, 8 Fern. 5, 8 I 9,9 710,6 From 1740 to 1749 inch From 1750 to 1759 inch 8,4 10,0 From 1760 to 1769 inch From 1770 to 1779 inch 13,4 11,7 Total of burials of Males . . 315 ) ,. „ Females . . 3251^^^ Total of burials from 1720 to 1779, both inclusive, 60 years . . 640 Baptisms exceed burials by more than one third. Baptisms of Males exceed Females by one tenth, or one in ten. Burials of Females exceed Males by one in thirty. It appears that a child, bom and bred in this parish, has an equal chance to live above forty years. Twins thirteen times, many of whom dying young have lessened the chance for ife. Chances for life in men and women appear to be equal. A Table of the Baptisms, Burials, and Marriages, from January 2, 1761, TO December 25, 1780, in the Parish of Selborne. BAPTISMS. BURIALS. ma; M. F. Tot. M. F. Tot. 1761 . 8 10 18 2 4 6 3 1762 . . . 7 8 15 10 14 24 6 1763 . 8 10 18 3 4 7 5 1764 . . . 11 9 20 10 8 18 6 1765 . 12 6 18 9 7 16 6 1766 . . . 9 13 22 10 6 16 4 1767 . 14 5 19 6 5 11 2 1768 . . . 7 6 13 2 5 7 6 1769 . 9 14 23 6 5 11 2 1770 . . . 10 13 23 4 7 11 3 1771 . 10 6 16 3 4 7 4 1772 . . . 11 10 21 6 10 16 3 1773 . 8 5 13 7 5 12 3 1774 . . . 6 13 19 2 8 10 1 1775 . 20 7 27 13 8 21 6 1776 . . . 11 10 21 4 6 10 6 1777 . 8 13 21 7 3 10 4 1778 . . . 7 13 20 3 4 7 5 1779 . 14 8 22 5 6 11 5 1780 . . . 8 9 17 11 4 15 3 198 188 386 123 123 246 83 During this period of twenty years the births of males exceeded those of females 10 The burials of each sex were equal. And the births exceeded the deaths 140 NATUUAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 13 have chambers above stairs : mud buildings we have none. Besides the employment from husbandry, the men work in hop-gardens, of which we have many ; and fell and bark timber. In the spring and summer the women weed the corn; and enjoy a second harvest in September by hop-picking. Formerly, in the dead months they availed themselves greatly by spinning wool, for making of barragons, a genteel corded stuff, mifch in vogue at that time for summer wear ; and chiefly manufactured at Alton, a neighbouring town, by some of the people called Quakers : but from circumstances this trade is at an end.* The inhabitants enjoy a good share of health and longevity ; and the parish swarms with children. * Since the passage above Was written, I am happy in being able to say that the spinning employment is a little revived, to the no small comfort of the industrious housewife. ROCKY HOLLOW LAKE. 14 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 'V WOLMER FOREST. LETTER VL 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 proceed eastward, by the parishes of Greatham, Lysse, 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 subterraneous trees; though Dr. Plot says positively,* that there never were any fallen trees hidden in the mosses of the southern counties.” But he was mistaken : for I myself have seen cottages on the verge of this wild See his “History of Staffordshire.' NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 15 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.* Besides the oak, I have also been shown pieces of fossil wood of a paler colour, and softer nature, which the inhabitants called fir : but, upon a nice examination, and trial by fire, I could discover nothing resinous in them ; and therefore rather suppose that they were parts of a willow or alder, or some such aquatic tree. 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 excursions : 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 sportsmen killed twenty and sometimes thirty brace in a day. But there was a nobler species of game in this forest, now extinct, which I have heard old people say abounded much before shooting flying became so common, and that was the heath-cock, black-game, or grouse. When I was a little boy I recollect one coming now and then to my father’s table. The last pack remembered was killed about thirty-five years ago ; and within these ten years one solitary greyhen was sprung by some beagles in beating for a hare. The sportsmen cried out, ‘‘A. hen pheasant;” but a gentleman present, who had often seen grouse in the north of England, assured me that it was a greyhen.^ * 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 are concealed than in 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 thawing 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 ^‘Haemastatics,” p. 360. Query, 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 vignette at the head of Letter VI., represents a view of Wolmer Forest ^ it now appears, taken from the yard of Temple Farm House. Wolmer Pond is seen upon the right. This letter with the next alludes to subjects of far more interest to the natumlist than would be at first supposed. At the time when White wrote, it may have been considered that a wild “ tract,” seven miles by two-and-a-half in extent, consisting of moss and muir, heath and fern, would not be worthy of much remark. Fortunately our author viewed it differently, and it was, we have no doubt, one of his “ charming places ; ” he writes, “it has often afforded 16 NATUEAL HISTORY OF SELBOENE. 'V Nor does the loss of our black game prove the only gap in the Fauna Selborniensis ; for another beautiful link in the chain of beings is wanting, I mean the red deer, which toward the beginning of this century amounted to about five hundred head, and made a stately appearance. There is an old keeper, now alive, named Adams, whose great grandfather (mentioned in a perambulation taken in 1635), grand- father, father and self, enjoyed the head keepership of Wolmer Forest in succession for more than an hundred years. This person assures me, that his father has often told him, that Queen Anne, as she was journeying on the Portsmouth road, did not think the forest of Wolmer beneath her royal regard. For she came out of the great road at Lippock, which is just by, and, reposing herself on a bank smoothed for that purpose, lying about half a mile to the east of Wolmer Pond, and still called Queen’s Bank, saw with great complacency and satisfaction the whole herd of red deer brought by the keepers along the vale before her, consisting then of about five hundred head. A sight this, worthy the attention of the greatest sovereign I But he farther adds that, by means of the Waltham blacks or, to use his own expression, as soon as me much entertainment both as a sportsman and as a naturalist.” With how much interest will the present proprietor of Selborne, or any one who can follow the feeling of these letters, now visit Wolmer Forest, and compare its present state with the above description. Such facts as those recorded by White, are invaluable to either .zoologist or botanist, and the reclamation there, with the great changes which have taken place incident to the increase of population and other causes, — the change almost from desolation to cultivation, must have materially affected the existence and distribution of the wild animals and plants. In a series of years where attention has been given to the results of these unavoidable changes, we have seen some species extirpated and others assume their places. The influence of population on the existence and geographical distribution of animal and vegetable life, with all its attendant circumstances of commerce, and the necessity for increasing human food by cultivation, though comparatively unperceived, is not so very slow in its results ; fifty years may almost entirely change the zoology and botany of a district, and within such limited bounds as Wolmer Forest, the extirpation of the black game would easily occur, though cultivation, particularly on the borders of a sub-alpine county, is rather favourable than the reverse for this game. Drainage makes a most important change on the wild vegetation : a large extent of new plantation in the growth of half a century wiU materially affect the character of a county, by rendering it a suitable abode for animals, birds, and insects before unknown to it, and so would the cutting down of exten&ive old woods destroy or drive away other species that delighted only in them. But population and cultivation bring other evils attendant upon themselves. They extirpate or reduce the numbers of the rapacious animals, and allow the increase of others, which naturally follow and accommodate themselves to the circumstances, finding a more abundant supply of food. Rabbits have followed cultivation, and are oft^en exceedingly injurious, their rapid increase rendering their extirpation no easy matter. Rooks accom- pany cultivation, are familiar birds, and accommodate themselves easily ; they are of immense utility in keeping under various entomological pests that annoy the farmer, but they have in some parts increased most rapidly, and finding in the produce of the land a sure and ample supply of food, they have resorted to that and do occasionally much damage, so much so that in some districts anti-crow associations have been formed for their destruction, and many thousands are annually killed. The indiscriminate destruction of rapacious animals and birds by game-keepers has led to the increase of' other species, and of one in particular, the common wood-pigeon ; this bird in some localities has become exceedingly numerous, assembling in flocks of many hundreds, and in winter doing very great injury to the turnip crops ; anti-pigeon associations have also been formed, and in Berwickshire no less than 8000 were destroyed in one year. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 17 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 an huntsman, and six yeoman-prickers, in scarlet jackets laced with gold, attended by the stag-hounds ; ordering them to take every deer in this forest alive, and to convey them in carts to Windsor. In the course of the summer they caught every stag, some of which showed extraordi- nary diversion : but in the following winter, when the hinds were also carried off, such fine chases were exhibited as served the country people for matter of talk and wonder for years afterwards. I saw myself one of the yeoman-prickers single out a stag from the herd, and must confess that it was the most curious feat of activity I ever beheld, superior to anything in Mr. Astley’s riding-school. The exertions made by the horse and deer much exceeded all my expectations; though the former greatly excelled the latter in speed. When the devoted deer was separated from his companions, they gave him, by their watches, law, as they called it, for twenty minutes; when, sounding their horns, the stop -dogs were permitted to pursue, and a most gallant scene ensued. LETTEE VIL 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-steeling. Unless he was a hunter, as they affected to call themselves, no young person was allowed to be possessed of manhood or gallantry. The Waltham blacks at length committed such enor- mities, that government was forced to interfere with that severe and sanguinary act called the Black Act,” * which now comprehends more felonies than any law that ever was framed before. And, therefore, a late Bishop of Winchester, when urged to re-stock Waltham Chase, f refused, from a motive worthy of a prelate, replying that it had done mischief enough already.” t Our old race of deer-stealers are hardly extinct yet : it was but a * Statute 9 Geo. I. cap. 22. t This chase remains un-stocked to this day ; the bishop was Dr. Hoadly. t Poaching and its effects are deplored in Letter VII., and the reduction of the stock of deer kept in the forest, the maintenance of which could not be of any very great public or private utility, was then in consequence resolved upon. The • propriety of keeping up of the large stock of deer in the royal forests being for these and other reasons at the present time questionable, a reduction was C 18 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. little ^vhile ago that, over their ale, they used to recount the exploits of their youth ; such as watching the pregnant hind to her lair, and, when the calf was dropped, paring its feet with a penknife to the quick to prevent its escape, till it was large and fat enough to be killed ; the shooting at one of their neighbours with a bullet in a turnip-field by moonshine, mistaking him for a deer ; and the losing a dog in the following extraordinary manner : — Some fellows, 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 incon- venient 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.” * contemplated a few years since ; and a Bill was lately proposed to be introduced into Parliament “to extinguish the right of the crown to stock the New Forest in Hampshire with deer and other wild beasts of the forest, and to empower her Majesty to enclose the several portions of the said Forest.” This would have been regretted by White, for the wild and natural character of the county will be changed, and with that a corresponding variation will occur in its inhabitants. On the continent this is carried to a greater and more serious extent. In a book lately published, “Chamois Hunting in Bavaria,” it is stated that by the increase of poaching, and the assumed right of the peasantry to consider the game as their own, brought on probably by the excessive preservation, and therefore temptation, it has been deemed necessary to extirpate it. In one chase of a circumference of about 60 English miles, a sporting count calculated that he would be able every year to kill 300 roebucks, 80 stags, and 100 chamois, but this was done at some cost. The count kept twenty-four game-keepers picked men, at the commencement of their preservation they shot seven poachers, and one of the keepers who had killed four was himself shot. Where the game was thus abundant and kept up at such a price! one of those political changes took place which gave the right of shooting to every individual of the community, and the count, some- what to diminish his pecuniary losses, ordered the game to be destroyed. This was done by proprietors and people, and in a very short period the extermination was almost completed. In another chapter the same author writes : “ The noble proprietors of the forests bordering the Danube, in the neighbourhood of Donan Stauf, paid every year a considerable sum to the peasants, as indemnity for the damage done to their crops by the game ; and according as the price of corn rose these sums were increased. As the money received was generally more than adequate to the loss sustained, the peasantry were satisfied, and found in the arrangement no cause of complaint; when suddenly, in 1848, although the preceding years the indemnity received by them had been nearly doubled, they discovered that such a state of things could exist no longer ; and thus, supreme authority ceding to popular will, a general extermination of the game took place throughout the land.” * For this privilege the owners of that estate used to pay to the king annually seven bushels of oats. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 19 The reason^ I presume, why sheep * are excluded, is, because, being such close grazers, they would pick out all the finest grasses, and hinder the deer from thriving. Though (by statute 4 and 5 W. and Mary, c. 23) to burn on any waste, between Candlemas and Midsummer, any grig, ling, heath and furze, goss or fern, is punishable with whipping and confinement 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 afibrd much tender brouze for cattle ; but, where there is large old furze, the fire, following the roots, consumes the very ground ; so that for hundreds of acres nothing is to be seen but smother and desolation, the whole circuit round looking like the cinders of a volcano ; and, the soil being quite exhausted, no traces of vegetation are to be found for years. These conflagrations, as they take place usually with a north- east or east wind, much annoy this village with their smoke, and often alarm the country ; and, once in particular, I remember that a gentle- man, who lives beyond Andover, coming to my house, when he got on the downs between that town and Winchester, at twenty-five miles distance, was surprised much with smoke and a hot smell of fire ; and concluded that Alresford was in flames ; but, when he came to that town, he then had apprehensions for the next village, and so on to the end of his journey. On two of the most conspicuous eminences of this forest stand two arbours or bowers, made of the boughs of oaks ; the one called Waldon Lodge, the other Brimstone Lodge : these the keepers renew annually on the feast of St. Barnabas, taking the old materials for a perquisite. The farm called Blackmoor, in this parish, is obliged to find the posts and brush-wood for the former ; while the farms at Greatham, in rotation, furnish for the latter ; and are all enjoined to cut and deliver the materials at the spot. This custom 1 mention, because I look upon it to be of very remote antiquity. * In the Holt, where a full stock of fallow-deer has been kept up till lately, no sheep are admitted to this day. 20 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. LETTEE VIIL TO THE SAME. On the verge of the forest, as it is now circumscribed, are three considerable lakes, two in Oakhanger, of which I have nothing particular to say; and one called Bin’s, or Bean’s Pond, which is worthy the attention of a naturalist or a sportsman. For, being crowded at the upper end with willows, and with the carex cespitosa,* it affords such a safe and pleasing shelter to wild ducks, teals, snipes, &c., that they breed there. In the winter this covert is also frequented by foxes, and sometimes by pheasants ; and the bogs produce many curious plants. (For which consult Letter XLI. to Mr. Barrington.) + By a perambulation of Wolmer Forest and the Holt, made in 1635, and the eleventh year of Charles the First (which now lies before me), it appears that the limits of the former are much circum- scribed. For, to say nothing of the farther side, with which I am not so welll 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 Mauduit, called Mauduit Hatch ; comprehending also Short Heath, Oakhanger, and Oakwoods ; a large district, now private property, though once belonging to the royal domain. It is remarkable that the term purlieu is never once mentioned in this long roll of parchment. It contains, besides the perambulation, a rough estimate of the value of the timbers, which were consider- able, growing at that time in the district of the Holt ; and enumerates the officers, superior and inferior, of those joint forests, for the time being, and their ostensible fees and perquisites. In those days, as at present, there were hardly any trees in Wolmer Forest. Within the present limits of the forest are three considerable lakes, Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer; all of which are stocked with carp, * 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. t Here is one of those records so useful in a local history. We learn from Mr. Bennet’s edition, that Bin’s Pond has been drained, and that cattle now graze upon its bed. The character of the place, so correctly yet simply described in this letter, has thus been completely altered, and we see improvement working out the changes alluded to in the note to p. 15. It would be in vain now to look for the plants, or for the water-fowl that found there a “pleasing shelter.” The hassocks of carex alluded to, form a very marked feature in such a place ; they are most uncomfortable to walk among, and form a complete cover and shelter to various animals and birds. From age and successive growths, they form high “ torrets" with a solid base. The foliage hangs down, and a covered way is formed underneath, where young water-fowl, water-rails, &c., can run and escape detection for a long time, even from a dog. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 21 tench, eels, and perch : but the fish do not thrive well, because the water is hungry, and the bottoms are a naked sand. A circumstance respecting these ponds, though by no means peculiar to them, I cannot pass over in silence ; and that is, that instinct by which in summer all the kine, whether oxen, cows, calves, or heifers, retire constantly to the water during the hotter hours ; where, being more exempt from flies, and inhaling the coolness of that element, some belly deep, and some only to mid-leg, they ruminate and solace themselves from about ten in the morning till four in the afternoon, and then return to their feeding. During this great proportion of the day they drop much dung, in which insects nestle ; and so supply food for the fish, which would be poorly subsisted but from 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, containing, in its whole circumference, 2646 yards, or very near a mile and an 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. TEAL AND WIDGEON. On the face of this expanse of waters, and perfectly secure from fowlers, lie all day long, in the winter season, vast flocks of ducks, teals. 22 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. and widgeons, of various denominations ; where they preen and solace, and rest themselves, till towards sunset, when they issue forth in little parties (for in their natural state they are all birds of the night) to feed in the brooks and meadows ; returning again with the dawn of the morning. Had “this lake an arm or two more, and were it planted round with thick covert (for now it is perfectly naked), it might make a valuable decoy. Yet neither its extent, nor the clearness of its water, nor the resort of various and curious fowls, nor its picturesque groups of cattle, can render this meer so remarkable as the great quantity of coins that were found in its bed about forty years ago. But, as such discoveries more properly belong to the antiquities of this place, I shall suppress all particulars for the present, till I enter professedly on my series of letters respecting the more remote history of this village and district. LETTEE 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,* 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 Hughes ; a Mr. Mordaunt, of the Peterborough family, who married a dowager Lady Pembroke ; Henry Bilson Legge and lady ; and now Lord Stawell, their son. The lady of General Howe lived to an advanced age, long 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 possession of Mr. Elmer, the celebrated game painter at Earnham, 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 d-iflferent ; for the Holt consists of a strong loam, of a miry nature, carrying a good turf, and abounding with oaks that grow to be large timber; while Wolmer is nothing but a hungry, sandy, barren waste. The former being all in the parish of Binsted, is about two miles in extent from north to south, and near as much from east to west ; and * “ In Rot. Inquisit. de statu forest, in Scaccar. 36 Edw. III., it is called Aisholt.” In the same, “ Tit. Woolmer and Aisholt Hantisc. Dominus Rex habet unam capellam in haia su^ de Kingesle. ” ‘ ‘ Haia, sepes, sepimentum, parcus ; a Gall, haie and haye.” — Spelman’s Glossary. t This prince was the inventor of mezzotinto. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 23 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, unrestrained by any pales or fences more than a common hedge, yet they were never seen within the limits of Wolmer; nor were the red deer of Wolmer ever known to haunt the thickets or glades of the Holt. At present the deer of the Holt are much thinned and reduced by the night hunters, who perpetually 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 neighbourhoo^d, and, at one time, a wild bull or buffalo ; but the country rose upon them and destroyed them.* WILD BOAR. A very large fall of timber, consisting of about one thousand oaks, has been cut this spring (viz., 1784) in the Holt forest : one fifth of which, it is said, belongs to the grantee. Lord Stawell. He lays claim also to the lop and top ; but the poor of the parishes of Binsted and Frinsham, Bentley and Kingsley, assert that it belongs to them, and assembling in a riotous manner, have actually taken it all away. One man, who keeps a team, has carried home for his share forty stacks of wood. Forty-five of these people his lordship has served with actions. * “German boars and sows were also turned out by Charles I. in the New Forest, which bred and increased. Their stock is supposed to exist now, remark- able for the smallness of their hind-quarters.” — Mitford’s Edit. 24 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 'V These trees, which were very sound and in high perfection, were winter- cut, viz., in February and March, before the bark would run. In old times the Holt was estimated to be eighteen miles, computed measure from water-carriage, viz., from the town of Chertsey, on the Thames ; but now it is not half that distance, since the Wey is made navigable up to the town of Godaiming in the county of Surrey. LETTEE X.* TO THE SAME. August Uli, 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 (Jiirundines rusticce) 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 {hirimdines abodes) among the rubbish, which were at first appearance dead, but on being carried towards the fire revived. He told me, that out of his great care to preserve them, he put them in a paper bag, and hung them by the kitchen fire, where they were sufibcated. * This letter is extremely interesting in many points, it is the earliest in date, and as such tends to confirm what we suggested in the note to p. 1, that the first letter of this series was written at a later date as introductory. Its early date also accounts for the apologetical expression in the first paragraph, and in it we find mentioned the two subjects for which White always entertained the greatest interest : these were migration and hybernation. White at the commencement of his meditations on this subject was inclined to the belief of a partial hybernation taking place among birds, which Mr. Barrington, with whom he was also corresponding, tended to confirm. Neither could he get rid of the various accounts in circulation, in regard to swallows being found torpid, and of their retiring under water at stated periods. His candid mind would not allow him to credit these, but at the same time he could not ^divest them of all foundation. Birds migrate, and the instinct thus implanted may be looked upon generally as the provision to supply the wants of a peculiar season. All those summer visitants that have been found after the usual period of their departure, have been detained by other causes than a will to remain, and as the season advanced and the supplies of food and warmth failed, they sought retreats which by-and-by they were probably unable to leave. Some found in such places have been dead at the time or have died almost immediately after being discovered, and a few have revived just according to the time they were concealed, or were able to withstand the cold or want of sustenance. Our winter visitants are in the same way occasionally detained; a short time since we took a woodcock which had the tip of the wing slightly injured, it could perhaps fly about thirty yards. This bird could not have migrated, but it had not the scarcity of food to contend with that a summer visitant would incur, and there is no doubt it would have lived through the season, as it was perfectly healthy and in good condition. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 25 Another intelligent person has informed me, that while he was a schoolboy at Brighthelmstone, in Sussex, 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 disappoint- ment, he answered me in the negative ; but that others assured him they did. Young broods of swallows began to appear this year on July the 11th, and young martins {hirundines urhicce) 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 dis- appeared with us by the 5th of October. How strange it is that the swift, which seems to live exactly the same life with the swallow and house martin, should leave us before the middle of August invariably ! while the latter stay often till the middle of October ; and once I saw numbers of house-martins on the 7th of November. The martins and red-wing fieldfares were 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 trocMlus) 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. f 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, catching a fly in the air, and hardly ever touching the ground, but returning still to the same stand for many times together. I perceive there are more than one species of the motacilla trochilus. Mr. Derham supposes, in “ Ray’s Philos. Letters,” that he has discovered three. In these there is again an instance of some very common birds that have as yet no English name. Mr. Stillingfleet makes a question whether the black-cap ( motacilla atricapilla ^ be a bird of passage or not ; I think there is no doubt of it : for, in April, in the first fine weather, they come trooping, all at once, into these parts, but are never seen in the winter. They are delicate songsters. J 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 * The woodwren or warbler, yellow-willow wren, of British authors, Sylvia sibilatrix, Latham, frequents old woods, and is easily known by the peculiar note alluded to, t The spotted-flycatcher of British authors, Muscicapa grisola, Linn. J The black-cap warbler, Sylvia atricapilla, Latham, is a rather late summer visitant, and his arrival is immediately betrayed either by his song, or by the few peculiar notes warbled as he flits from bush to bush. The voice is much 26 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 'V 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 discovered a rat on the banks of our little stream that is not web-footed, and yet is an excellent swimmer and diver : it answers exactly to the mus ampMhius of Linnaeus (see Syst, Nat.) which he says natal in fossis et urinatury I should be glad to procure one ‘‘ plantis palma- tis.”* Linnaeus seems to be in a puzzle about his mus amphibius, and to doubt whether it differs from his mus terrestris ; which if it be, as he allows, the mus agrestis capite grandi hrachyuros’^’\‘ of Ray, is widely different from the water-rat, both in size, make, and manner of life. As to the falco, which I mentioned in town, I shall take the liberty to send it dowm to you into Wales; presuming on your candour, that you will excuse me if it should appear as familiar to you as it is strange to me. Though mutilated qualem dices . . . antehac fuisse, tales cum sint reliquiae ! ” 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 clearer in tone than any of the other warblers, the nightingale excepted ; he is a delightful addition to our summer songsters. The black-cap has a very extensive geographical distribution, reaching northward to Norway and Lapland, and we have good authorities for its occurrence in Africa, Japan, Java, Madeira, and the Azores. Mr. Bennet has copied a note from Mr. Rennie’s edition, in which the latter states : Dr. Heineken informs us, that it (the black-cap) is stationary in Madeira, consequently Sir W. Jardine is wrong in thinking our birds retire thither.” We have no doubt whatever in Dr. Heineken being right, but it does not follow from that, that some do not migrate there also. The song-thrush generally is stationary in Great Britain, but hundreds migrate to and from every year, so do goldcrests, and many other species. ‘ ‘ Where it is probable they partly retire,” are the words of the original note. * There is only one species of water-rat in Great Britain, Arvicola amphibius, Desmarest. The feet are not webbed or palmated. The black coloured water- rat of the north is now considered as a variety only. t In the short-tailed field-mouse, or field-vole, Arvicola agrestis of Fleming and Ball. The Rev. Leonard Jenyns has given the distinctions of the British arvicolse in “ Annals of Natural History,” vol. vii. WATER-RAT. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 27 hawks ; neither could I find any like it at the curious exhibition of stuflfed birds in Spring Gardens. I found it nailed up at the end of a barn, which is the countryman’s museum. The parish I live in is a very abrupt, uneven country, full of hills and woods, and therefore full of birds. LETTEE XL TO THE SAME. Selborne, Se;ptember Qth, 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 measured, from wing to •wing, thirty-eight inches. Its cere and feet were yellow, and the circle of its eyelids a bright yellow. As it had been killed some days, and the eyes were sunk, I could make no good observation on the colour of the pupils and the irides.* The most unusual birds I ever observed in these parts were a pair of hoopoes ( u'pu'pa ), which came several years ago in the summer, and frequented an ornamented piece of ground, which joins to my garden, for some weeks. They used to march about in a stately manner, feeding in the walks, many times in the day ; and seemed disposed to breed in my outlet ; but were frighted and persecuted by idle boys, who would never let them be at rest. Three grossbeaks (loxia cocco- thraustes ) appeared some years ago in my fields, in the winter; one of which 1 shot. Since that, now and then, one is occasionally seen in the same dead season. A crossbill {].oxia curvirostra) was killed last year in this neigh- bourhood. Our streams, which are small, and rise only at the end of the village, yield nothing but the bull’s head or miller’s thumb {gobius fluviatilis ^ Mr. Bennet states that the falco, proved to be the F. peregrinus, or peregrine falcon, and the authority given is W. Y. The yellow “circle of its eyelids” does not refer to the irides as we had imagined, when remarking upon this passage in another edition. White states he could not “make a good observation.” The irides of the British species of falcons (and we know of no foreign exception) are all dark brown. Mr. Pennant states that it was a variety differing, in having the whole under side of the body a dirty, deep yellow. 28 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 'V capitatus), the trout {trutta fluviatilis), the eel {anguilla), the lampern {lampcetra parva et Jiuviatilis), and the stickle-back {pisciculus aculeatm). 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 teems of ducks bred in the moors where the snipes breed ; and multitudes of widgeons and teals in hard weather fre- quent our lakes in the forest. Having some ac- quaintance 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, 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 ofial. The house-martins have eggs still, and squab young. The last swift I observed was about the 21st of August : it was a straggler. Red-stars, fly-catchers, white-throats, and reguli non cristati, still appear : but I have seen no black-caps lately. I forgot to mention that I once saw, in Christ Church College quad- rangle 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 aurihus* I was much entertained last summer with a tame bat, which would take flies out of a person’s hand. If you gave it anything to eat, it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering and hiding its head in the manner of birds of prey when they feed. The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings of the flies, which were always rejected, was worthy of observation, and pleased me much. Insects miller’s thumb and stickle-back. * It is to be desired that the fishes mentioned in a previous paragi’aph, as well as the bats were identified. There are at least three British species of eels, and it is more than probable that two of these are found at Selborne. Ttfere are also several species of stickle-back found in our fresh waters, one of the most common, and to which Ray’s name as applied belongs, is the smooth-tailed stickle-back, gasterosteus leiurus, Cuvier. Of the bats Professor Bell describes seventeen British species. The first noted by White was most probably the pipistrelle. The true vespertilio murinus being one of the most rare. The other would be the common long-eared bat, plecotus auritus. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 29 seemed to be most acceptable, though it did not refuse raw flesh when offered; so that the notion, that bats go down chimneys and gnaw men’s bacon, seems no improbable story. While I amused myself with this wonderful quadruped, I saw it several times confute the vulgar opinion, that bats when down upon a flat surface cannot get on the wing again, by rising with great ease from the floor. It ran, I observed, with more dispatch than I was aware of; but in a most ridiculous and grotesque manner. Bats drink on the wing, like swallows, by sipping the surface, as they play over pools and streams. They love to frequent waters, not only PIPISTRELLE. LONG-EARED BAT. for the sake of drinking, but on account of insects, which are found over them in the greatest plenty. As I was going some years ago, pretty late, in a boat from Richmond to Sunbury, on a warm summer’s evening, I think I saw myriads of bats between the two places ; the air swarmed with them all along the Thames, so that hundreds were in sight at a time. I am, &c. * LETTEE XIL TO THE SAME. November, Wi, 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 mm domesticm 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 This hawk proved to be the falco 'peregrinus; a variety. 30 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. V never enter into houses ; are carried into ricks and 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 ; i with the aperture so ingeniously closed, that there was no discovering to what part it belonged. It was so compact and well filled, that it would roll across the table without being discomposed, though it contained eight little mice that were naked and blind. As this nest was per- fectly full, how could the dam come at her litter respectively so as to administer a teat to each? Perhaps she opens different places for that purpose, adjusting them again when the business is over ; but she could not possibly be contained herself in the ball with her young, which moreover would be daily increasing in bulk. This wonderful 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 hohemicus or German silk-tail, from the five peculiar crimson HARVEST MICE. * This is the harvest-mouse, mus messorius, of Shaw ; and it is to Mr. White that we are indebted for the first notice and description of it as a British species, which he communicated to Mr. Pennant, who introduced it in the British zoology upon that authority. It is not unfrequent in some of the southern English counties, but becomes more rare northward. In Scotland it occasionally occurs, and on the authority of the late Professor Macgillivray, has been obtained in Aberdeenshire. It is the smallest of our British mammalia, and its habits are very interesting. The nests are very curious structures, and instead of being formed upon the ground, as those of most of the species, the ball or nest is suspended from the stems of grain or other high vegetation. One is described in the Memoir of Dr. Gloger, “It was in skilfulness of construction fully equal to that of most birds, was suspended from the summit of three straws of the common reed (Arundo phrag- mites), and was entirely composed of the pannicles and leaves of the plants slit longitudinally, and intricately platted and matted together. Its internal cavity was small and round, and accessible only by a narrow lateral opening. ” NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. 31 tags or points which it carries at the ends of five of the short remiges. It cannot, I suppose, with any propriety, be called an English bird ; and yet I see, by Ray’s Philoso- phical 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 con- ducive to the support of many of the winged nation. For the same severe weather, late in the spring, which cut off all the pro- duce of the more tender and curious trees, destroyed also that of the more hardy and common. Some birds, haunting with the missel-thrushes, and feeding on the berries of the yew tree, which answered to the description of the merula torquata, or ring-ouzel, were lately seen in this neighbourhood. I employed some people to procure me a specimen, but without success. (See Letter YIII.) Query. — Might not canary birds be naturalised to this climate, provided their eggs were put, in the spring, into the nests of some of their congeners, as goldfinches, greenfinches, &c. % Before winter perhaps they might be hardened, and able to shift for themselves. About ten years ago I used to spend some weeks yearly at Sunbury, which is one of those pleasant villages lying on the Thames, near Hampton Court. In the autumn, I could not help being much amused with those myriads of the swallow kind which assemble in those parts. But what struck me most was, that, from the time they began to congregate, forsaking the chimnies and houses, they roosted every night in the osier-beds of the aits of that river. How 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 persuaded of that fact, that he talks, in his calendar of Flora, as familiarly of the swallow’s BOHEMIAN WAX-WING. * The letter alluded to was from Mr. Johnson to Mr. Ray, in 1686. “On the backside you have the description of a new English bird. They came near us in great flocks like fieldfares, and fed upon haws as they do.” And in another letter from Mr. Thqj^esby to Mr. Ray, 1703, it is said, “I am tempted to think the German silk-tail is become natural to us, there being no less than three killed nigh this town the last winter. ” Thus has the wax-wing occurred occasionally in this county, but there is no record of any great numbers appearing together since Ray’s time, until in 1849-50, when an unusual number visited us. The direction of the flight was from east to west, and the principal localities where they occurred were the eastern or coast districts of Durham and Yorkshire in the north, and of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent in the south. Their appearance reached over a period from November. 1849, to March 1850, January being the principal month of their appearance; no fewer than 429 are recorded to have been killed in that month, and during the whole time they were observed, 586 specimens were known to have been obtained — a very wanton destruction. 32 NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. going under water in the beginning of September, as he would of bis poultry going to roost a little before sunset. An observing gentleman in London writes me word that he saw an house-martin, on the twenty-third of last October, flying in and out of its nest in the Borough. And I myself, on the twenty-ninth of last October (as I was travelling through Oxford), saw four or five swallows hovering round and settling on the roof of the county hospital. Now is it likely that these poor little birds (which perhaps had not been hatched but a few weeks) should, at that late season of the year, and from so midland a county, attempt a voyage to Goree or Senegal, almost as far as the equator ] * I acquiesce entirely in your opinion — that, though most of the swallow kind may migrate, yet that some do stay behind and hide with us during the winter. As to the short-winged soft-billed birds, which come trooping in such numbers in the spring, I am at a loss even what to suspect about them. I watched them narrowly this year, and saw them abound till about Michaelmas, when they appeared no longer. Subsist they cannot openly among us, and yet elude the eyes of the inquisitive : and, as to their hiding, no man pretends to have found any of them in a torpid state in the winter. But with regard to their migration, what diffi- culties 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 ! LETTEE XIIL TO THE SAME. Selboene, Jan. 2'2nd, 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 neighbourhood. But, when I came to observe them more narrowly, I was amazed to fmd that they seemed to me to be almost all hens. I communicated my suspicions to some intelligent neighbours, who, after taking pains about the matter, declared that they also thought them all mostly females, — at least fifty to one. This extraordinary occurrence brought to my mind the remark of Linnaeus; that before winter all their hen chaffinches migrate See “ Adanson’s Voyage to Senegal.’ NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 33 through Holland into Italy.” Kow I want to know, from some curious person in the north, whether there are any large flocks of these finches with them in the winter, and of which sex they mostly consist 1 For, from such intelligence, one might be able to judge whether our female flocks migrate from the other end of the island, or whether they come over to us from the continent.* We have, in the winter, vast flocks of the common linnets : more, I think, than can be bred in any one district. These, I observe, when the spring advances, assemble on some tree in the sunshine, and join all in a gentle sort of chirping, as if they were about to break up their winter quarters and betake themselves to their proper summer homes. It is well known, at least, that the swallows and the fieldfares do congregate with a gentle twittering before they make their respective departure. You may depend on it that the bunting, Einberiza miliaria, does not leave this county in the winter. In January, 1767, I saw several dozen of them, in the midst of a severe frost, among the bushes on the downs near Andover: in our woodland enclosed district it is a rare bird. Wagtails, both white and yellow, are with us all the winter. f Quails crowd to our southern coast, and are often killed in numbers by people that go on purpose. * This is another letter, just such as might have been written from one country friend and naturalist to another, not stating facts, as if for press or publication, but simply as they occurred, and with the impress of truth and reality about them. No doubt the correspondence of a friend of congenial mind in some different locality, and a comparison of his annual calendar, is not only a great incitement to prosecute our observations, but aids our insight into the variations produced by locality and climate’; and persons fond of the study of natural history, but who do not possess the entire scientific acquirements, nor all the facilities for research or reference may be of the greatest use in recording facts as they occur, and in comparing them with those of other correspondents. Some species are numerously, others locally, distributed, and because one observer finds either of these to be the case in his vicinity, the conclusion is not to be all at once jumped at, that the species is generally abundant or the reverse. Some localities may have a species resident, others may have the same only migratory, or partially so. In others, a species may have been, from change of circumstances, extirpated, and old authors who have recorded that such was abundant, are not to be doubted, because at the time of modern examination circumstances have changed. Some birds are always gregarious, and are constantly seen in large flocks, and breed in colonies, but the greater proportion disperse during the breeding season, pair and seek their separate retreats to nest and rear their young. When this great object is accomplished and winter approaches, they join and congregate together in large parties, but the migratory birds, at the time of their moving, appear to assemble in sexes, for we know that the males of many of our summer birds of passage arrive before the females. The remark of Linnseus that is quoted may be correct; it is probable that we receive an addition to the numbers of the chaffinch in the end of autumn, and Mr. Thompson is disposed to believe that some of those that flock together in Ireland have migrated from more northern latitudes. The evidence from British ornithologists of the separation of the sexes of the chaffinch is at variance, and we think that the division has been overrated. The young males not having attained their full plumage may have been one cause of deception, and may have, without a minute examination, been assumed to be females. t White must have had in view the grey wagtail, Motacilla boarula, many pairs of which remain during winter, and these wanting the dark throat of the breeding plumage are nearly ail yellow on the under parts. The yellow wogtail. Budytcs dava, is a regular summer visitant, arriving rather late, and leaving us about the end of August or middle of September. B 34 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. Mr. Stillingfleet, in his Tracts, says that if the wheatear {mnanthe) does not quit England, it certainly shifts places; for about harvest they are not to be found, where there was before great plenty of them.” This well accounts for the vast quantities that are caught about that time on the south downs near Lewes, where they are esteemed a delicacy. There have been shepherds, I have been credibly informed, that have made many pounds in a season by catching them in traps. And though such multitudes are taken, I never saw (and I am well acquainted with those parts) above two or three at a time, for they are never gregarious. They may perhaps migrate in general ; and, for that purpose, draw towards the coast of Sussex in autumn : but that they do not all withdraw I am sure ; because I see a few stragglers in many 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 his ship all the way from our channel quite up to the Levant, especially before squally weather. What you suggest, with regard to Spain, is highly probable. The winters of Andalusia are so mild, that, in all likelihood, the soft-billed birds that leave us at that season may find insects sufiQ.cient to support them there. Some young man, possessed of fortune, health, and leisure, should make an autumnal voyage into that kingdom; and should spend a year there, investigating the natural history of that vast country. Mr. Willughby* passed through that kingdom on such an errand; but he seems to have skirted along in a superficial manner and an ill-humour, being much disgusted at the rude dissolute manners of the people. 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, I have farther to remark, that though they hang their nests for breeding up amidst the straws of the standing corn, above the ground ; yet I find that, in the winter, they burrow deep in the earth, and make warm beds of grass : but their grand rendezvous seems to be in corn-ricks, into which they are carried at harvest. A neighbour housed an oat-rick lately, under the thatch of which were assembled near an hundred, most of which were taken, and some I saw. I measured them ; and found that, from nose to tail, they were just two inches and a quarter, and their tails just two inches long. Two of them, in a scale, weighed down just one copper half- penny, which is about the third of an ounce avoirdupois : so that I suppose they are the smallest quadrupeds in this island. A full-grown See “Ray’s Travels,” p. 466. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 35 Mm 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. The tender evergreens were injured pretty much. It was very providential that the air was stilly and the ground well covered with snow, else vegetation in general nlust have suffered prodigiously. There is reason to believe that some days were more severe than any since the year 1739-40.* I am, &c. &c. LETTEE XIY. TO THE SAME. Selborne, March IWi, 1768. Dear Sir, — If some curious gentleman would procure the head of a fallow-deer, and have it dissected, he would find it furnished with two spiracula, or breathing-places, besides the nostrils ; probably analogous to the puncta lachrymalia in the human head. When deer are thirsty they plunge their noses, like some horses, very deep under water, while in the act of drinking, and continue them in that situa- tion for a considerable time : but, to obviate any incon- veniency, they can open two vents, one at the inner cor- ner of each eye, having a communication with the nose.f Here seems to be an extraordinary provision of nature worthy our atten- tion ; and which has not, that I know of, been noticed by any naturalist. For it orifice in fallow-deer. 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 * See Letters LXI., LXII. to Mr. Barrington. + This short letter is devoted entirely to one subject, to which White’s attention was most probably directed by his visits to the deer in Woolmer Forest; it is one of those which requires explanation, especially in a popular work so much read as “Selborne,” and the very error into which White has fallen with his remarks will lead to the future explanation of a structure which even at this time is not completely understood. The statement in the letter, “When deer D 2 36 NATUllAL HISTOllY OF SELBORNE. to beasts of chase, by affording them free respiration : and no dbubt these additional nostrils are thrown open when they are hard run.* Mr. Ray observed that at Malta, the owners slit up the nostrils of such asses as were hard worked : for they, being naturally straight or small, did not admit air sufficient to serve them when they travelled, or laboured, in that hot climate. And we know that grooms, and gentlemen of the turf, think large nostrils necessary, and a perfection, in hunters and running horses. Oppian, the Greek poet, by the following line, seems to have had some notion that stags have four spiracula : Trttrvqtg Tu'voivtffi ^iKvXot.” “ Quadrifid.se nares, quadruplices ad respirationem canales.” 0pp. Cyn. Lib. ii. 1. 181. Writers, copying from one another, make Aristotle say that goats breathe at their ears; whereas he asserts just the contrary: — ‘"AA/c- fxai(av yap ovk a\y]6'r] \eyet, (pajueuos ava-KV^iv ras aiyas Kara ra cora.” | ^^Alcmaeon does not advance what is true, when he avers that goats breathe through their ears.” — History of Animals.” ‘ Book I. chap. xi. LETTEE XV. TO THE SAME. Selboene, March ZOth, 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 longe^ which they call a cane. This piece of intelligence can be little depended on ; but farther inquiry may be made.+ are thirsty,” &:c., is quite correct so far as ‘‘they plunge their noses,” but the nostril is then not used, and the whole will is exerted in quenching a thirst at the time excessive. These other orifices are glandular cavities, and so far as we know or can judge, have reference to the season of rutting, and have no connexion whatever with respiration. They exist in greater or less development in all the deer and antelopes, and also in the common sheep, and a peculiar secretion may be seen to exude from it, having also a peculiar odour. Some animals have glandular secretions in other parts of the body — musk, civet, zibet, &c. — known as perfumes, and the peculiar utilities of these glands, except in secreting a strong scent, is unknown. * In answer to this account, Mr. Pennant sent me the following curious and pertinent reply. “I was much surprised to find in the antelope something analogous to what you mention as so remarkable in deer. This animal also has a long slit beneath each eye, 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.” . t Such is the case at the present time. Most game-keepers insist that there is another beast different from the weasel or stoat ; young and female weasels appear very small when running, and in reality look scarcely bigger than a large mouse. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 37 A gentleman in tliis neighbourhood had two milkwhite rooks in one nest. A booby of a carter, finding them before they were able to fiy, threw them down ... and destroyed them, to the regret of the ' owner, who would have been glad to have preserved such a curiosity in his rookery. I saw the birds myself nailed against the end of a barn, and was sur- prised to find that their bills, legs, feet, and claws were milk- white.* WEASEL. A shepherd saw, as he thought, some white larks on a down above my house this winter : were not these the Emheriza nivalis, the snow-flake of the Brit. Zool.i No doubt they were. A few years ago I saw a cock bullfinch in a cage, which had been caught ‘in the fields after it was come to its full colours. In about a year it began to look dingy ; and, blackening every succeeding year, it became coal-black at the end of four. Its chief food was hempseed. Such influence has food on the colour of animals ! The pied and mottled colours of domes- ticated animals are supposed to be owing to high, various, and unusual food. I had remarked, for years, that the root of the cuckoo-pint {arum) was frequently scratched out of the dry banks of hedges, and eaten in severe snowy weather. After observing, with some exactness, myself, and getting others to do the same, we found it was the thrush kind that searched it out. The root of the arum is remarkably warm and pungent.f the form being a little more lengthened. These do not agree with the weasels and stoats taken in traps, &c., and hence the delusion is kept up. Mitford has the following note in his edition. “This I believe to be a pretty- general error among the county-people, also in other counties. This imaginary animal in Suffolk is called the ‘ mouse hunt, ’ from its being supposed to live on mice. To discover the truth of this report, I managed to have several of these animals brought to me ; all of which I find to be the common weasel. The error I conceive partly to have arisen from this animal, like most others, appearing less than its real size, when running or attempting to escape, a circumstance well known to the hunters of India, with respect to larger animals, as the tiger, ” &c. * We possess a large rookery, and although we have never had an entire white or cream coloured variety, scarcely a year passes without some young being observed with more or less white in the plumage, and in these the bjU and feet, as well as the claws, are also white. t We have not observed the roots of the arum scratched for as mentioned. 38 NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. 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 some- times with its back downwards, but never continuing one moment in the same place. I shot at it, but it was so desultory that I missed my aim. I wonder that the stone-curlew, Charadrius mdicnemus, should be mentioned by the writers as a rare bird : it abounds in all the champaign parts of Hampshire and Sussex, and breeds, I think, all the summer, having young ones, I know, very late in the autumn. Already they begin clamouring in the evening. They cannot, I think, with any propriety, be called, as they are by Mr. Ray, circa aquas versantes ; ” for with us, by day at least, they haunt only the 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 XVL TO THE SAME. Selborne, April l^th, 1768. Dear Sir, — The history of the stone-curlew, Charadrius mdicnemus, 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 sculk 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 but it is not generally a very common plant in Scotland. The circumstance mentioned above is worth attending to, and observers who may read this edition should now notice and corroborate, if they can. White’s remarks. * The winter habits of the stone-curlew have not been described, and White knew it only during the breeding time. Most of the plovers and their allies congregate after breeding, and delight in the vicinity of water. Any one de- scribing the winter habits of the common curlew frequenting the seashore, and going inland to feed at high tide, would find the picture very different from that which he would draw when he saw them in their subalpine breeding-grounds, having at the same time a different call and flight. It was nevertheless a very natural commentary upon Ray’s words, and we now require a good descrip- tion of their habits during winter, after they have returned from their breeding- groimds. NATUUAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 39 the young bird, may be eluded. The eggs are short and round ; of a dirty white, spotted with dark bloody blotches. Though I might not be able, just when I pleased, to procure you a bird, yet I could show you them almost any day ; and any evening you may hear them round the village, for they make a clamour which may be heard a mile. Oedicnemus is a most apt and expressive name for them, since their legs seem swoln like those of a gouty man. After harvest I have shot them before the pointers in turnip-fields. I make no doubt but there are three species of the willow- wrens ; two I know perfectly, but have not been able yet to procure the third. No two birds can differ more in their notes, and that constantly, than those two that I am acquainted with ; for the one has a joyous, easy, laughing note, the other a harsh loud chirp. The former is every way larger, and three-quarters of an inch longer, and weighs two drams and a half, while the latter weighs but two ; so the songster is one-fifth heavier than the chirper. The chirper (being the first summer-bird of passage that is heard, the wryneck sometimes excepted) begins his two notes in the middle of March, and 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. 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 whispering in the bushes. * There are just three of the British warblers which are liable to be confounded with one another ; at the same time they are very distinct, and a little attention to their habits alone would easily distinguish them. They are — The Wood-Wren, or warbler, Sylvia sibilatrix referred to before at page 25. In its habits it is distinguished by frequenting old woods, being very partial to those of oak, and being seldom seen among low or young plantations like the next. Mr. Selby writes, “in a living state, it is easily recognised by its peculiar song, which resembles the word twee, repeated twice or thrice rather slowly, concluding with the same notes hurriedly delivered, and accompanied by a singular shake of the wings.” In form this is the largest species, it has a bright yellow eye- streak, and the upper parts have a tint of sulphur-yellow, wanting in the others. The belly and under tail-covers are pure white. The Wii.low-Wren or warbler, Sylvia trochilus, Selby, is one of our most common and generally distributed warblers ; it is also one of our earliest sylvan visitants, appearing almost with the first leaves of spring, and frequenting young woods and plantations. It has a lively but limited song of a few notes, which is constantly repeated. In size it nearly equals that of the wo5d-warbler. The streak over the eye is indistinct, the upper plumage is of an oil-green or brownish tint, and the upper parts are tinted with yellow, particularly the under tail- covers. The Chiff-Chaff warbler or Lesser pettychaps, Sylvia hipjpolais, is very common in the greater part of England, but becomes less common towards the north, and does not extend far in that direction. It arrives very early, and is imme- diately betrayed by its peculiar often-repeated note of chiff-chaff, which has given to it its provincial name. It frequents old woods, as well as others of lower growth. In size it is the least of the three, the eye-streak is very indistinct, the upper parts oil-green tinged with grey, and the belly, vent, and under tail-covers are primrose-yellow. The legs are blackish brown, whereas in the other two they are yellowish-brown. This is the “ chirper.” 40 NATUllAL HISTORY OF SELBOENF. 'V, The country people laugh when you tell them that it is the note of a bird. It is a most artful creature, sculking 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 earl}^ and when undisturbed, it sings on the top of a twig, gaping and shivering with its wings. Mr. Ray himself had no knowledge of this bird, but received his account from Mr. Johnson, who apparently confounds it with the reguli non cristati, from which it is very distinct. See Ray’s Philos. Letters,” p. 108.* The fly-catcher {stoparola) has not yet appeared ; it usually breeds in my vine. The redstart begins to sing, its note is short and imperfect, but is continued till about the middle of June. The willow-wrens (the smaller sort) are horrid pests in a garden, destroying the peas, cherries, currants, &c. ; and are so tame that a gun will not scare them. A List of the Summer Birds op Passage discovered in this Neighbourhood, ranged somewhat in the Order in which THEV APPEAR. LINN^I NOMINA. Motacilla trochiius. Jynx torquilla. Hirundo rustica. Hirundo urhica. Hirundo Hparia. Cuculus canorus. Motacilla luscinia. Motacilla atricapilla. Motacilla Sylvia. Motoxilla trochiius. Hirundo ajpus, Charadrius cedicnemus ? Turtur aldrovayidi ? Alauda trivialis. Rallus crex. Motacilla trochiius. Motacilla 'phcenicurus. Caprimulgus europaus. Muscicapa grisola. Smallest willow-wren, Wryneck, House-swallov/, Martin, Sand-martin, Cuckoo, Nightingale, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Middle willow -wren. Swift, Stone-curlew? Turtle-dove? Grasshopper-lark, Landrail, Largest willow-wren. Redstart, Goat-sucker, or fem-owl. Fly-catcher, My countrymen talk much of a bird that makes a clatter with its bill against a dead bough, or some old pales, calling it a jar- bird. I procured one to be shot in the very fact ; it proved to be the Sitta europcea (the nuthatch.) Mr. Ray says that the less spotted * This passage in Ray’s correspondence (Ray Society, p. 96), to which the above alludes, appears to occur in one of Mr. Johnson’s letters to Ray, March 1672, and refers to the grasshopper-warbler, Salicaria locusiella, and which_ is White’s “grasshopper-lark,” it is as follows : “ I have sent you the little yellow-bird you called regulus non cristatus, what bird it is I know not ; but we have great store of them (Brignall, Greta Bridge), each morning about sunrise, and many times a-day ; besides she mounts to the highest branch in the bush, and there with bill erect, and wing hovering, she sends forth a sibilous noise like that of the grasshopper, but much shriller.”— (See also Letter XXIV.) NATURAL HISTORY OF SEL130RNE. 41 woodpecker does the same. This noise may be heard a furlong or more. Now is the only time to ascertain the short- winged summer birds ; for, when the leaf is out, there is no making any remarks on such a restless tribe ; and, when once the young begin to appear, it is all confusion : there is no distinc- tion of genus, species, or sex. In breeding-time snipes play over the moors, piping and humming: they al- ways hum as they are descending. Is not their hum ventriloquous like that of the turkey 1 Some suspect it is made by their wings. This morning I saw the golden- crowned wren, whose crown glitters like burnished gold. It often hangs like a titmouse, with its back downwards. Yours, &c. &c. LETTEE XVII. TO THE SAME. Selboune, June 18th, 1768. Dear Sir,— On W ednesday 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 cryptogamia 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 may be eVw yh uot6koi, 5e Cwotokoi, as is known to be the case with the viper. The copulation of frogs (or at least the appearance of it ; for Swammerdam proves that the male has no penis intrans) is notorious to everybody : because we see them sticking upon each others backs for a month together in the spring : and yet I never saw, or read of toads being observed in the same situation. It is strange that the matter with regard to the venom of toads has not been yet settled. 42 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. ■'V 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 eye- witness to the fact (though numbers of persons were) when a quack, at this village, ate a toad to make the country-people stare ; afterwards he drank oil.* I have been informed also, from undoubted authority, that some ladies (ladies you will say of peculiar taste) took a fancy to a toad, which they nourished summer after summer, for many years, till he grew to a monstrous size, with the maggots which turn to flesh-flies. The reptile used to come forth every evening from a hole under the garden-steps ; and was taken up, after supper, on the table to be fed. But at last a tame raven, kenning him as he put forth his head, gave him such a severe stroke with his horny beak as put out one eye. After this accident the creature languished for some time and died. I need not remind a gentleman of your extensive reading of the 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 * This is a letter upon reptiles, the natural history of which, as well as that of fishes. White had little opportunity of studying. Toads procreate exactly in the same manner as frogs, and both are oviparous, the bead-like chains which are often seen in pools in spring, as if they were looped over each other, is the newly deposited spawn of the former. The venom of toads is discarded as a fable, but there is an excretion from the skin which can be exuded upon irritation, and serves for protection. It causes the excessive secretion of saliva in the mouth of a dog, and evidently gives pain. Mr. Herbert says a pike wiU seize a toad, but immediately disgorges it, while a frog is swallowed. There has always been an aversion or disgust at toads. The older poets clothed him in a garb “ ugly and venemous,” and one of our master-bards has likened the Evil Spirit to him, as a semblance of all that is devilish or disgusting. Him they found Squat li^e a toad, close at the ear of Eve, Assaying with all his devilish art to reach The organs of her fancy. Thus we are taught, and the feeling is handed down from family to family, to loath a harmless animal. The bite is innocent of any after consequences, and we never saw a toad attempt to bite. The exudation of the skin is only used in self- defence. They are extremely useful in the destruction of insects, and they will be found to be valuable as well as amusing assistants in a greenhouse or con- servatory. Sir Joseph Banks wrote — “ I have from my childhood, in conformity with the precepts of a mother void of all imaginary fear, been in the constant habit of taking toads in my hand, holding them there some time, and applying them to my face and nose, as it may happen. My motive for doing this very frequently is to inculcate the opinion I have held, since I was told by my mother, that the toad is actually a harmless animal ; and to whose manner of life man is certainly under some obligation, as its food is chiefly those insects which devour his crops and annoy him in various ways.” NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 43 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 oflf as useless, and the animal betakes itself to the land ! Merret, I trust, is widely mistaken when he advances that the Rana arhorea is an English reptile; it abounds in Germany and Switzerland. It is to be remembered that the Salamandra aquatica of Eay (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 Sa- lamandra 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 5 th, 1766, in his account of the mud inguana, 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 pennafced coverings approach 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 Systema Haturae,” hints at what Mr. Ellis advances more than once. Providence has been so indulgent to us as to allow of but one venemous reptile of the serpent kind in these kingdoms, and that is the viper. As you propose the good of mankind to be an object of your publications, you will not omit to mention common salad-oil as a sovereign remedy against the bite of the viper. As to the blind worm {Anguis fragilis, so called because it snaps in sunder with a small blow), I have found, on examination, that it is perfectly innocuous. A neigh- bouring 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 WATER-NEWTS. 44 NATUllAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. "V 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, hatch- ing 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 fol- lowing, as I have often ex- perienced. Several intelli- gent folks assure me that they have seen the viper open her mouth and admit her helpless young down her throat on sudden surprises, just as the female opossum does her brood into the pouch under her belly, upon the like emergencies; and yet the London viper-catchers insist on it, to Mr. Barrington, that no such thing ever happens.* The serpent kind eat, I believe, but once in a year; or rather, but only just at one season of the year. Country people talk much of a water-snake, but, I am pretty sure, without any reason ; for the common snake (Coluber 7iatrix) 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 lacertij of which Ray enumerates five. I have not had opportunity of BLIND WORM. * This question remains, we believe, nearly as it did in White’s time. There have been statements upon both sides, and some time since it gave rise to a very long discussion in the “ Gardener’s Chronicle,” but which, with the others, ended in nothing that could be taken as undoubted proof of the fact. We have always looked upon this as a popular delusion, and the supposed habit is so much at variance with what we know of the general manners and instincts of animals that, without undoubted proof oi its occurrence, we incline still to consider it as such. Something always occurs to prevent the adder that has swallowed her young being captured, and the evidence rests on such an one having seen the young enter the mouth of the parent. Now, we do not mean to call in question the veracity of the observers reporting what they at the time believed to be the case, but we know how easy it is to be deceived, and how difficult it is to observe con-ectly. Mr. Bennet leaves the question open ; but in the latest edition of ‘ ‘ Selborne, ” in Bohn’s Illus- trated Library, the following note by the editor occurs Having taken much pains to ascertain the fact of young vipers entering the mouth of their mother, I can now have little doubt but that such is the case, after the evidence of persons who assured me that they had seen it. I also found young vipers in the stomach of the mother of a much larger size than they would be when first ready to be excluded.” We presume that the young vipers in the stomach of the mother were found alive ; it is not so stated. Could the Zoological Society not do something to solve this problem? A comparatively trifling expense would procure a good collection of adders were it known they were wanted, and among them a female might be found and watched. See also Mr. White’s remarks. Letter XXXI., to Mr. Barrington, where he cut up an adder, and found young in the “ abdomen, ” by which term he evidently means the uterus or ovarium, for he adds, “there was little room to suppose they were taken in for refuge.” Letter XXXI. should be turned to and read with this one to Pennant. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 45 ascertaining these ; but remember well to have seen, formerly, several beautiful green lacerti on the sunny sand-banks near Farnham, in Surrey; and Ray admits there are such in Ireland.* LETTER XVIII. TO THE SAME. Selborne, July 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 pungitius : he found the Gasterosteus aculeatus in plenty. 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’s 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 engraver should be attentive.+ Finding, while I was on a visit, that I was within a reasonable distance of Ambresbury, I sent a servant 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 gullies that were cut for watering the meadows. From these fishes (which measured from two to four inches in length) I took the following description : The loach, in its general aspect, has a pellucid appearance ; its back is mottled with irregular collections of small black dots, not reaching much below the lima lateralis, as are the back and tail fins ; a, black line runs from each eye down to the nose ; its belly is of a silvery white ; the upper jaw projects beyond the lower, and is surrounded with six feelers, three on each side ; its pectoral fins are large, its ventral much smaller ; the fin behind its anus small ; its dorsal-fin large, containing eight spines; its tail, where it joins to the tail-fin, remarkably broad, without any taperness, so as to be characteristic of this genus; the tail-fin is broad, and square at the end. From the _ * In Mr. Bell’s work on British Reptiles, fourteen species may be said to be given. Two of these, however, are Chelonians, or tortoises, and of accidental occur- rence only, so that Mr. White’s difficulty is not unnatural, considering the general state of information when he wrote. t The obliging and anxious disposition of Mr. White to forward the views and studies of his correspondent are here shown, as also his own homely manner, and without attributing any merit to himself of giving his opinion of such remedies as curing cancers by toads. Mazel, the person to whom the specimens were addressed, was Pennant’s engraver, and his name also stands as the artist upon some of the plates of antiquities in the original 4to edition. 46 NATURAL HISTORY OP SELBORNE. 'V breadth and muscular strength of the tail it appears to be an active nimble fish.” In my visit I was not very far from Hungerford, and did not forget to make some inquiries concerning the wonderful method of curing cancers by means of toads. Several intelligent persons, both gentry and clergy, do I find give a great deal of credit to what is asserted in the papers, and I myself dined with a clergyman who seemed to be persuaded that what is related is matter of fact ; but, when I came to attend to his account, I thought I discerned 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 gentleman should express so much tenderness for this single sufferer, and not feel any for the many thousands that daily languish under this terrible disorder ] W ould he not have made use of this invaluable nostrum for his own emolument ; or at least, by some means of publication or other, have found a method of making it public for the good of mankind? In short, this woman (as it appears to me) having set up for a cancer-doctress, finds it expedient to amuse the country with this dark and mysterious relation. The water-eft has not, that I can discern, the least appearance of any gills ; for want of which it is continually rising to the surface of the water to take in fresh air. I opened a big-bellied one indeed, and found it full of spawn. Not that this circumstance at all invalidates the assertion that they are larvce ; for the larvce of insects are full of eggs, which they exclude the instant they enter their last state. The water-eft is continually climbing over the brims of the vessel, within which we keep it in water, and wandering away ; and people every summer see numbers crawling out of the pools where they are hatched up the dry banks. There are varieties of them, differing in colour j and some have fins up their tail and back, and some have not.* * The fins or menabrane upon the tail and back are an appendage to the males only, and are developed at the season of their breeding. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 47 LETTEE XIX. TO THE SAME. Selborne, August VJth, 1768. Dear Sir, — I have now, past dispute, made out three distinct species of the willow-wrens {motacillce trocMli) which constantly and invariably use distinct notes. But at the same time I am obliged to confess that I know nothing of yoiir willow-lark.* 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 considerably the largest, and has its quill-feathers and secondary feathers tipped with white, which the others have not. This last haunts only the tops of trees in high beechen woods, and makes a sibilous grasshopper-like noise, now and then, at short intervals, shivering a little with its wings when it sings ; and is, I make no doubt now, the regulus non cristatus of Bay, which he says cantat voce striduld locmtce” Yet this great ornithologist never suspected that there were three species. LETTEE XX. TO THE SAME. Selborne, October Sth, 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 cockbird, 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 recollection, he has seen some of the same birds round his ponds in former summers.^ * “Brit. Zool.” edit. 1776, 8vo, p. 881. t Of the sandpiper we may remark that it would be the unfavourable localities in the vicinity of Selborne that caused its scarcity. The common sandpiper, totanus {tringa of Linnaeus) hypoleucus, is not particularly a northern bird. It has 43 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 'V, 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 atten- tion to the bush where it was ; its craw was filled with the legs and wings of beetles. The next rare birds (which were procured for me last week) were some ring-ousels, turdi torquati. This week twelve months a gentleman from London, 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 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 the 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 j^et 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 countries. The ousel is larger than a black-bird, and feeds on haws ; but last autumn (when there were no haws) it fed on yew-berries : in the spring it feeds a very extensive foreign range, as well as British, and in this country frequents, during the breeding season, lakes with gravelly margins, or clear rocky streams, where it arrives in spring and remains until its broods are ready to remove. It is a regular summer visitant, and to the angler is a pleasant companion, enlivening the streams with its shrill whistle, and by its active motions. During winter there seems to be a partial as well as general migration, some leaving the country altogether, others retiring only to the sea-shores. SANDPIPER. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 49 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 rep- tiles) 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 examina- tion 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 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 oedicnemus, 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. RING OUSEL. LETTEE XXL TO THE SAME. Selborne, Nov. 28i7i, 1768. Dear Sir, — With regard to the oedicnemus, 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 * White’s observations upon the ring-ousel, at the time he wrote, were very important, and made with great accuracy. As in other matters, it will be very interesting for Professor Bell to give his attention to their present habits in the vicinity of Selborne, to ascertain if their numbers continue as many, and their appearance as regular. In Scotland the ring-ousel is a regular summer visitant, extending from the English border to Sutherlandshire ; in the rocky districts of the latter county it is tolerably frequent. In autumn and before their departure they visit the lower country, and remain a day or a week according to circum- stances, feeding at this time upon various berries, and occasionally visiting gardens. The broods are now joined and mixed together, and the young appeal in their imperfect mottled dress. E 50 NxiTURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. ''V, notice when they begin to congregate, and afterwards to watch them most narrowly whether they do not withdraw themselves during the dead of the winter. When I have obtained information 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 gentleman, 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 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 monedulcB) build every year in the rabbit-burrows under ground. The way he and his brothers used to take their nest^, 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 ont with a forked stick. Some water-fowls (viz. the puffins) breed, I know, in that manner ; but I should never have suspected the daws of building in holes on the flat ground. Another very unlikely spot is made use of by daws as a place to breed in, and that is Stonehenge. These birds deposit their nests in the interstices between the upright and the impost stones of that amazing work of antiquity : which circumstance alone speaks the pro- digious height of the upright stones, that they should be tall enough to secure those nests from the annoyance of shepherd-boys, who are always idling round that place. One of my neighbours last Saturday, November the 26th, saw a martin in a sheltered bottom : the sun shone warm, and the bird was hawking briskly after flies. I am now perfectly satisfied that they do not all leave this island in the winter. You judge very right, I think, in speaking with reserve and caution concerning the cures done by toads : for, let people advance what they will on such subjects, yet there is such a propensity in mankind towards deceiving and being deceived, that one cannot safely relate anything from common report, especially in print, without expressing some degree of doubt and suspicion. Your approbation, with regard to my new discovery of the migration of the ring-ousel, gives me satisfaction ; and I find you concur with me in suspecting that they are foreign birds which visit us. You will be sure, I hope, not to omit to make inquiry whether your ring-ousels leave your rocks in the autumn. What puzzles me most, is the very short stay they make with us ; for in about three weeks they are all gone. I shall be very curious to remark whether they will call on us at their return in the spring, as they did last year. I want to be better informed with regard to ichthyology. If fortune had settled me near the sea-side, or near some great river, my natural propensity would soon have urged me to have made myself acquainted NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 51 with their productions : but as I have lived mostly in inland parts, and in an upland district, my knowledge of fishes extends little farther than to those common sorts which our brooks and lakes produce. I am, &c. LETTEE XXIL TO THE SAME.* Selborne, Jan. 2nd, 1769. Dear Sir, — As to the peculiarity of jackdaws building with us under the ground in rabbit-burrows, you have, in part, hit upon the reason ; for, in reality, there are hardly any towers or steeples in all this country. And perhaps, Norfolk excepted, Hampshire and Sussex are as meanly furnished with churches as almost any counties in the king- dom. \Y e have many livings of two or three hundred pounds a year, whose houses of worship make little better appearance than dovecots. When I first saw Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdon- shire, 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 mankind.” f It is a satisfaction to me to find that a green lizard has actually been procured for you in Devonshire ; because it corroborates my discovery, which I made many years ago, of the same sort, on a sunny sandbank near Farnham, in Surrey. I am well acquainted with the South Hams of Devonshire; and can suppose that district, from its southerly situation, to be a proper habitation for such animals in their best colours. ' Since the ring-ousels of your vast mountains do certainly not forsake them against winter, our suspicions that those which visit this neigh- bourhood about Michaelmas are not English birds, but driven from the more northern parts of Europe by the frosts, are still more reasonable ; * This letter with the preceding one are as usual full of observation, and might have been written to any correspondent without the view of publication. The jackdaw is one of those familiar birds which accommodates its habits to circumstances. In Great Britain it may be said to be altogether in an artificial condition incidental to population and commerce, and the works of man form very convenient retreats to sleep or nestle in, which it would otherwise have had to discover in some natural locality. In an entirely natural state the rugged pfecipices and caves on the sea-coast, mountainous rocks abounding with holes and fissures and clothed with ivy, are the places resorted to, or in a woodland district an aged and hollow tree may be chosen. The selection of rabbit burrows is accidental, and they are used instead of natural or scraped holes, sometimes by a very miscellaneous assemblage; rabbits and jackdaws, sheldrakes and puffins are sometimes to be found in the same warren, and not very far from each other. t James, chap. hi. 7. 52 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. and it will be worth your pains to endeavour to trace from whence they come, and to inquire why they make so very short a stay. In your account of your error with regard to the two species of herons, you in^cidentally gave me great entertainment in your description of the heronry at Cressi Hall ; which is a curiosity I never could manage to see. Fourscore nests of such a bird on one tree is a rarity which I would ride half as many miles to have a sight of. Pray be sure to tell me in your next whose seat Cressi Hall is, and near what town it lies.* I have often thought that those vast extents of fens have never been sufficiently explored. If half a dozen gentlemen, furnished with a good strength of y^ater-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 quivering, and particularly this summer. It perches usually on a bare twig, with its head lower than its tail, in an attitude well expressed by your draughtsman in the folio British Zoology.” This bird is most punctual in beginning its song exactly at the close of day ; so exactly that I have known it strike up more than once or twice just at the report of the Portsmouth evening gun, which we can hear when the weather is still. It appears to me past all doubt that its notes are formed by organic impulse, by the powers of the parts of its windpipe, formed for sound, just as cats 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 Uttle straw edifice and began to chatter, and continued his note for many minutes ; and we were all struck with wonder to find that the organs of that little animal, when put in motion, gave a sensible vibration to the whole building ! This bird also sometimes makes a small squeak, repeated four or five times ; and I have observed that to happen when the cock has been pursuing the hen in a toying way through the boughs of a tree. It would not be at all strange if your bat, which you have procured, should prove a new one, sinoe five species have been found in a neighbouring kingdom. The great sort that I mentioned is certainly a non-descript ; I saw but one this summer, and that I had no opportunity of taking.f Your account of the Indian grass was entertaining. I am no angler myself; but inquiring of those that are, what they supposed that part of their tackle to be made of ? — they replied, Of the intestines of' a silkworm.” Though I must not pretend to great skill in entomology, yet I cannot say that I am ignorant of that kind of knowledge ; I may now and then perhaps be able to furnish you with a little information. * Cressi Hall is near Spalding, in Lincolnshire, t See Letters XXVI., XXXVI., and note. >"ATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. 53 The vast rains ceased with us much about the same time as with you, and since we have had delicate weather. Mr. Barker, who has measured the rain for more than thirty years, says, in a late letter, that, more has fallen this year than in any he ever attended to ; though from July 1763 to January 1764, more fell than in any seven months of this year. LETTEE XXJII. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Feh. 28^/i, 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 circumstance will prove anything 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 heronry consists of a whole grove of wood, or only of a few trees. It gave me satisfaction to find we accorded so well about the caprimulgus ; all I contended for was to prove that it often chatters sitting as well as flying ; and therefore the noise was voluntary, and from organic impulse, and not from the resistance of the air against the hollow of its mouth and throat. If ever I saw anything like actual migration, it was last Michaelmas Day. I was travelling, and out early in the morning ; at first there was a vast fog ; but, by the time that I was got seven or eight miles from home towards the coast, the sun broke out into a delicate warm day. We were then on a large heath or common, and I could discern, as the mist began to break away, great numbers of swallows {Jiirundines 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 that assert that the swallow kind disappear some and some gradually, as they come, for the bulk of them seem to withdraw at once ; only some stragglers stay behind a long while, and do never, there is the greatest reason to believe, leave this island. Swallows seem to lay themselves up, and to come forth in a warm day, as bats do continually of a warm evening, after they have disappeared for weeks. For a very respectable gentleman assured me that, as he was walking with some friends under Merton Wall on a remarkably hot noon, either in the last week in December or the first 54 NATUllAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 'V, week in J anuary, 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 delight, to observe with how much ardour and punctuality 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 certain to what regions they do migrate ; and are still farther embarrassed to find that some do not actually migrate at all. These reflections made so strong an impression on my 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. * This letter is a reply to some of Mr. Pennant’s inquiries, and is remarkable for the very dis-tinct observations made upon the swallows. In a small pamphlet printed at Rotherham in 1815, the author of which w'e never ascertained, there are some observations made that agi*ee with many of those recorded by Mr. White. These were also made by a clergyman, as it is told in his short preface, “to rescue a beautiful and instructive phenomenon from oblivion, and to render it subservient to the moral improvement of his numerous and highly respected charge. ” “ Early in the month of September, 1815, the swallows began to assemble in the neighbotirhood of Rotherham, at the vrillow ground near the glass-house on the banks, of the canal, preparatory to their migration to a warmer climate, and their numbers were daily augmented until they became a vast flock which no man could easily number. It was their manner while there, to rise from the willows in the morning a little before six o’clock, when their thick columns literally darkened the sky. In the evening, about five o’clock, they began to return to their station, and continued coming in from all quarters until nearly dark.” The year advanced, and “accordingly their mighty army broke up their encamp- ment, debouched from their retreat, and rising covered the heavens with their legions ; then directed by an unerring guide took their trackless way. On the day of their flight they left behind them about a hundred of their companions, after these a few stragglers only remained. These might be the sick or too young to attempt so great an expedition ; whether this was the fact or not they did not remain after the next day.” The common house swallow is seen every autumn to congregate in large bodies as above described. The willow aits in the Thames are very favourite resorts, and we have no doubt that similar localities will, in like manner, be taken advantage of. They also assemble on some bare tree, upon rails and house-tops, making excursions therefrom as if to exercise their young broods in flying, and at this autumnal period we have often seen them assemble and roost upon the alders fringing the side of a river. While at Malvern, some years since, in the month of September, the little white-rumped martin (I/, urhica) congregated in hundreds upon the roof, cornices, and window tops of Mr. Wilson’s large house there. This was continued daily until the great departure took place, and in twenty-four hours only a few stragglers remained of the large concourse. The balcony and windows beneath that part of the building where they generally assembled, were covered* with sjjecimens of the swallow fly (see woodcut, p. 116;. We have never seen, nor do we recollect it recorded, that swifts congregate in this manner before migration. NATURAL HISTORY OP SELBORNE. 55 LETTEE XXIV. TO THE SAME. Selborxe, May 29^^, 1769. Dear Sir, — The scarahceus 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 seacoast.* On the thirteenth of April I went to the sheep-down, where the ring-ousds have been observed to make their appearance at spring and fall, in their way perhaps to the north or south ; and was much pleased to see these birds about the usual spot. We shot a cock and a* hen ; they were plump and in high condition. The hen had but very small rudiments of eggs within her, * MelalonthafuUo^ Fabricius. Chafer or cock-chafer, but not the species that is so well known co schoolboys. This species is a rare British insect, very local in its distribution, being hitherto chiefly found in Kent ; it is remarkable for the large size and development of the antennae. These insects are almost all extremely destruc- tive, feeding voraciously on the leaves of shrubs and trees. The common cockchafer, sometimes called May hug (woodcut), often appears in immense numbers, and commits great havoc. On the continent they are even more destructive than in this country, and governments have directed their attention to the best mode of compassing their destruction. In the larva state they are vegetable eaters, feeding upon the roots of plants, while in the perfect or beetle state they attack the foliage. It is in this condition they are most easily destroyed ; being a large insect they can be collected by labourers or children, and in some parts they are so numerous that oil is extracted from them by boiling. There are several allusions to this insect in the ancient writers, and we are indebted to W. B. Macdonald of Rammerscales for selecting the following quotations — The is mentioned by Aristophanes, “ Clouds,” n. 761. Socrates loq . : — vvv olicy are too curious and extra- ordinary to be omitted. The seat of the Earl of Eglintoun, near Glasgow, is worthy of notice. The pine plantations of that nobleman are very grand and extensive indeed. I am, &c. LETTEE XLIIL TO THE SAME. A PAIR of honey-buzzards, Buteo opivorus, sive Vespivorm Eaii, 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 brougho down an egg, the only one in the nest, which had been sat on for some time, and contained the embryo of a young bird. The egg was smaller, and not so round as 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. Eay’s description of that species ; had a black cere, short thick legs, and a long tail. When on the wing this species may be easily distinguished from the common buzzard by its hawk-like appearance, 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 ducklings 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 black- * The honey-buzzard is a rare bird in Great Britain, and extends chiefly along the east coast to the south of Scotland, where we have known a few specimens to have been killed ; its manner of breeding and habits during that time have not again been observed. With the exception of what is stated above by Mr. White all the observations that have been made upon their food have tended to show that it was almost entirely insectivorous. One which was captured at Twizel, by Mr. Selby, was discovered by having scratched out the nesf of a wasp ( Vesjpa vulgaris), and cleaned the comb of the immature young and grubs. This bird was procured by setting traps around the plundered nest, and upon dissection afterwards no remains animals or birds were discovered, the contents of the stomach being entirely insects, and chiefly the remains of the contents of the wasp-comb. The vignette at the head of this chapter represents the honey-buzzard in a state of plumage which is sometimes met with ; the head and neck being yellowish white or cream colour. This we think is incidental to the young males. The specimen figured was taken in Northumberland some years since. NATUllAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE. sr bird, 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. LETTEE XLIV. TO THE SAME. Selboene, Nov. ZOth, 1780. Dear Sir, — Every incident that occasions a renewal of our corre- spondence will ever be pleasing and agreeable to me. As to the wild wood-pigeon, the (Enas, 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 (Enas 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 domes- ticated, and to make an 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 November perhaps to February, lives the same wild life with the ring-dove, Palum- bus torquatus ; fre- quents coppices and groves, supports itself chiefly by mast, and delights to roost in the tallest beeches. Could it be known in what manner stock-doves build, the doubt would be settled with me at once, provided they construct their nests on trees, like the ring-dove, as I much 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 correspondent determine the place of its nidification, whether 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. STOCK DOVE. * See Letter XXXIX,, and note. 88 NATURAL HISTORY OP SELBORNE. For my own part, I readily concur with you in supposing 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 character- istic of the species, would not, one should think, be totally lost by its being reclaimed ; but would often break out among its descendants. But what is worth an hundred arguments is, the instance you give in Sir Roger Mostyn’s house-doves in Caernarvonshire ; which, though tempted by plenty of food and gentle treatment, can never be prevailed on to inhabit their cote for any time ; but, as soon as they begin to breed, betake themselves to the fastnesses of Ormshead, and deposit their young in safety amidst the inaccessible caverns, and precipices of that stupendous promontory.* “Naturam expellas furca . . . tamen usque recurret. ” 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 extensive than at present, the number of wood-pigeons was astonishing ; that he has often killed near twenty in a day : and that with a long wild-fowl piece he has shot seven or eight at a time on the wing as they came wheeling over his head : he moreover adds, which I was not aware of, that often there were among them little parties of small blue doves, which he calls rockiers. The food of these number- less emigrants was beech-mast and some acorns ; and particularly barley, which they collected in the stubbles. But of late years, since the vast increase of turnips, that vegetable has furnished a great part of their support in hard weather ; and the holes they pick in these roots greatly damage the crop. From this food their flesh has contracted a rancidness which occasions them to be rejected by nicer judges of eating, who thought them before a delicate dish. They were shot not only as they were feeding in the fields, and especially in snowy weather, but also at the close of the evening, by men who lay in ambush among the woods and groves to kill them as they came in to roost.f These are the principal circumstances relating to this wonderful internal migration, which with us takes place towards the end of November, and ceases early in the spring. Last winter we had in Selborne high wood about an hundred of these doves ; but in former times the flocks were so vast, not only with us but all the district round, that on mornings and evenings they traversed the air, like rooks, in strings, reaching for a mile together. When they thus * It is the white-rumped pigeon, or rock dove, Columha livia, which is the original stock of our dove-cots, and the natural abodes of this species is caves and rocky precipices on the sea-coast. Although White remarks that the domestic pigeon never settles on trees, such is sometimes the case ; Mr. Eyton has observed this, and we have frequently seen it ; at the same time it is by no means the general habit. t “Some old sportsmen say that the main part of these flocks used to withdraw as soon as the heavy Christmas frosts were over.” NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 89 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 purpose to add, that I had a relation in this neighbourhood who made it a practice, for a time, whenever he could procure the eggs of a ring-dove, to place them under a pair of doves that were sitting in his own pigeon-house ; hoping thereby, if he could bring about a coalition, to enlarge his breed, and teach his own doves to beat out into the woods and to support themselves by mast : the plan was plausible, but something always interrupted the success; for though the birds were usually hatched, and sometimes grew to half their size, yet none ever arrived at maturity. I myself have seen these foundlings in their nest displaying a strange ferocity of nature, so as scarcely to bear to be looked at, and snapping with their bills by way of menace. In short, they always died, perhaps for want of proper sustenance : but the owner thought that by their fierce and wild demeanour they frighted their foster mothers, and so were starved. Yirgil, as a familiar occurrence, by way of simile, describes a dove haunting the cavern of a rock in such engaging numbers, that I cannot refrain from quoting the passage : and John Dryden has rendered it so happily in our language, that without farther excuse I shall add his translation also. “ Qualis speluncS, subitb 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 a dove her rocky hold forsakes, Rous’d, 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.” I am, &c. 90 NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. LETTEE L TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. Selborne, June 30^^, 1769. Dear Sir, — W hen I was in town last month I partly engaged that I would sometime do myself the honour to write to you on the subject of natural history ; and I am the more ready to fulfil my promise, because I see you are a gentleman of great candour, and one that will make allowances ; especially where the writer professes to be an out- door naturalist, one that takes his observations from the subject itself, and not from the writings of others.* The 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 willow- wren, 3. Swallow, 4. Martin, 5. Sand-martin, 6. Black-cap, 7. Nightingale, 8. Cuckoo, 9. Middle willow-wr( RAII NOMINA. JynXy sive Torguilla. j- Regulus non cristatuSy Hirundo domestica, Hirundo rusticay Hirundo rijgaria, Atricapilla, Luscinia, CuculuSy i, Regulus non cristatuSy 10. White-throat, 11. Red-start, 12. Stone-curlew, 13. Turtle-dove, Ficedulce (iffinis. Ruticilla. CEdicnemus. Turtur. { { USUALLY APPEARS ABOUT The middle of March : harsh note. March 23 : chirps till Septem- ber. April 13. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto : a sweet wild note. Beginning of April. Middle of April. Ditto : a sweet plaintive note. Ditto ; mean note ; sings on till September. Ditto : more agreeable song. End of March : loud nocturnal whistle. * These letters to the Hon. Daines Barrington, though arranged in the original and subsequent editions together, and as forming a second part, were mostly written contemporaneously, or at least were dated to appear so, with those of the first series addressed to Pennant. They are written in the same unpretending style, answering questions, asking others, and suggesting subjects as before. The matter of the letters is also somewhat similar, and repetitions sometimes occur, but other subjects are at the same time introduced, arising from the different bearing of Mr. Barrington’s pursuits. In the first letter lists of the summer and winter migratory birds are given. These lists in all probability might stand nearly the same at the present day, if we add to the first the third willow wren and greater pettychaps. W e have scarcely ever known a locality frequented by the black-cap where the latter was not also found. White gives the wheat-ear among his “ permanent residents ; ” in this he is probably right in regard to a few birds, but surely the large mass that arrive upon the downs will come and go as in other parts. We would make the same obser- vation of his “yellow wagtail, ” which we believe is everywhere in this country a true migrant. In the winter list the ring-ousel is introduced, but this bird is a summer migrant to the north, and appeared, as White has often observed, in spring and autumn, remaining only a few days at each period during its passage northward or southward. We are not sure which of the wild geese is meant by the “ Anserferus;” in all probability it is not so frequent or numerous now if it continues to visit the district at all, and this letter is just one of those which Professor Bell or some one resident can best correct and explain. NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE, 91 14. Grasshopper-lark, 15. Swift, 16. Less reed-sparrow, 17. Land-rail, 18. Largest willow- wren, 19. Goatsucker, or fern-owl, RAII NOMINA. Alauda minima locustcB voce. Hirundo ajpus. Passer arundinaceus minor. Ortygometra. '^Regulus non cristatus. ^Caprimulgus. 20. Fly-catcher, Sfoparola. USUALLY APPEARS ABOUT f Middle April : a small sibilous ( note, till the end of July. About April 27. 7 A sweet polyglot, but hurry- •< ing : it has the notes of many ( birds. A loud harsh note, crex, crex. ( Cantat voce striduld locustce ; •< end of April, on the tops of ( high beeches. ( Beginning of May: chatters by ( night with a singular noise. 7 May 12 : a very mute bird ; this •< jls the latest summer bird ( of passage. This assemblage of curious and amusing birds belongs to ten several genera of the Linnaean system ; and are all of the ordo of 'passeres save the Jynx and Cuculus, which are^^cce, and the Charadrius {(Edicnemus) and Rallus (Ortygometra), which are gralloe. These birds, as they stand numerically, belong to the following Linnaean genera : 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18, 3, 4, 5, 15, 8 , 12 , Jynx. Motacilla. Hirundo. Cuculus. Charadrius. 13. Cohmiba. 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 they retire : but the following soft-billed birds, though insect-eaters, stay with us the year round ; Redbreast, Wren, Hedge-sparrow, White-wagtail, Yellow-wagtail, Grey-wagtail, Wheat-ear, Whin-chat, Stone-chatter, Golden-crowned wren. RAII NOMINA. Ruhecula. Passer troglodytes. Curruca. Motacilla alba. Motacilla jiava. Motacilla cinerea. (Enanthe. (Enanthe secunda. (Enanthe tertia. Regulus cristatus. 7 These frequent houses; and •< haunt out-buildings in the ( winter: eat spiders. J Haunt sinks for crumbs and ( other sweepings. { These frequent shallow rivulets near the spring heads, where they never freeze: eat the aurelise of Phryganea. The smallest birds that walk, f Some of these are to be seen with us the winter through. 7 This is the smallest British bird ; •< haunts the tops of tall trees ; ( stays the winter through. A List of the Winter Birds op Passage round this neighbourhood, RANGED SOMEWHAT IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY APPEAR. 1. Ring-ousel, 2. Redwing, RAII NOMINA. Merula torquata. /This is a new migration, which J I have lately discovered about ] Michaelmas week, and again about the 14th of March. About old Michaelmas. Turdus iliacus. 92 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 3. Fieldfare, BAIT NOMINA. Turdus pilaris. 4. Royston-crow, Cornix cinerea. 5. Woodcock, Scolopax. 6. Snipe, Gallinago minor. 7. Jack-snipe, Gallinago minima. 8. Wood-pigeon, (Enas. 9. Wild-swan, Cygnusferus. 10. Wild-goose, Anser ferus. 11. Wild-duck, Anas torquata minor. 12. Pochard, Anas /era fusca. 13. Wigeon, Penelope. 14. Teal, breeds with us ] in Wolmer Forest, ) • Querquedula. 15. Cross-beak, Coccotliraustes. 16. Gross-bill, loxia,. 17. Silk-tail, Garrulus bohemicus. Though a percher by day, roosts on the ground. Most frequent on downs. Appears about old Michaelmas. Some snipes constantly breed with us. Seldom appears till late ; not in such plenty as formerly. On some large waters. On our lakes and streams. /These are only wanderers that J appear occasionally, and are I not observant of any regular migration. These birds, as they stand numerically, belong to the following Linnaean genera : 1, 2, 3, Turdus. 4, Corvus. 5, 6, 7, Scolopax. 8, Columba. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, Anas. 15, 16, Loxia. 17, Ampelis. Birds that sing in the night are but few. Nightingale, Woodlark, Less reed-sparrow, Luscinia. Alauda arbor ea. Passer arundinaceus minor. / “ In shadiest covert hid.” ( Milton. Suspended in mid air. [•Among reeds and willows. I should now proceed to such birds as continue to sing after Midsummer, but, as they are rather numerous, they would exceed the bounds of this paper : besides, as this is now the season for remarking on 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. I am, &c. LETTEE IL TO THE SAME. Selborne, Nov. ^nd, 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 passage which I have observed in this neigh- bourhood ; and also a list of the winter-birds of passage : I mentioned besides those soft-billed birds that stay with us the winter through NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, 93 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 continue 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, 2. Song-thrush, 3. Wren, 4. Redbreast, 5. Hedge-sparrow, 6. Yellowhammer, 7. Skylark, 8. Swallow, 9. Black -cap, 10. Titlark, 11. Blackbird, 12. Whitethroat, 13. Goldfinch, 14. Greenfinch, 15. Less reed sparrow, 16. Common linnet. Alauda arborea. Turdus simpliciter dictus. Passer troglodytes. Rubecula. Curruca. Pmberiza Jlava. Alauda vulgaris. Hirundo domestica. Atricapilla. Alauda pratorum. Merula vulgaris. Ficeduloe affinis. Carduelis. Chloris. Passer arundinaceus minor. Linaria vulgaris. { In January, and continues to sing through all the summer and autumn. { In February and on to August ; re-assume their song in au- tumn. f All the year, hard frost ex- 1 cepted. Ditto. Early in February to July 10th. f Early in February, and on ( through July to August 21. In February, and on to October. From April to September. Beginning of April to July 13. From middle of April to J uly 1 6. f Sometimes in February and March, and so on to J uly 23 ; ( re-assumes in autumn. In April, and on to July 23. f April, and through to Septem- \ ber 16. On to July and August 2. > May, on to beginning of July. { Breeds and whistles on till August ; re-assumes its note when they begin to congre- gate in October, and again early before the flocks sepa- rate. * This letter is also devoted to the song of birds, and records various pecu- liarities — The song or call of birds, like the seasonal changes in the plumage, is undoubtedly one of the accessaries to the season of incubation. Some utter notes and call each other at all seasons of the year, using them for the purpose of keeping together, or for an alarm upon the approach of danger ; but many species have cries peculiar to the love season which are used to summon the mate, or uttered as a cry of distress when the breeding grounds are invaded, or the young ones in danger. These latter calls are lost after this season is finished. The cuckoo loses his well- known note, which gradually becomes more inarticulate as the season advances ; the jarring saw-like note of the greater and cole titmice ceases after a few months, and the curlews in like manner give up their very peculiar breeding whistle ; the crakes and rails cease their call, or it becomes ho'arse and indistinct. The song of birds will commence earlier or later, according as the locality varies. As White remarks the missel-thrush is a very early songster, and in Scotland in a mild winter we have heard it in January. Those birds which breed more than once in the season continue the song longer, but as J uly approaches there is a very marked difference in the “language of the groves,” and as compared with a fine naorning ^n April or May they are silent. We think, however, that some of the birds included in the first list can scarcely be called “ singing birds, strictly. ” The yellow-hammer, and indeed all the buntings have a very monotonous note, remarkable only for its sameness and frequency of repetition, and one or two others have only a short varied call, but which is always repeated the same ; so that although White uses the expression of “ singing birds, strictly so called,” he meant the general love-note or call. To the birds that sing as they fly might have been 94 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. Birds that cease to be in full song, and are usually silent at or before Midsummer : RAII NOMINA. 17. Middle willow-wren, Regulus non cristatus. 18. Redstart, Ruticilla. 19. Chaffinch, Fringilla. 20. Nightingale, Luscinia. Middle of June : begins in April. Ditto ; begins in May. Beginning of J une : sings first in February. Middle of June: sings first in April. Birds that sing for a short time, and very early in the spring : 21. Missel-bird, Turdus viscivorus. 22. Great titmouse, or ox-eye. Fringillago. ^January 2, 1770, in February. Is called in Hampshire and Sussex the storm-cock, be- •< cause its song is supposed to forebode windy wet weather : it is the largest singing bird ^ we have. ' In February, March, April : re-assumes for a short time ' ^ in September. Birds that have somewhat of a note or song, and yet are hardly to be called singing birds : 23. Golden-crowned wren, 24. Marsh-titmouse, 25. Small willow-wren, 26. Largest ditto, 27. Grasshopper-lark, 28. Martin, 29. Bullfinch, 30. Bunting, Regulus cristatus. Parus palustris. Regulus non cristatus. Ditto. Alauda minima voce locustce. Hirundo agresiis. PyrrJiula. Emheriza alba. /Its note as minute as its per- J son; frequents the tops of I high oaks and firs : thesmall- est British bird. J Haunts great woods : two harsh ( sharp notes. I Sings in March, and on to Sep- ( tember. J Cantat voce striduld locustce; ( from end of April to August. { Chirps all night, from the mid- dle of April to the end of July. ( All the breeding time ; from ( May to September. (From the end of January to 1 July. All singing birds, and those that have any pretensions to song, not only in Britain, but perhaps the world through, come under the Linnaean ordo of Passeres. The above-mentioned birds, as they stand numerically, belong to the following Linnaean genera : 1, 7, 10, 27, Alauda. 2, 11, 21, Turdus. 3, 4, 5, 9, 12, 15, 17, ) 6, 30, Fmberiza. 8, 28, Hirundo. 13, 16, 19, Fringilla. 22, 24, Parus. 14, 29, Loxia. added the common bunting and green linnet, both of which have a peculiar breeding flight and song ; the first however is a very locally distributed species. The bird called tit-lark in this list seems from the note of its habits to be the tree- lark or pipit, Anthus arboreus. The true tit-lark or meadow-pipit, Anthus pratensiSy has also a descending flight, singing at the same time, and would be a visitant at least to the downs. The common winchat will rise from its perch on the top of some tall plant, and make a short musical excursion upwards. The blackbird’s call, from bush to bush, is rather an alarm note, than any part of its usual song. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 95 Birds that sing as they fly are but few : Skylark, Titlark, Woodlark, Blackbird, White-throat, Swallow, Wren, RAII NOMINA. Alauda vulgaris. Alauda pratorum,. Alauda arhorea. Merula. Ficedula affinis. Hirundo domestica. Passer troglodytes. Rising, suspended, and falling. In its descent; also sitting on trees, and walking on the ground. Suspended ; in hot summer nights all night long. Sometimes from bush to bush. Uses when singing on the wing odd jerks and gesticulations. In soft sunny weather. Sometimes from bush to bush. Birds that breed most early in these parts : Raven, Song-thrush, Blackbird, Rook, WoocRark, Ring-dove, Corvus. Turdus. Merula. Comix frugilega. Alauda arhorea. Palumhus torquatus. Hatches in February and March. In March. In March. Builds the beginning of March. Hatches in April. Lays the beginning of April. All birds that continue in full song till after Midsummer appear to me to breed more than once. Most kinds of birds seem to me to be wild and shy somewhat in proportion to their bulk ; I mean in this island, where they are much pursued and annoyed ; but in Ascension Island, and many other desolate places, mariners have found fowls so unacquainted with an human figure, that they would stand still to be taken ; as is the case with boobies, &c. As an example of what is advanced, I remark that the golden-crested wren (the smallest British bird) will stand uncon- cerned till you come within three or four yards of it, while the bustard {Otis), the largest British land fowl, does not care to admit a person within so many furlongs.* I am, &c. * Size has little to do with the familiarity of birds ; some are of a more wild and timorous disposition than others, but quiet and familiarity with objects is one, ignorance of objects which may annoy them, another cause. Birds know by memory the persons and objects that disturb them, and if frequently molested will soon become exceedingly shy. The wood-pigeon, naturally of a very shy disposition, if not disturbed about a garden or shrubbery, allows a very near approach. We have known the common thrush fed upon its nest. Game birds of all kinds are easily familiarised, and show no fear when they do not experience molestation. Sea fowl on islands seldom visited are more abundant during the breeding time, and are more careless of themselves and bold in protection of their young. There, unaccustomed to intrusion, they do not move out of the way of what they do not know to be danger. On the Bass rocks in the Frith of Forth Solan geese are, as it were, quite familiar ; they will attack a dog or strike at the foot held out to them, and specimens we procured some years since were taken off their nests by the bill. See also note to Letter XXXVIII., p. 79. 96 NATXJUAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. LETTER III. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Jan. \bth, 1770. Dear Sir, — It was no small matter of satisfaction to me to find that you were not displeased with my little methodus of birds. If there was any merit in the sketch, it must be owing to its punctuality. For many months I carried a list in my pocket of the birds that were to be remarked, and, as I rode or walked about my business, I noted each day the continuance or omission of each bird’s song ; so that I am as sure of the certainty of my facts as a man can be of any transaction whatsoever. I shall now proceed to answer the several queries which you put in your two obliging letters, in the best manner that I am able. Perhaps East wick, 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 continued to warble after the beginning of July. The titlark and yellowhammer breed late, the latter very late ; and therefore it is no wonder that they protract their song : for I lay it down as a maxim in ornithology, that as long as there is any incubation going on there is music. As to the redbreast and wren, it is well known to the most incurious observer that they whistle the year round, hard frost excepted ; especially the latter. It was not in my power to procure you a black-cap, or a less reed- sparrow, or sedge-bird, alive. As the first is undoubtedly, and the last, as far as I can yet see, a summer bird of passage, they would require more nice and curious management in a cage than I should be able to give them : they are both distinguished songsters. The note of the former has such a wild sweetness that it always brings to my mind those lines in a song in As You Like It.” “ And tune his merry note Unto the wild bird’s throat.” — Shakespeare. The latter has a surprising variety of notes resembling the song of several other birds ; but then it has also an hurrying manner, not at all to its advantage : it is notwithstanding a delicate polyglot. It is new to me that titlarks in cages sing in the night ; perhaps only caged birds do so. I once knew a tame redbreast in a cage that always sang as long as candles were in the room ; but in their wild state no one supposes they sing in the night. I should bealmost 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 otherwise with respect to the swallow tribe, which increases prodigiously as the summer advances : and I saw, at the time mentioned, many hundreds of young wag-tails on the banks of the Cherwell, which almost covered the meadows. If the matter appears as you say in the other species. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. Q7 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 wood- cocks and snipes ; but nothing ever occurred that helped to explain to me what their subsistence might be : all that I could ever find was a soft mucus, among which lay many pellucid small gravels. I am, &c. LETTEE lY. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Feb. 19th, 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 was so, and what reason there was for it. When I came to recollect and inquire, I could not find that any cuckoo had ever been seen in these parts, ex- cept in the nest of the wag- tail, the hedge-sparrow, the titlark, the white-throat, and the redbreast, all soft-billed insectivorous birds. The ex- cellent Mr. Willughby men- tions the nest of the Palumhus (ring-dove), and of the frin- gilla (chaffinch), birds that subsist on acorns and grains, and such hard food : but then he does not mention them as of his own know- ledge ; but says afterwards that he saw himself a wagtail feeding a cuckoo. It appears hardly possible that a soft-billed bird should subsist on the same food with the hard-billed : for the former have thin membranaceous stomachs suited to their soft food ; while the latter, the granivorous tribe, have strong muscular gizzards, which, like mills, grind, by the help of small gravels and pebbles, what is swallowed. This proceeding of the cuckoo, of dropping its eggs as it were by chance, is such a monstrous outrage on maternal affection, one of the first great dictates of nature ; and such a violence on instinct ; that, had it only been related of a bird in the Brazils, or Peru, it would never have merited our belief. But yet, should it farther appear that this simple bird, when divested of that natural (rropy)) that seems to raise the kind in general above them- selves, and inspire them with extraordinary degrees of cunning and address, may be still endued with a more enlarged faculty of discerning H CUCKOO. 98 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. what species are suitable and congenerous nursing-mothers for its dis- regarded eggs and young, and may deposit them only under their care, this would be adding wonder to wonder, and instancing, in a fresh manner, that the methods of Providence are not subjected to any mode or rule, but astonish us in new lights, and in various and changeable appearances.* What was said by a very ancient and sublime writer concerning the defect of natural affection in the ostrich, may be well applied to the bird we are talking of : She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers : “ Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.” + Query. Does each female cuckoo lay but one egg in a season, or does she drop several in different nests according as opportunity offers 1 I am, &c. LETTEE V. TO THE SAME. Selbohne, April 12th, 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 yellowhammer no doubt persists with more steadiness .than any othdr; but the woodlark, the wren, the redbreast, 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 regularity of the summer migrations, the blackcap will be here in two or three days. I wish it was in my power to procure you one of those songsters ; but I am no birdcatcher ; and so little used to birds in a cage, that I fear if I had one it would soon die for want of skill in feeding. Was your reed-sparrow, which you kept in a cage, the thick-billed ^ We do not know exactly the instinctive motive which influences the cuckoo in the deposition of its eggs. Locality in this may have its influence, and the cuckoos frequenting a woodland and cultivated district, may seek other fostermothers from those which visit a more open country. Upon the edges of cultivated grounds, bordering on a subalpine district where there is natural copse-wood ; and there is no locality more in favour with the cuckoo ; the nest of the titlark, Anthus pratensis, is that most frequently selected : that of the ring-dove, as quoted above, is a most unlikely resort to be chosen : an unerring instinct guides the parent ; the dissimi- larity of the egg would have been at once discovered, and the important fact of the intruder requiring to be the strongest, and to keep the nest for himself would in this case most probably be reversed. We have known the egg of the cuckoo to be deposited in the nest of the chafl&nch, to which Mr. White’s objection will not stand, for he had overlooked the fact that all the flnches, and some others, which are commonly called “hard-billed birds,” feed their young upon insects, cater- pillars, &c. ; and during^ summer are themselves most useful to the gardener to keep in check many of his most troublesome enemies. — See also White’s remarks the cuckoo, Letter VIJ. to Barrington, p. 103. f Job xxxix, 16, 17. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. ■99 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. 161* As to the matter of long-billed birds growing fatter in moderate frosts, I have no doubt within myself what should be the reason. The thriving at those times appears to me to arise altogether from the gentle check which the cold throws upon insensible perspiration. The case is just the same with blackbirds, &c . ; and farmers and warreners observe, the first, that their hogs fat more kindly at such times, and the latter that their rabbits are never in such good case as in a gentle frost. But when frosts are severe, and of long continuance, the case is soon altered; for then a want of food soon overbalances the repletion occasioned by a checked perspiration. I have observed, moreover, that some human constitutions are more inclined to plumpness in winter than in summer. When birds come to suffer by severe frost, I find that the first that fail and die are the redwing-fieldfares, and then the song- thrushes. You wonder, with good reason, that the hedge-sparrows, &c., can be induced at all to sit on the egg of the cuckoo without being scandalised at the vast disproportionate size of the supposititious egg ; f 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 was come down out of the ovary, and advanced to a good size, doubtless then she would that spring lay more than one.J I will endeavour to get a hen, and to 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 caprimulgus, or fern-owl ; you were, I find, acquainted with the bird before. * See Letter XXV. t By a wise provision, and to prevent the very circumstance which Mr. White here notices, we find the egg of the cuckoo scarcely larger than that of the common chaffinch. t The remarks of Mr. White are made in consequence of Mr. Barrington’s letters to him, the contents of which were embodied in an essay, published in his Mis- cellanies, in 1781, “ On the prevailing notions in regard to the Cuckoo,” in which he quotes a letter from Mr. White (Letter XXIV.). Barrington had imbibed some very erroneous notions himself, and combats the idea that the small birds, such as hedge-sparrows, &c., could hatch a cuckoo ; and also tries to produce evidence that the cuckoo is not a parasitic breeder. Professor Owen has remarked, “ I am not aware that more than one ovum is ever contained in the oviduct at one time, m any bird.” There is no reason for believing that the cuckoo does not, as other birds, deposit a certain number of eggs each season : so far as we know, there is nothing peculiar in its structure referrible to this, and its residence in the breeding localities is protracted much beyond the time required to deposit a single egg. 100 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. When we meet I shall be glad to have some conversation with yon concerning the proposal you make of my drawing up an account of the animals in this neighbourhood. Your partiality towards my small abilities persuades you^ I fear, that I am able to do more than is in my power : for it is no small undertaking for a man unsupported and alone to begin a natural history from his own autopsia ! Though there is endless room for observation in the field of nature, which is boundless, yet investigation (where a man endeavours to be sure of his facts) can make but slow progress ; and all that one could collect in many years would go into a very narrow compass. Some extracts from your ingenious “ Investigations of the Difference between the Present Temperature of the Air in Italy,” &c., have fallen in my way; and gave me great stisfaction : they have removed the objections that always arose in my mind whenever I came to the passages which you quote. Surely the judicious Yirgil, 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. LETTEE VI. TO THE SAME. Selborne, May 21si, 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 fiy-catcher. I well remember that after the very severe spring in the year 1739-40, summer birds of passage were very scarce. They come probably hither with a south-east wind, or when it blows between those points ; but in that unfavourable year the winds blowed the whole spring and summer through from the opposite quarters. And yet amidst all these disadvantages two swallows, as I mentioned in my last, appeared this year as early as the eleventh of April amidst frost and snow ; but they withdrew again for a time. I am not pleased to find that some people seem so little satisfied with Scopoli’s new publication ; there is room to expect great things from the hands of that man, who is a good naturalist : and one would think that an history of the birds of so distant and southern a region as Camiola would be new and interesting. I could wish to see that work, and hope to get it sent down. Dr. Scopoli is physician to the wretches that work in the quicksilver mines of that district.* When you talked of keeping a reed-sparrow, and giving it seeds, I could not help wondering ; because the reed-sparrow which I mentioned to you {Passer amndinaceus minor Raii) is a soft-billed bird ; and roost probably migrates hence before winter; whereas the bird See note, Letter XXXI. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 101 REED-BUNTING. you kept {Passer torquatus Paii) abides all the year, and is a thick- billed bird.* I question whether 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 pub- lished, p. 16.t I have somewhat to advance on the different manners in which different birds fly and walk ; but as this is a subject that I have not enough considered, and is of such a nature as not to be contained in a small space, I shall say nothing further about it at present.^ No doubt the reason why the sex of birds in their first plumage is so diflicult 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 distinction in many birds, these colours do not take place till sexual attachments begin to obtain. And the case is the same in quadrupeds ; among whom, in their younger days, the sexes differ but little : but, as they advance to maturity, horns and shaggy manes, beards and brawny necks, &c. &c., strongly discriminate the male from the female. We may instance still farther in our own species, where a beard and 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, Mirfe sagaces falleret hospites Discrimen obscumm, solutis Crinibus, ambiguoque vultu. ” Hor. Odes. II. od. 5 — 21, p. 131, orig. edit.§ * Emheriza schoeniclus, reed-bunting of British, ornithologists, t See Letter XXV. to Mr. Pennant. J See Letter XLII. to Mr. Barrington. § “Nor the Cnidian fair and young, Who the virgin quire among, Might deceive, in female guise. Stranger-guests, though wondrous wise ; With the difference between Sexes hardly to be seen. With his hair of flowing grace And his boyish, girlish face.” — R ev. Phil. Francis. There are somewhat similar passages in various Latin authors, viz., “ Beneath whose virgin locks, while flowing tears Bedew his cheek, a doubtful face appears.”— Juven. 102 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. LETTEE VIL TO THE SAME. Ringmer, near Lewes, Oct. Sth, 1770. Dear Sir, — I am glad to Rear that Kuckalm is to furnish you with the birds of Jamaica ; a sight of the hirundines of that hot and distant island would be a great entertainment to me.* The Anni of Scopoli are now in my possession ; and I have read the Annus Primus with satisfaction ; 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 naturalist may have never yet found their way. You have doubts, I know, w^hether this Ornithology is genuine, and really the work of Scopoli ; as to myself, I think I discover strong tokens of authenticity ; the style corresponds with that of his Entomology ; and his characters of his Ordines and Genera are many of them new, expressive, and masterly. He has ventured to alter some of the Linnaean genera with sufficient show of reason. It might perhaps be mere accident that you saw so many swifts and no swallows at Staines ; because, in my long observation of those birds, I never could discover the least degree of rivalry or hostility between the species. Ray remarks that birds of the gallince order, as cocks and hens, partridges, and pheasants, &c., are pulveratrices, such as dust them- selves, using that method of cleansing their feathers, and ridding themselves of their vermin. As far as I can observe, many birds that dust themselves never wash ; and I once thought that those birds that “ Of either sex, each various grace You might behold with joy, As well might seem the lovely face Boyish in girl, or girlish in a boy.” — O vid. “ While nature doubtful stands A male or female to compose. Beneath her forming hands Almost a girl, the beauteous boy arose.” — Auson. * T. Kuckalm is the author of a very good paper on ‘ ‘ The preservation of Dead Birds,” published in 1770, in Transactions of the Philosophical Society, LX,, p. 303. Abridgement, XIII., p. 50. The “hirundines” of Jamaica are only six or seven in number, their habits are very interesting, but scarcely bear upon those of any of our British species. Some are migratory there, retiring southward or tropically during the winter ; but a true swallow, allied to Hirundo fulva of North America, but thought by Mr. Gosse to be distinct, is not migratory, at least in whole, and may be seen during the entire year. It builds in caverns and over-hanging rocks, gregariously, and with pellets of mud. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 103 wash themselves would never dust ; but here I find myself mistaken ; for common house-sparrows are great pulveratrices, being frequently seen grovelling and wallowing in dusty roads ; and yet they are great washers. Does not the skylark dust ] * Query. Might not Mahomet and his followers take one method of purification from these pulveratrices ] because I find from travellers of credit, that if a strict Mussulman is journeying in a sandy desert where no water is to be found, at stated hours he strips ofi* 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 extendisse and was very fierce and pugnacious, pursuing my finger, as I teased it for many, feet from the nest, and sparring and bufietting with its wings like a game-cock. The dupe of a dam appeared at a distance, hovering about with meat in its mouth, and expressing the greatest solicitude. In July I saw several cuckoos skimming over a large pond ; and found, after some observation, that they were feeding on the Lihellulce, or dragon-flies ; some of which they caught as they settled on the weeds, and some as they were on the wing. Notwithstanding what Linnseus says, I cannot be induced to believe that they are birds of prey. This district afibrds some birds that are hardly ever heard of at Selborhe. In the first place considerable flocks of cross-beaks {Loxioe curvirostrce) have appeared this summer in the pine-groves belonging to this house ; the water- ousel is said to haunt the mouth of the Lewes river, near Newhaven ; and the Cornish chough builds, I know, all along the chalky cliffs of the Sussex shore. I was greatly pleased to see little parties of ring-ousels (my newly discovered migraters) scattered, at intervals, all along the Sussex downs, from Chichester 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 be 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 Brighthelm- stone. No doubt you are acquainted with the Sussex downs; the prospects and rides round Lewes are most lovely I 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 The skylark does dust. 104 NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE. crowding towards the coast in order for their departure : but it was very extraordinary that I never saw a redstart, 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, winchats, buntings, linnets, some few wheat-ears, titlarks, &c. Swallows and house-martins 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 now am visiting, retires under ground about the middle of JTovember, and comes forth again about the middle of April. When it first appears in the spring it discovers very little inclination towards 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, sowthistles, 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 ! LETTEE VIII. TO THE SAME. 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 migrations within this kingdom that want to be better understood : witness those vast flocks of hen chafQ.nches that appear with us in the winter without hardly any cocks among them. Eoyr was there a due proportion of each sex, it should 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 Fringillce ccdebes, for some good purposes, have a peculiar migration of their own in which the sexes part. Nor should it seem so wonderful that the intercourse of sexes in this species of bird should be interrupted in winter ; since in many animals, and particularly in bucks and does, the sexes herd separately, except at the season when commerce is necessary for the continuance of the breed. For this matter of the chafQnches see Fauna Suecica,” p. 58, and “ Systema Naturae,” p. 318. I see every winter vast flights of hen chaffinches, but none of cocks.* Your method of accounting for the periodical motions 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 * The words of Linnaeus in “Fauna Suecica” (edit. 1746, p. 76), are Femina migrat 'per hyeraes, mas permanet.*' In the “ Systema Naturae,” Femina sola migrat per Belgium in Italiam.** — See also, note. Letter XIII. to Pennant, p. 34. NATUllAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE. 105 with it, and that is love. But I cannot 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 district, having no inducement to go in quest of fresh-turned earth.”* ]N^ow if you mean that the business of congregating is quite at an end from the conclusion of wheat sowing to the season of barley and oats, it is not the case with us ; for larks and chaffinches, and particularly linnets, flock and congregate as much in the very dead of winter as when the husbandman 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 all always mentioned as rarities, and somewhat out of the common course of things ; but as to redwings and fieldfares, no sportsman 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 maintains 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 determines some species of birds with regard to their stay or departure. Fieldfares and redwings disappear sooner or later according as the warm weather comes on earlier or later. For I well remember, after that dreadful winter 1739 — 40, that cold north-east winds continued to blow on through April and May, and that these kind of birds (what few remained of them) did not depart as usual, but were seen lingering about till the beginning of June. The best authority that we can have for the nidification of the birds above-mentioned in any district, is the testimony of faunists that have written professedly the natural history of particular countries. Now as to the fieldfare, Linnasus, in his Fauna Suecica,” says of it, that maximis in arhorihus nidificat ; ” and of the redwing he says, in the same place, that nidificat in mediis arhusculis, sive sepihus : ova sex cceruleO’Viridia maculis nigris variis!' Hence we may be assured that fieldfares and redwings breed in Sweden. f Scopoli says, in his Annus * Mr. Barrington wrote a long essay “On the periodical appearing and disap- pearing of certain birds at different times of the year.” It is addressed as a letter to William Walton, M.D., and is published in his “Miscellanies,” p. 174. This letter argues against the periodical migration of birds. White’s instances are frequently quoted, and attempted to be disputed, and the above letter is evidently written in reply to many of the arguments which were advanced by Barrington. t Mr. Hewitson made an excursion to Norway, for the express purpose of procuring the eggs of some of our winter visitants, which were known to breed in Northern countries, for his beautiful “British Oology,” and thus describes the breeding place of the fieldfare. “We were soon delighted by the discovery of several of their nests, and were surprised to find them breeding in society. Their 106 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. Primus/’ of the woodcock, that nupta ad nos venit circdb cequinoctium vernale ; ” meaning in Tyrol, of which he is a native. And afterwards he adds nidificat in paludihus alpinis : ova ponit 3 — 5.” It does not appear from Kramer that woodcocks breed at all in Austria ; but he says, “ Avis hcec septentrionalium 'provinciarum cestivo tempore incola est ; uhi plerumque nidificat. Appropinquante hyeme australiores provincias petit ; Mnc circa plenilunium mensis Octohris plerumque Austriam transmigrat. Tunc rursus circa plenilunium potissimum mensis Martii per Austriam matrimonio juncta ad septentrionales provincias reditT Por the whole passage (which I have abridged) see Elenchus,” &c. p. 351. This seems to be a full proof of the migra- tion of woodcocks; though little is proved concerning the place of 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. LETTEE IX. TO THE SAME. Eyfield, near Andover, Feh. IWi, 1772. 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 ocular demonstration, for many w6eks 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 pendolos, 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 Bosphorus from Asia to Europe. Besides the above-men- tioned, he remarks that the procession is swelled by whole troops of eagles and vultures. nests were at various heights from the ground, from four to thirty or forty feet, or upwards, mixed with old ones of the preceding year ; they were for the most part placed against the trunk of the spruce fir, and resembled most nearly those of the ring-ousel.” NATUEAL HISTORY OF SELBOENE. 107 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 1 cannot help wondering why kites and hawks, and such hardy birds as are known to defy all the severity of England, and even of Sweden and all north Europe, should want to migrate from the south of Europe, and be dissatisfied with the 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 launching out and exposing itself to boundless seas, and that by crossing the water at Dover, and again at Gibraltar. And I with the more confidence advance this 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 crossing the Mediterranean; for when arrived at Gibraltar they do not . . . ‘ ‘ Rang’d 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 narrowest passage they can find. They usually slope across the bay to the south- west, and so pass over opposite to Tangier, which, it seems, is the narrowest space. In former letters we have considered whether it was probable that woodcocks in moonshiny nights cr6ss the German ocean from Scandinavia. As a proof that birds of less speed may pass that sea, considerable as it is, I shall relate the following incident, which, though mentioned to have happened so many years ago, was strictly matter of fact : — As some people were shooting in the parish of Trotton, in the county of Sussex, they killed a duck in that dreadful winter, 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 Trotton at that time has often told to a near relation of mine ; and, to the best of my remembrance, the collar was in the possession of the rector. At present I do not know anybody near the 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 was a sportsman, that there were times in which woodcocks were so sluggish and sleepy that they would drop again when flushed just before the spaniels, nay, just at the muzzle of a gun that had been fired at them ; whether this strange laziness was the effect of a recent fatiguing journey I shall not presume to say. ^ “I have read a like anecdote of a swan.” 108 NATURAL HISTORY OF SLLBORNE. Nightingales not only never reach Northumberland 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 ring -ousel for Mr. Tunstal during their autumnal visit; but I will endeavour to get him one when they call on us again in April. I am glad that you and that gentleman saw my Andalusian birds ; I hope they answered your expectation. Royston, or grey crows, are winter birds that come much about the same time with the woodcock ; they, like the fieldfare and redwing, have no apparent reason for migration ; for as they fare in the winter like their congeners, so might they in all appearance in the summer. Was not Tenant, when a boy, mistaken did he not find a missel-thrush’s nest, and take it for the nest of a fieldfare ] The stock-dove, or wood-pigeon, (Enas Raii, is the last winter bird of passage which appears with us ; it is not seen till towards the end of November : about twenty years ago they abounded in the district of Selborne ; and strings of them were seen morning and evening that reached a mile or more ; but since the beechen woods have been greatly thinned they are much decreased in number. The ring-dove, Palumbus 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 nightin- gales next spring. I am, &c. &c. LETTEE X. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Av^. 1st, 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. NATTJEAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 109 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 species, 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, the other in D sharp, who made a disagreeable concert : he after- wards 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. 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 Scandinavian winters : and much more the ordo of grallce, who, all to a bird, forsake the northern parts of Europe at the approach of winter. Orallce tanquam conjuratce unanimiter in fug am se conji- ciunt ; ne earum unicam quidem inter nos habitantem invenire possimus ; ut enim aestate in australibus degere nequeunt ob defectum lumbricorum, terramque siccam ; ita nec in frigidis ob eandem causamf says Ekmarck the Swede, in his ingenious little treatise called Migra- tiones Avium,” which by all means you ought to read while your thoughts run on the subject of migration. See “Amoenitates Academicae,” 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 grounds), must in winter forsake the more northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want of food. I am glad you are making inquiries from 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 synonyms : the reason is plain ; because all that may be done at home in a man’s study, but the investigation of the life and conversation of animals, is a concern of much more trouble and difficulty, and is not to be attained but by the active and inquisitive, and by those that reside much in the country. Foreign systematics 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. Kay, is the only describer that conveys some precise idea in every term or word, maintaining his superiority over his followers and imitators in spite of the advantage of fresh discoveries and modern information. 110 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 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. I am, &c. &c. LETTEE XL TO THE SAME.. Selborne, Feb. 1772. Dear Sir, — When I ride about in the winter, and see such prodigious flocks of various kinds of birds, I cannot help admiring at these con- gregations, 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 preserve individuals : whether either of these should seem to be the ruling passion, in the matter of congregating 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 degree of cold ; and a crowd may make each individual appear safer from the ravages of birds of prey and other dangers. If I admire when I see how much congenerous birds love to congre- gate, 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 upper mandible, have a more delicate feeling in their beaks than other NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. Ill 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 yelpings of jackalls. Lapwings and starlings some- times associate.* LETTER XIL TO THE SAME. March Wi, 1772. Dear Sir, — As a gentleman and myself were walking on the fourth of last N'ovember round the sea-banks at Rewhaven, 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 repeated 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 themselves up in holes and caverns ; and do, insect-like and bat-like, come forth at mild times, and then retire again to their latehrce. FTor make I the least doubt but that, if I lived at Newhaven, Seaford, Brighthelmstone, or any of those towns near the chalk cliflfs of the Sussex coast, by proper observations, I should see swallows stirring at periods of the winter, when the noons were soft and inviting, 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, that though some swallows did make their appearance about the usual time, viz., the thirteenth or fourteenth 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 XIIL TO THE SAME. A'pHl 12th, 1772. Dear Sir, — While I^was in Sussex last autumn my residence was at the , village near Lewes, from whence I had formerly the pleasure of writing to you. On the first of November I remarked that the old tortoise, formerly mentioned, began first to dig the ground in order to the forming its hybernaculum, which it had fixed on just beside a great tuft of hepaticas. It scrapes out the ground with its fore-feet, and throws it up over its back with its hind ; but the motion of its legs is ridiculously slow, little exceeding the hour-hand of a clock ; and suitable * In Holland lapwings and starlings associate in vast flocks, particularly after the season of incubation has passed, and the broods have joined together. In the open meadows that border the canals they may be seen together in thousands. 112 NATUHAL HISTORY OP SELBORNE. 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 till the thirteenth 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 earnest- ness 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 arbitrary 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 ! I am, &c. &c. P.S. In about three days after I left Sussex the tortoise retired into the ground under the hepatica.+ LETTEE XIY. TO THE SAME. Selborne, March 26«7i, 1773. Dear Sir, — The more I reflect on the erropy^ of animals, the more I am astonished at its effects. Nor is the violence of this 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, aud sharpens the sagacity of the brute creation. Thus an hen, just become ♦ Isaiah i. 3. t See Letter L. to Barrington. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 113 a mother, is no longer that placid bird she used to be, but with feathers standing an end, wings hovering, and clocking 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 hirundines 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 Gibraltar 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 kestril, 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 distance 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 conversation, yet you will, I trust, pardon the repetition for the sake of the illustration. The flycatcher 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 half fledged, the reflection of the wall became insupportable, and must inevitably have destroyed the tender young, had not aflection suggested an expedient, and prompted the parent-birds to hover over the nest all the hotter hours, while with wings expanded, and mouths gaping for breath, they screened ofi* the heat from their sufiering 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 in- stinct occurred to me one day as my people were pulling ofi* the lining of an hotbed, in order SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. Muscicapa grisola. 1 lU NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 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 difdculty 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 ! To these instances of tender attachment, many more of which might be daily discovered by those that are studious of nature, may be opposed that rage of affection, that monstrous perversion of the a-ropy^, 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, 1 am not so much amazed; since reason perverted, and the bad passions let loose, ar^ 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 philoso- phers than myself to determine. I am, &c. LETTEE XV. TO THE SAME. Selborne, July Sth^ 1773. Dear Sir, — Some young men went down lately to a pond on the verge of Wolmer Forest to hunt flappers, or young wild-ducks, many of which they caught, and, among the rest, some very minute yet well- fledged wild-fowls alive, which upon examination I found to be teals. I did not know till then that teals ever bred in the south of England, and was much pleased with the discovery : this I look upon as a great stroke in natural history. We have had, ever since I can remember, a pair of white owls that constantly breed under the eaves of this church. As I have paid good attention to the manner of life of these birds during their season of breeding, which lasts the summer through, the following remarks may not perhaps be unacceptable : — About an hour before sunset (for then the mice begin to run) they sally forth in quest of prey, and hunt all round the hedges of meadows and small enclosures for them, which seem to be their only food. In this irregular country we can stand on an eminence and see them beat the fields over like a setting-dog, and often drop down in the grass or corn. I have minuted these birds with my watch for an hour together, and have found that they return to their nest, the one or the other of them, about once in five minutes ; reflecting at the same time on the adroitness that every animal is possessed of as far as regards the well-being of itself and offspring. But a piece of address, which they show when they NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 115 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 their feet may be at liberty to take hold of the plate on the wall as they are rising under the eaves. White owls seem not (but in this I am not positive) to hoot at all ; all that clamorous hooting appears to me to come from the wood kinds. The white owl does indeed snore and hiss in a tremendous 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 Buperstitiously 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 improper to mention what I was told by a gentleman of the county of Wilts. As they were grubbing a vast hollow pollard-ash that had been the 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 substance. When brown owls hoot their throats swell as big as an hen’s egg. I have known an owl of this species live a full year without any water. Perhaps the case may be 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 com- mand the smallest degree of sound or noise. I am, &c. [It will be proper to premise here that the sixteenth, eighteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first letters have been published already in the Philosophical Transactions ; ” but as nicer observation has furnished * There is perhaps not a more beautiful instance of the evidence of design, than that exhibited in the whole structure of an owl ; and as a part of it the wing, which is constructed for a light, buoyant, and noiseless flight. The feathers are altogether soft and downy. They have the webs with the plumules disunited at the tips, and either remarkably pliable, or separated like the teeth of a saw, allowing a free passage to the air; or they possess a pliability to yield to its pressure, and thus give a light or sailing motion and a noiseless flight. I 2 116 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. several corrections and additions, it is hoped that the republication of them will not give offence ; especially as these sheets would be very imperfect without them, and as they will be new to many readers who had no opportunity of seeing them when they made their first appearance.] The hirundines are a most inoffensive, harmless, entertaining, social, and useful tribe of birds ; they touch no fruit in our gardens ; delight, all except one species, in attaching themselves to our houses ; amuse us with their migrations, songs, and marvellous agility; and clear our outlets from the annoyances of gnats and other troublesome insects. Some districts in the south seas, near Guiaquil,* are desolated, it seems, by the infinite swarms of venomous mosquitoes, which fill the air, and render those coasts insupportable. It would be worth inquiring whether any species of hirundines is found in those regions. Whoever contemplates the myriads of insects that sport in the sun-beams of a summer evening in this country, will soon be convinced to what a degree our atmosphere would be choked with them was it not for the friendly interposition of the swallow tribe. “ Many species of birds have their peculiar lice ; f 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 hippohoscce hirundinis, with narrow subulated wings, abounding in every nest ; and are hatched by the warmth of the bird’s own body during incuba- tion, 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 pupce, ■ 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 bla^k shining cases or skins of the pupce of these insects ; but for other particulars, too long for this place, we refer the reader to ^ L’Histoire dTnsectes ’ of that admirable entomologist. Tom. iv., pi. ii.” * “ See Ulloa’s Travels.” t Or Nirmi, now fully described in the ‘ ‘ Monographia Anoplurorum Britannise, ’ by Henry Denny ; who has also in readiness for publication materials sufficient for a volume upon the parasites of exotic species, as well as on those which infect many of the foreign mammalia. This volume would be of great interest, and only requires sufficient mcouragement to be brought out. 1 . HIPPOBOSCA HIRUNDINIS. 2 . NIRMI. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 117 LETTEE XVI. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Nov. 2Qth, 1773. Dear Sir, — In obedience to your injunctions I sit down to give you some account of the house-martin, or martlet ; 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 16th of April ; usually some few days later than i^he swallow. For some time after they appear the hirundines in general pay no attention to the business of nidification, but play and sport about, either to recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate at all, or else that their blood may recover its true tone and texture after it has been so long benumbed by the severities of winter. About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, the martin begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion for its family. The crust or shell of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought together with little bits of broken straws to render it tough and tenacious. As this bird often builds against a perpendicular wall without any projecting ledge under, it requires its utmost efforts to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it may safely carry the superstructure. On this occasion the bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a fulcrum ; and thus steadied, it works and plasters the materials into the face of the brick or stone. But then, that this work may not, while it is soft and green, pull itself down by its own weight, the provident architect has prudence and for- bearance 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 sufl5.cient time to dry and harden. About half an inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus careful workmen, when they build mud- walls (informed at first perhaps by this little bird), raise but a moderate layer at a time, and then desist, lest the work should become top-heavy, and so be ruined by its own weight. By this method in about ten or twelve days is formed an hemispheric nest with a small aperture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm ; and perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. But then nothing is more common than for the house-sparrow, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it as its own, to eject the owner, and to line it after its own manner. After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as Nature seldom works in vain, martins will breed on for several years together in the 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. 118 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 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 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, carry out what comes away from their young. Was it not for this affectionate cleanliness the nestlings would soon be burnt up, and destroyed in so deep and hollow a nest, by their own caustic excrement. In the quadruped creation the same neat precaution is made use of ; particularly among dogs and cats, where the dams lick away what proceeds from their young. But in birds there seems to be a particular pTovision, that the dung of nestlings is inveloped in a tough kind of jelly, and therefore is the easier conveyed oflf 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 7]\iKia, or full growth, they soon become impatient of confinement, and sit all day with their heads out at the orifice, where the dams, by clinging to the nest, supply them with food from morning to night. For a time the young are fed on the wing by their parents ; but the feat is done by so quick and almost imperceptible a flight that a person must have attended very exactly to their motions before he would be able to perceive it. As soon as the young are able to shift for themselves, the dams immediately turn their thoughts to the business of a second brood; while the first flight, shaken ofif and rejected by their nurses, congregate in great flocks, and are the birds that are seen clustering and hovering on sunny mornings and evenings round towers and steeples, and on the roofs of churches and houses. These congregatings usually begin to take place about the first week in August ; and therefore we may conclude 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 approaching the eaves of buildings, and playing about before them, make people think that several old ones attend one nest. They are often capricious in fixing on a nesting- place, beginning many edifices, and leaving them unfinished ; but when once a nest is completed in a sheltered place, it serves for several seasons. Those which breed in a ready finished house get the start in hatching of those that build new by ten days or a fortnight. These industrious artificers are at their labours in the long days before four in * Martins return to tlie same spot, or some corner of a window ; this has been ascertained by direct experiment ; but the nest, the structure of clay, is generally, if not always, rebuilt; and the clay, or sometimes almost sand, is rendered adhesive by the saliva, or a secretion for the purpose. In their natural habitats the nests are placed together frequently in contact, generally on the surface of some overhanging cliff. We have seen from fifty to one hundred nests thus placed. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 119 the morning. When they fix their materials they plaster them on with their chins, moving their heads with a quick vibratory motion. They dip and wash as they fly sometimes in very hot weather, but not so frequently as swallows. It has been observed that martins usually build to a north-east or north-west aspect, that the heat of the sun may not crack and destroy their nests ; but instances are also remembered where they bred for many years in vast abundance in a hot stifled inn- yard against a wall facing to the south. Birds in general are wise in their choice of situation ; but in this neighbourhood every summer is seen a strong proof to the contrary at an house without eaves in an exposed district, where some martins build year by year in the corners of the windows. But, as the corners of these windows (which face to the south-east and south-west) are too shallow, the nests are washed down every hard rain ; and yet these birds drudge on to no purpose from summer to summer, without changing their aspect or house. It is a piteous sight to see them labouring when half their nest is washed away and bringing dirt .... generis lajpsi sarcire rmnas!' Thus is instinct a most wonderful unequal faculty ; in some instances so much above reason, in other respects so far below it ! Martins love to frequent towns, especially if there are great lakes and rivers at hand ; nay they even affect the close air of London. And I have not only seen them nesting in the Borough, but even in the Strand and Fleet 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 long together over the surface of the ground or water. They do not wander far for food, but affect sheltered districts, over some lake, or under some hanging wood, or in some hollow vale, especially in windy weather. They breed the latest of all the swallow kind : in 1772 they had nestlings on to October 21st, and are never without unfledged young as late as Michaelmas. As the summer declines the congregating flocks increase in numbers daily by the constant accession of the second broods \ till at last they swarm in myriads upon myriads round the villages on the Thames, darkening the face of the sky as they frequent the aits of that river, where they roost. They retire, the bulk of them I mean, in vast flocks together about the beginning of October ; but have appeared of late years in a considerable flight in this neighbourhood, for one day or two, as late as November the 3rd and 6th, after they were supposed to have been gone for more than a fortnight. They therefore withdraw with us the latest of any species. Unless these birds are very short-lived indeed, or unless they do not return to the district where they are bred, they must undergo vast devastations somehow, and somewhere ; for the birds that return yearly bear no manner of proportion to the birds that retire. House-martins are distinguished from their congeners by having their 120 NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE. legs covered with soft downy feathers down to their toes.* They are no songsters ; but twitter in a pretty inward soft manner in their nests. During the time of breeding they are often greatly molested with fleas. I am, &c. LETTEE XVII. TO THE SAME. Kingmer, near Lewes, Dec. Wi, 1773. Dear Sir, — I received your last favour just as I was setting out for this place ; and am pleased to find that my monography met with your approbation. My remarks are the result of many years observation ; and are I trust true in the whole, though I do not pretend to say that they are perfectly void of mistake, or that a more nice observer might not make many additions, since subjects of this kind are inexhaustible. If you think my letter worthy the notice of your respectable society, you are at liberty to lay it before them ; and they will consider it, I hope, as it was intended, as an humble attempt to promote a more minute inquiry into natural history ; into the life and conversation of animals. Perhaps, hereafter, I may be induced to take the house- swallow under consideration ; and from that proceed to the rest of the British hirundines. 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 wild, or weald, on one hand, and the broad downs and sea on the other. Mr. Eay used to visit a family + just at the foot of these hills, and was so ravished with the prospect from Plumpton Plain, near Lewes, that he mentions those scapes in his Wisdom of God in the Works of the Creation ” with the utmost satis- faction, and thinks them equal to anything he had seen in the finest parts of Europe. For my own part, I think there is somewhat peculiarly sweet and amusing in the shapely figured aspect of chalk-hills in 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 protuberances, their fluted sides, * And a separate genus has been made for it in consequence, which is adopted by some ornithologists. t Mr. Oourthope of Danny. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 121 and regular hollows and slopes, that carry at once the air of vegetative dilation and expansion Or was there ever a time when these immense masses of calcareous matter were thrown into fermentation by some adventitious moisture ; 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 'I 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 becomel hornless, or as they call them, poll-sheep ; and have, moreover, black faces with a white tuft of wool on their foreheads, and speckled and spotted legs, so that you would think that the flocks of Laban were pasturing on one side of the stream, and the variegated breed of his son-in-law Jacob were cantoned along on the other. And this diversity holds good 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 Chichester 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 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 notes, 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 supposed, in such troops, from year to year to dodge and elude the eyes of the curious and inquisitive, which from day to day discern the other small birds that are known to abide our winters. But, notwithstanding all my care, I saw nothing like a summer bird of passage ; and, what is more strange not one wheat-ear,* though they abound so in the autumn as to be a cohsider- * See Letter XXXIX to Pennant, p 80 ; and note. Eighty-four dozen are said to have been taken in a single day ; and Pennant states, that about Eastbourne one thousand eight hundred and forty dozen were taken annually. 122 NATUEAL HISTOEY OE SELBOENE. able 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 shepherds tell me that some few of these birds appear on the downs in March, and then withdraw to breed probably in warrens and stone-quarries ; now and then a nest is ploughed up in a fallow on the downs under a furrow, but it is thought a rarity. At the time of wheat-harvest they begin to be taken in great numbers ; are sent for sale in vast quantities to Brightelm- stone and Tunbridge ; and appear at the tables of all the gentry that entertain with any degree of elegance. About Michaelmas they retire and are seen no more till March. Though these birds are, when in season, in great plenty on the south downs round Lewes, yet at East Bourn, 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 pro- gressive succession. It does not appear that any wheat-ears are taken to the westward of Houghton Bridge, which stands on the river A run. I did not fail to look particularly after my new migration of ring- ousels ; 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 cross-bills comes to the pine-groves about this house, but never makes any long stay. The old tortoise, that I have mentioned in a former letter, still con- tinues in this garden ; and retired under ground about the twentieth of November, and came out again for one day on the thirtieth : it lies now buried in a wet swampy border under a wall facing to the south, and is enveloped at present in mud and mire ! Here is a large rookery round this house, the inhabitants of which seem to get their livelihood very easily ; for they spend the greatest part of the day on their nest-trees when the weather is mild. These rooks retire every evening all the winter from this rookery, where they only call by the way, as they are going to roost in deep woods : at the dawn of day they always revisit their nest-trees, and are preceded a few minutes by a flight of daws, that act, as it were, as their harbingers. I am, &c. LETTEE XVIII. TO THE SAME. ^ Selborne, Jan. 29fh, 1774. Dear Sir, — The house-swallow, or chimney-swallow, is undoubtedly the first comer of all the British hirundines ; and appears in general on or about the thirteenth of April, as I have remarked from many NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 123 years observation.* Not but now and then a straggler is seen much earlier : and, in particular, when I was a boy I observed a swallow for a whole day together on a sunny warm Shrove Tuesday ; which day could not fall out later than the middle of March, and often happened early in February. It is worth remarking that these birds are seen first about lakes and mill-ponds ; and it is also very particular, that if these early visitors happen to find frost and snow, as was the case of the two dreadful springs of 1770 and 1771, they immediately withdraw for a time. A circumstance this much more in favour of hiding than migration ; since it is much more probable that a bird should retire to its hyberna- culum just at hand, than return for a week or two to warmer latitudes. The swallow, though called the chimney-swallow, by no means builds altogether in chimneys, but often within barns and out-houses against the rafters ; and so she did in Yirgil’s time : . . . . “Antb Garrula quam tignis nidos suspendat himndo,” In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called ladu swala, the barn swallow. Besides, in the warmer parts of Europe there are no chimneys to houses, except they are English-built : in these countries she constructs her nest in porches, and gateways, and galleries, and open halls. Here and there a bird may affect some odd, peculiar place ; as we have known a swallow build down the shaft of an old well, through which chalk had been formerly drawn up for the purpose of manure : but in general with us this hirundo breeds in chimneys ; and loves to haunt those stacks where there is a constant fire, no doubt 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 degree 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 feathers, which are often collected as they float in the air. Wonderful is the address which this adroit bird shows all day long in ascending and descending with security through so narrow a pass. When hovering over the mouth of the funnel, the vibrations of her wings acting on the confined air occasion a rumbling like thunder. It is not improbable that the dam submits to this inconvenient situation so low in the shaft, in order to secure her broods from rapacious birds, * Hirundo riparia, or bank-swallow, we have for many years observed to precede the chimney-swallow by from seven to ten days. The breeding places of the chimney swallow mentioned afterwards are all artificial, and of these the rafters of outhouses are the most frequent. We are not acquainted with any natural breeding-place of this species, it is most probably in caverns or cleft rocks. 124 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 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 intro- duced 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 flyers, but are still unable to take their own food ; therefore they play about near the place where the dams are hawking for flies ; and, when a mouthful is collected, at a certain signal given, the dam and the nestling advance, rising towards each other, and meeting at an angle ; the young one all the while uttering such a little quick note of gratitude and complacency, that a person must have paid very little regard to the wonders of Nature that has not often remarked this feat. The dam betakes herself immediately to the business of a second brood as soon as she is disengaged from her first ; which at once associ- ates with the first broods of house-martins ; and with them congregates, clustering on sunny roofs, towers, and trees. This hirundo brings out her second brood towards the middle and end of August. All the summer long is the swallow a most instructive pattern of unwearied industry and affection ; for, from morning to night, while there is a family to be supported, she spends the whole day in skimming close to the ground, and exerting the most sudden turns and quick evolutions. Avenues, and long walks under hedges, and pasture-fields, and mown meadows where cattle graze, are her delight, especially if there are trees interspersed ; because in such spots insects most abound. When a fly is taken a smart snap from her bill is heard, resembling the noise at the shutting of a watch-case ; but the motion of the mandibles are too quick for the eye. The swallow, probably the male bird, is the excuhitor to house-martins, and other little birds, announcing the approach of birds of prey. For as soon as a hawk appears, with a shrill alarming note he calls all the swallows and martins about him ; who pursue in a body, and buffet and strike their enemy till they have driven him from the village, darting down from above on his back, and rising in a perpendicular line in perfect security. This bird also will sound the alarm, and strike at cats when they climb on the roofs of houses, or otherwise approach the nests. Each species of hirundo drinks as it flies along, sipping the surface of the water ; but the swallow alone, in general, washes 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 flyer, ranging to distant downs and commons even in windy weather, which the other species seem much to dislike ; nay, even frequenting exposed sea-port towns, and making little excursions NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 125 over the salt water. Horsemen on wide downs are often closely attended by a little party of swallows for miles together, which plays before and behind them, sweeping around them, and collecting all the sculking insects that are roused by the trampling of the horses’ feet : when the wind blows hard, without this expedient, they are often forced to settle to pick up their lurking prey. This species feeds much on little Goleojptera, 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 chace, 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 discerning crropy^ of the swallow, I shall add, for your farther amusement, an anecdote or two not much in favour of her sagacity : — A certain swallow built for two years together on the handles of a pair of garden-shears, that were stuck up against the boards in an out- house, and therefore must have her nest spoiled whenever that imple- ment was wanted : and, what is stranger still, 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 undis- tinguishing, limited faculty ; and blind to every circumstance that does not immediately respect self-preservation, or lead at once to the propagation or support of their species. I am, with all respect, &c. &c. * Sir Ashton Lever’s “Musseum.” 126 NATCllAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. LETTEE XIX. TO THE SAME. Selboene, Feb. lith^ 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. As to the quotations, it is difficult to say precisely which species of hirundo Yirgil might intend in the lines in question, since the ancients did not attend to specific differences like modern naturalists : yet somewhat may be gathered, enough to incline me to suppose that in the two passages quoted the poet had his eye on the swallow. In the first place the epithet garrula suits the swallow well, who is a great songster, and not the martin, 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 frequentl}^ 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. [N'or 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 JEneas. The verb sonat also seems to imply a bird that is somewhat loquacious.* We have had a very wet autumn and winter, so as to raise the springs to a pitch beyond anything since 1764 ; which was a remark- able year for floods and high waters. The land-springs which we call lavants, break out much on the downs of Sussex, Hampshire and Wiltshire. The country people say when the lavants rise corn will always be dear ; meaning that when the earth is so glutted with water as to send forth springs on the downs and uplands, that the corn-vales must be drowned ; and so it has proved for these ten or eleven years * “ 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 " , Let. XIX., p. 173 orig. edit. “ As the black swallow near the palace plies : ^ O’er empty courts, and under arches flies ; Now hawks aloft, now skims along the flood. To furnish her loquacious nests with food.” Dryd. Virg. ^n. xii. line 691. NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE. 127 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 combinations, tend to inflame and mislead ; since we must not expect plenty till Providence sends us more favourable seasons. The wheat of last year, all round this district, and in the county of Eutland, and elsewhere, yields remarkably bad ; and our wheat on the ground, by the continual late sudden vicissitudes from fierce frost to pouring rains, looks poorly ; and the turnips rot very fast. I am, &c. LETTEE XX. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Feb. 26th, 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 esculenta.* 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 re- citing the circum- stances attending the life and conver- sation of this little bird, since it is fera naturd, at least in this part of the king- dom, disclaiming all domestic attach- ments, and haunt- ing 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 lakes of Woolmer forest, several colonies of these birds ; and yet they are never * The H. esculenta is very small in body, but has a large extent of wing ; it belongs more properly to the group of swifts. There are one or two species smaller even than that mentioned by Brisson. The flea of the sand-martin, mentioned next page, is not the same as the bed- flea, but is the Ceratophyllus bifaciatus of Curtis. ESCULENT SWALLOW. 128 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. seen in the village ; nor do they at all frequent the cottages that are scattered about in that wild district. The only instance 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 a 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 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 terebrates 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, consisting of fine grasses and feathers, usually goose-feathers, very inartificially laid together. Perseverance will accomplish anything ; 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 different depths are left unfinished at the end of summer. To imagine that these beginnings were inten- tionally made in order to be in the greater forwardness for next spring is allowing perhaps too much foresight and rerum 'prudentia to a simple bird. May not the cause of these latebrce 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 1 Or may they not in other places fall in with a soil as much too loose and mouldering, liable to flounder, and threatening to overwhelm them and their labours 1 One thing is remarkable — that, after some years, the old holes are orsaken 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 irritans), swarming at the mouths of these holes, like bees on the stools of their hives. GREAT BAT. HONEY-BUZZARD. * 1 ^ % r 4 UBRARY ,0F THE UHlVEftStTY 8f IIUN0I8 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 129 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 expected ; 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 yo^ng 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 appear much about the time, or rather somewhat earlier than those of the swallow. The nestlings are supported 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 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 enclosures, 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 approaches their nests. They seem not to be of a sociable 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 in 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 peculiar sort of insects which furnish their food. Hence it would be worth inquiry to examine what particular genus of insects afibrds 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 Saint George’s 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 scafibld 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 diminutiveness of their size, and in their colour, which is what is usually called a mouse- K 130 I^ATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. colour. Near Yalencia, 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, Pajpilion de Montagna. LETTEE XXL TO THE SAME. Selborne, Sept. 1774. Dear Sir. — As the swift or black-martin is the largest of the British hirundineSj so it is undoubtedly the latest comer. For I remember but one instance of its appearing 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 tlie 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 cannot be so narrowly watched as those species that build more openly ; but, from what I could ever observe, they begin nesting about the middle of May ; and I have remarked, from eggs taken, that they have sat hard by the ninth 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 remember but one instance where they breed out of buildings, and that is in the sides of a deep chalk-pit near the town of 0 diham, in this county, where we have seen many pairsentering the crevices, and skimming and squeaking round the precipices. * The swift collects materials for its nest same as the swallows ; it is, however, a very simple structure, and the opening to it is often so narrow that it is an exertion for the parent bird to get in. White, towards the conclusion of this letter, seems to be aware of only another swift — the white-bellied; but there are many now known, and as proposed in the same paragraph we allude to, the last upon p. 133, the genus Cypselus has been formed, and is universally recognised for them. The description of the swift in this letter is altogether excellent, and alone would have shown Mr. White to have been a most close and accurate observer. The white-bellied swift has been taken in Great Britain. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 131 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 ; especially 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 supposition, 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 different 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, was 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. As the swift eats, drinks, collects materials for its nest, and, as it seems, propagates on the wing, it appears 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 thundry weather, when it expresses great alacrity, and calls forth all its powers. In hot mornings several, getting together in little parties, dash round the steeples and churches, squeaking as they go in a very clamorous manner ; these, by nice observers, are supposed to be males serenading their sitting hens ; and not without reason, since they seldom squeak till they come close to the walls or eaves, 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 district than the other species ; a proof that gnats and other insects do also abound to a considerable height 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 pro- portion than those of almost any other bird. When they mute, or case K 2 132 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. themselves in flight, they raise their wings, and make them meet over their hacks. At some certain times in the summer I had remarked 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 'phryganecB, ephemerm, and lihellulcB (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 perchers, 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 30th of last June, I untiled the eaves of a house where many pairs build, and found in each nest only two squab, naked on the 8th of July I repeated the same inquiry, and found that 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 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 chi the same occasion. They are out all day long in 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 withdraw, and are scarce ever seen. There is a circumstance respecting the colour of swifts, which seems not to be unworthy of 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 before 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 perpetual summer, why do they not return bleached 1 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. NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. 133 We may here remark, that, as swifts breed 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 withdraws by the 20th, while their congeners, all of them, stay till the beginning of October ; many of them all through that month, and some occa- sionally 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 most southerly parts of Andalusia, where they can be in no ways influenced by any defect of heat; or, as one might suppose, failure of food. Are they regulated in their motions with us by a defect of food, or by a propensity to moulting, or by a disposition to rest after so rapid a life, or by what 1 This is one of those incidents in natural history that not only baffles our searches, but almost eludes our guesses ! These hirundines never perch on trees or roofs, and so never con- gregate 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 hippohoscce 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. They never can settle on the ground but through accident ; 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 WHITE-BELLIED SWIFT. 134 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. hirundo melba, or great white-bellied swift of Gibraltar, excepted ; for it is so disposed as to carry omnes quatuor digitos anticos ” — all its four toes forward ; besides, the least toe, which should be the back toe, consists of one bone alone, and the other three only of two apiece, — a construction most rare and peculiar, but nicely adapted to the purposes in which their feet are employed. This, and some peculiarities attending the nostrils and under mandible, have induced a discerning * 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 perpetual rings or circles that it takes round the scene of its nidification. Swifts feed on coleoptera, or small beetles with hard cases over their wings, as well as on the softer insects ; but it does not appear how they can procure gravel to grind their food, as swallows do, since they never settle on the ground. Young ones, over-run with hippohoscce, 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 sometimes 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 crropyr] 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 contem- plated their naked bodies, their unwieldly 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 inconceivable swiftness of a meteor ; and perhaps in their emigration, must traverse vast continents and oceans as distant as the equator. So soon does Nature advance small birds to their ^Aiklu, or state of perfec- tion ; while the progressive growth of men and large quadrupeds is slow and tedious ! I am, &c. John Antony Scopoli, of Carniola, M.D. JfATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 135 LETTEE XXIL TO THE SAME. Selborne, Sept. \Wi, 1774. Dear Sir, — By means of a straight cottage chimney I had an oppor- tunity this summer of remarking, at my leisure, how swallows ascend and descend through the shaft ; but my pleasure in contemplating the address with which this feat was performed to a considerable depth in the chimney, was somewhat interrupted 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 districts, prove anything 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 these animals have done their work, they are penned all night, like sheep, on the fallow. In the winter they are confined and foddered in a yard, and make plenty of dung. Linnaeus says that hawks paciscuntur inducias cum avihus, 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 W elch 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 magpies came determined to storm the nest of a missel-thrush : the dams defended their mansion with great vigour, and fought resolutely pro aris et foots; but numbers at last prevailed, they tore the nest to pieces, and swallowed the young alive. * “The same night also I returned from the burial and slept by the wall of my courtyard, being polluted, and my face was uncovered. — “ And I knew not that there were sparrows (swallows ?) in the wall, and mine eyes being open, the sparrows muted warm dung into mine eyes, and a whiteness came in mine eyes; and I went to the physicians, but they helped me not.” — Tobit ii. 10. The Greek word is trr^ovGict, pi. of crr^ouQ'tov, dimin. of o-t^ovBo; ; commonly trans- lated a sparrow, but taken also to mean any small bird. Bochart and the Latin vulgate take them to be Hirundines, which the Arabs held as a genus of sparrows, and called the “ Sparrow of Paradise.” — “ Ghusfoor Alj innut.” 136 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. In the season of nidification the wildest birds are comparatively tame. Thus the ring-dove breeds in my fields, though they are con- tinually 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 present 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 discoloured and blighted our wheat. The crop of hops promises to be very large. Frequent returns of deafness incommode me sadly, and half dis- qualify 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 eyesight 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.” LETTEE XXIII. TO THE SAME. Selborne, June 1775. Dear Sir, — On September the 21st, 1741, being 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 produces ; cloudless, calm, serene, and worthy of the South of France itself. About nine an appearance very unusual began to demand our atten- tion, 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. On every side as the observer turned his eyes might he behold a NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE. 137 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 Bradley, Selborne, and Alresford, three places which lie in a sort of a triangle, the shortest of whose sides is about eight miles in extent. At the second of those places there was a gentleman (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, three hundred 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 observed ; 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 cobweb-like appearances, called gossamer, is, that, strange and superstitious as the notions about them were formerly, nobody in these days doubts but that they are the real production of small spiders, which swarm in the fields in fine weather in autumn, and have a power of shooting out webs from their tails so as to render themselves buoyant, and lighter than air. But why these apterous insects should that day take such a wonderful aerial excursion, and why their 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 drawn 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. Kay], 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 its 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.* * Every sportsman must have noticed the appearance indicated in the preceding letter. Lister, as above referred to, has some very good observations in his Latin 138 NATURAL HISTORY OP SELBORNE. LETTER XXIV.^ TO THE SAME. Selborne, Aug. 15^7^, 1775. Dear Sir, — There is a wonderful spirit of sociality in the brute creation, independent of sexual attachment : the congregating of gregarious birds in the winter is a remarkable instance. Many horses, though quiet with company, will not stay one minute in a field by themselves : the strongest fences cannot restrain them. My 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, letter to Ray ; and at later periods it has been noticed and commented upon by various observers and entomologists. Blackwall, in a paper in the Transactions of the Linngean Society, observed, that it was principally young and immature spiders that undertook the excursions, and thinks that they are borne upwards by an ascending current of rarified air acting on their slender lines. He does not agree with those who think that the flight is influenced by electricity. Mr. John Murray, in his “ Researches in Natural History,” records several experiments ; and on one occasion the thread was discharged to the ceiling of a room above eight feet high. On another occasion a spider darted its thread perfectly horizontal, and in length fully ten feet, and the angle of vision being particularly favourable, we observed an extraordinary aura, or atmosphere, round the thread, which we cannot doubt was “electric.” Mr. Murray afterwards explains various phenomena, and arrives at the conclusion that electricity is much connected with them ; he found that when a conductor was brought near one of the floccular balls they are considerably deflected from the perpendicular, and that when a stick of incited sealing-wax was brought near the thread of suspension it seemed to be repelled. _ Mr. Murray quotes Selborne, last paragraph of Letter XXIII., in regard to the spider shooting out a thread in a calm atmosphere, and observes, “ This phenomenon it has been our fortune frequently to observe,” and he arrives at the conclusion that the eleqtric or non-electric state of the atmosphere is intimately connected with the shooting of the thread, and the ascent of the spider. We have often seen hundreds of acres covered with this gossamer web sparkling with the morning dew, and the little creatures must have been exceedingly numerous, many being seen, and we regret never having attempted any computation, but no doubt this autumn will give opportunity to any one resident in the country, and getting out of doors early. Starck says that twenty or thirty are often found upon a single stubble, and that he collected in half-an-hour two thousand, and could easily have got twice as many had he wished it. * This letter is quoted from the original by Barrington, in his “Miscellanies,” Essay “On the prevailing Notions with regard to the Cuckoo,” p. 251, and we presume as received from its author. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 139 who, with fierce lowings and menacing horns, drive the assailants quite out of the pasture. Even great disparity of kind and size does not always prevent social advances and mutual fellowship. For a very intelligent and observant person has assured me that, in the former part of his life, keeping but one horse, he happened also on a time to have but one solitary hen. These two incongruous animals spent much of their time together in a lonely orchard, where they saw no creature but each other. By degrees an apparent regard began to take place between these two sequestered individuals. The fowl would approach the quadruped with notes of complacency, rubbing herself gently against his legs : while the horse would look down with satisfaction, and move with the greatest caution and circumspection, lest he should trample on his diminutive com- panion. Thus, by mutual good ofiices, 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 mistaken : “ Much, less can bird with beast, or fish with fowl, So well converse, nor with the ox the ape.” I am, &c. LET TEE XXV. TO THE SAME. Seleoene, Oct. 2nd, 1775. Dear Sir. — We have two gangs or hordes of gypsies 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 somewhat 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 vagrants 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 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 retain any Greek words ; the Greek radicals 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 language might still be discovered. With regard to those peculiar people, the gypsies, one thing is very remarkable, and especially as they came from warmer climates ; and that is, that while other beggars lodge in barns, stables, and cow-houses, ' these sturdy savages seem to pride themselves 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 gypsy 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 140 NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. extended on a few hazel-rods bent hoop-fashion, and stuck into the earth at each end, in circumstances too trying for a cow in the same condition ; 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 return from Peking, met a gang of these people on the confines of Tartary, who were endeavouring to penetrate those deserts, and try their fortune in China.* Gypsies are called in French, Bohemiens ; in Italian and modern Greek, Zinganif I am, &c. LETTEE XXVL TO THE SAME. Selborne, Nov. 1st, 1775. “Hie .... tsedse pingues, hie plurimus ignis Semper, et assidua postes fuligine nigri.” J Dear Sir. — 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 expediency. The proper species of rush for this purpose seems to be the juncus * See Bell’s “Travels in China.” t Borrow in his “Zincale” observes, “Bearing the same analogy to the Sanscrit tongue as the Indian dialects, we find the Rommany or the speech of Roma, or Zincali as they style themselves, known in England and Spain as Gypsies or Gitanos. This speech, wherever it is spoken, is in all principal points one and the same, though more or less corrupted by foreign words, picked up in the various countries to which those who use it have penetrated. One remark- able feature must not be passed over without notice, namely, the very considerable number of Sclavonic words, which are to be found imbedded within it, whether it be spoken in Spain or Germany, in England or Italy ; from which circumstance we are led to the conclusion, that these people in their way from the east travelled in one large compact body, and that their route lay through some region where the Sclavonian language or a dialect thereof was spoken. This region, I have no hesitation in asserting to have been Bulgaria, where they probably tarried for a considerable period, as Nomade herdsmen, and where numbers of them are still found at the present day. Besides the many Sclavonian words in the Gypsy tongue, another curious feature attracts the attention of the philologist ; an equal or still greater quantity of terms from the modern Greek ; indeed we have full warrantry for assuming that at one period the Spanish section, if not the rest of the Gypsy nation, understood the Greek language well, and that besides their own Indian dialect they occasionally used it for considerably upwards of a century subsequent to their arrivalj as amongst the Gitanos there were individuals to whom it was intelligible so late as the year 1540.” X “ With heapy fires our cheerful hearth is crowned ; And firs for torches in the woods abound : We fear not more the winds, and wintry cold. Than streams the bank, nor wolves the bleating fold.” Djryd. Virg. Eel., vii. line 70. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 141 effusus, 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 business 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 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 dispatch, 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 afterwards 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 procured for four-pence, 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 still of 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 one, darkness visible ; ” but then the wick 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 progress 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 upwards 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, costs i of a farthing, and i 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 142 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. completely supplies his family the year round, since working people burn no candles 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 economists, and therefore must continue very poor, buy a halfpenny candle every evening, which in their blowing 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 housewifery that we have seen nowhere 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 dressed, and divested of its outer skin, it becomes of a beautiful bright-chesnut 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 probable they might come much in use for the purpose above-mentioned.f I am, &c. * Or in Scotland, linq, where it is commonly used for besoms, making an excellent implement ; also plaited into dcor-mats for the feet, t A besom of this sort is to be seen in Sir Ashton Lever’s Museum. RUSH-HOLDER. NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. 143 LETTEE XXYIL TO THE SAME. Selbokne, Dec. IWi, 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 caste have seldom more 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 apprehensions from their stings, but would seize them nudis manihus, and at once disarm them of their weapons, and suck their bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. Sometimes he would fill his bosom between his shirt and his skin with a number of these captives, and sometimes would confine them in bottles. He was a very merojps 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, discovered no manner of understanding. Had his capacity been better, and directed to the same object, he had perhaps abated much of our wonder at the feats of a more modern exhibitor of bees ; and we may justly say of him now, — “ . . . Thou, Had thy presiding star propitious shone, Should’st 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. I am, &c. LETTEE XXVIII. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Jan. 1776. Dear Sir, — It is the hardest thing in the world to shake off super- stitious prejudices : they are sucked in, as it were, with our mother’s * Thomas Wildman published a “Treatise on the Management of Bees;” with the various methods of cultivating them, both ancient and modem, 4to., 1768. 144 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. milk ; and, growing up with us at a time when they take the fastest hold and make the most lasting impressions, become so interwoven into our very constitutions, that the strongest good sense is required to disengage ourselves from them. No wonder, therefore, that the lower people retain them their whole lives through, since their minds are not invigorated by a liberal education, .and therefore not enabled to make any efforts adequate to the occasion. Such a preamble seems to be necessary before we enter on the super- stitions 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 remem- ber, 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 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 sup- posed, would prove in- effectual. Having oc- casion 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 per- sons now living in the village, who, in their childhood, were sup- posed to be healed by this superstitious ceremony, derived down perhaps from our Saxon ancestors, who practised it before their conversion to Christianity. At the fourth 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 SHREW-MOUSE. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 145 nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, or she'ep, the sufering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb.* Against this accident, to which they were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A shrew-ash was made thus+: — Into the body of the tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor de- voted shrew-mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt, with several quaint incantations long since forgotten. As the cere- monies 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 remonstrances 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.” I am, &c. LETTEE XXIX. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Feb . * lfh , 1776. Dear Sir, — In heavy fogs, on elevated situations especially, trees are perfect alembics ; and no one that has not attended to such matters can imagine how much water one tree will distil in a night’s time, by 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 * “When a horse in the fields happened to be suddenly seized with anything like a numbness in his legs, he was immediately judged by the old persons to he either planet-struck, or shrew-struck. The mode of cure which they prescribed, and which they considered in all cases infallible, was to drag the animal through a piece of bramble that grew at both ends.” — Single y. t For a similar practice, see Plot’s Staffordshire. L 146 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 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 concerning what sorts of trees they should plant round small ponds that they would wish to be perennial ; and show them how advan- tageous some trees are in preference 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. 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 with 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 droughts 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 vallies 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 hogsheads 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 beside. 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 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 journal of May, 1775, it appears that the small and even considerable ponds in the vales are now dried up, while the small ponds on the very tops of hills are but little affected.” Can this difference be accounted 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 counter- balance the waste of the day ; without which the cattle alone must soon exhaust them '? And here it will be necessary to enter more minutely into the cause. Dr. Hales, in his Yegetable Statics, advances, from * Vide Kalm’s Travels to North America. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 147 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 a surface of water than there does on an equal surface of moist earth.” Hence we see that water, by its coolness, is enabled to assimilate to itself a large quantity of moisture nightly by condensation ; and that the air, when loaded with fogs and vapours, and even with copious dews, can alone advance a considerable and never-failing resource. 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 elevated 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. I am, &c. LETTEE XXX. TO THE SAME. Selborne, April Srd, 1776. Dear Sir, — Monsieur Herissant, a French anatomist, seems per- suaded that he has discovered the reason why cuckoos do not hatch their own eggs ; the impediment, he supposes, arises from the internal structure of their parts, which 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 gallince, 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 mentioned above. This stomach was large and round, and stuffed hard, like a pincushion, with food, which, upon nice examination, we found to consist of various insects ; such as small scarabs, spiders, and dragon-fiies ; the last of which we have seen cuckoos catching on the wing as they were just emerging out of the aurelia state. Among this farrago also were to be seen maggots, and many seeds, which belonged either to gooseberries, currants, cranberries, or some such fruit ; so that these birds apparently subsist on insects and fruits ; nor was there the least appearance of bones, feathers, or fur, to support the idle notion of their being birds of prey. The sternum in this bird seemed to us to be remarkably short, between which and the anus lay the crop, or craw, and immediately behind that the bowels against the back-bone. It must be allowed, as this anatomist observes, that the crop placed just upon the bowels must, especially when full, be in a very uneasy situation during the business of incubation; yet the test will be to examine whether birds that are actually known to sit for certain are not formed in a similar manner. This inquiry I proposed to myself to make with a fern-owl, or goat-sucker, as soon as opportunity offered : * Histoire de TAcad^mie Royale, 1752. L 2 148 NATUllAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. because, if their formation proves the same, the reason for incapacity- in the cuckoo will be allowed to have been taken up somewhat hastily. Not long after a fern-owl was procured, which, from its habit and shape, we suspected might resemble the cuckoo in its internal con- struction. Nor were our suspicions ill-grounded; for, upon the dissection, 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 phalcenoR^ moths of several sorts, and their eggs, which no doubt had been forced out of those 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 conjecture, that cuckoos are incapable of incubation from the disposition of their intestines, seems to fall to the ground ; and we are still at a loss for the cause of that strange and singular 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 granivorous. I am, &c. LETTEE XXXL TO THE SAME. Selborne, April 29th, 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. * There is nothing in the anatomical structure of the cuckoo to prevent its performing all the duties of incubation ; parasitism is extended over a considerable number of species, and probably exists among most of the Cuculidce; a large black species, Eudynamys orientalis, has had its habits detailed by Mr. Blyth, in “Contributions to Ornithology for 1850.” It selects a species of crow generally for the foster-mother, and it is a remarkable instance of design that the eggs of both birds are nearly similar in colour, that of the cuckoo being rather smaller in size. It is suspected that this species breaks the eggs of the crow before depositing its own, and there seems little cause to doubt that it lays several eggs at the usual periods, the same as other birds. The genus Dolyconyx, among the Icterine birds, also breeds parasitically, while several species of birds depute the office of incu- bation to artificial heat, of which the most remarkable is the hotbed-making Megapndiusof Australia. There is another form which this habit assumes, com- monality of hatching, as in Crotopliaga, where various individuals make use of a common nest and hatch by turns. The whole subject is very curious, but there is a difficulty in procuring exact details of the habits of foreign species. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 149 To a thinking mind nothing is more wonderful than that early instinct which impresses young animals with a notion of the situation of their natural weapons, and of using them properly in their own defence, even before those weapons subsist or are formed. Thus a young cock will spar at his adversary before his spurs are grown ; and a calf or a lamb will push with their heads before 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 scissors. There was little room to suppose that this brood had ever been in the open air before ; and that they were taken in for refuge, at the mouth of the dam, when she perceived that danger was approaching ; because then probably we should have found them somewhere in the I neck, and not in the abdomen.* LETTEE XXXII. TO THE SAME. Castkation has a strange effect : it emasculates both man, beast, and bird, and brings them to a near resemblance of the other sex. Thus eunuchs have smooth unmuscular arms, thighs, and legs ; and broad hips, and beardless chins, and squeaking voices. Gelt stags and bucks have hornless heads, like hinds and does. Thus wethers have small horns, like ewes ; and oxen large bent horns, and hoarse voices when they low, like cows : for bulls have short straight horns ; and though they mutter and grumble in a deep tremendous tone, yet they low in a shrill high key. Capons have small combs and gills, and look pallid about the head, like pullets ; they also walk without any parade, and hover chickens like hens. Barrow-hogs have also small tusks like sows. Thus far it is plain that the deprivation of masculine vigour puts a stop to the growth of those parts or appendages that are looked upon as its insignia. But the ingenious Mr. Lisle, in his book on husbandry, carries it much farther ; for he says that the loss of those insignia alone has sometimes a strange effect on the ability itself : he had a boar so fierce and venereous, that, to prevent mischief, orders were given for his tusks to be broken off. No sooner had the beast suffered this injury than his powers forsook him, and he neglected those females to whom before he was passionately attached, and from whom no fences would restrain him. * See Letter XVII., First Series, to Mr. Pennant, p. 43, which should be turned to and read along with this. 150 NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. LETTEE XXXIII. TO THE SAME. The natural term of an hog’s life is little known, and the reason is plain — because it is neither profitable nor convenient to keep that turbulent animal to the full extent of its time : however, my neighbour, a man of substance, who had no occasion to study every little advantage to a nicety, kept an half-bred bantam-sow, who was as thick as she was long, and whose belly swept on the ground till she was advanced to her seventeenth year, at which period she showed some tokens of age by the decay of her teeth and the decline of her fertility. For about ten years this prolific mother produced two litters in the year of about ten at a time, and once above twenty at a litter ; but, as there were near double the number of pigs to that of teats, many died. From long experience in the world this 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 quadruped ! She was killed in spring 1775. I am, &c. LETTEE XXXIV. TO THE SAME. Selboene, May MTi, 1776. “ . . . admdrunt ubera tigres.” Deau Sir, — We have remarked in a former letter * how much incongruous animals, in a lonely state, may be attached to each other from a spirit of sociality ; in this it may not be amiss to recount a different motive which has been known to create as strange a fondness. My friend had a little helpless leveret brought to him, which the servants fed with milk in a spoon, and about the same time his cat kittened and the young were dispatched and buried. The hare was soon lost, and supposed to be gone the way of most fondlings, to. be killed by some dog or cat. However, in about a 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 * Letter XXIV. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 151 kittens, and something gamboling after, which proved to be the leveret that the cat had supported with her milk, and continued to support with great affection. Thus was a graminivorous animal nurtured by a carnivorous and predaceous one ! Why so cruel and sanguinary a beast as a cat, of the feroeious genus of Felis, the murium leOy as Linnaeus calls it, should be affected with any tenderness towards an animal which is its natural prey, is not so easy to determine. This strange affection probably was occasioned by that desiderium, those tender maternal feelings, which the loss of her kittens had awakened in her breast ; and by the complacency and ease she derived to herself from the procuring her teats to be drawn, which were too much distended with milk, till, from habit, she became as much delighted with this foundling as if it had been her real offspring. This incident is no bad solution of that strange circumstance which grave historians as well as the poets assert, of exposed children being sometimes nurtured by female wild beasts that probably had lost their young. For it is not one whit more marvellous that Romulus and Remus, in their infant state, should be nursed by a she-wolf, than that a poor little sucking leveret should be fostered and cherished by a bloody grimalkin.* “ . . . viridi foetam Mavortis in antro Procubuisse lupam : geminos huic ubera circum Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem Impavidos : illam tereti cervice refiexam ' Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingu^.” f LETTER XXXV. TO THE SAME. Selborne, May ^Oth, 1777. Dear Sir, — Lands that are subject to frequent inundations are always poor ; and probably the reason may be because the worms are * See “ Observations on Various Parts of Nature,” — Cat suckling young squir- rels. Similar cases have frequently occurred, and the causes may be partly as stated by Mr. White, as mentioned in a note to Constable’s edition of “ Selborne.” We once saw a litter of pigs suckled by a pointer-bitch. “ On the 27th of April, 1820,” writes Mr. Broderip in “ZoologicalJournal,” “ I saw a cat giving suck to five young rats and a kitten. The cat paid the same maternal attention to the young rats in licking them and dressing their fur as she did to her kitten, notwithstanding the great disparity in size.” These occurrences, however, take place naturally, for they cannot be forced, as every shepherd well knows while attempting to persuade a ewe that has lost her own lamb to become a foster-mother. Instinct by smell at once discovers the proposed change, and deception is sometimes successful by employing the skin of the dead-born as a temporary covering for the other, until it has been once permitted to suck. t ‘ ‘ The cave of Mars was dressed with mossy greens : There by the wolf were laid the martial twins, Intrepid on her swellings dugs they hung ; The foster dam loll’d out her fawning tongue : They suck’d secure, while bending back her head, She lick’d their tender limbs ; and formed them as they fed.” Dryd. Virg. viii. line 840. 152 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. drowned. The most insignificant insects and reptiles are of much more consequence, and have much more infiuence 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 seems 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 and twigs into it ; and, most of all, by throwing up such infinite numbers of lumps of earth called worm-casts, which, being their excrement, is a fine manure for grain and grass. Worms probably provide new soil for hills and slopes where the rain washes the earth away ; and they affect slopes, probably to avoid being flooded.* Gardeners and farmers express their detesta- tion 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 steril ; and besides, in favour of worms, it should be hinted that green corn, plants, and flowers, are not so much injured by them as by many species of 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.f 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 history. Worms work most in the spring ; but by no means lie torpid in the dead months : are out every mild night in the winter, as any person may be convinced that will take the pains to examine his grass-plots with a candle ; are hermaphrodites, and much addicted to venery, and consequently very prolific. I am, &c. * We scarcely agree with White’s proposition here ; grass lands are very much benefited by frequent inundations. That worms are great fertilisers there can be no doubt, but at the same time in all cases they are not bene- ficial, as for instance in flower-pots or boxes where plants are kept. In pasture lands, however, they do act mechanically, and their castings or excrement (earth- worm guano), is often very abundant, so much so as to mark the surface. Mr. Darwin applies the offices of worms geologically by their gradually covering the surface of land, and concealing loose stones, &c., which, however, may be also assisted by the decomposition of vegetable matter ; he goes so far as to say, “ that every particle of earth in old pasture land has passed through the intestines of worms, and hence that in some instances, the term ‘ animal world, ’ would be more appropriate than ‘ vegetable world. ’ ’’—(Proceed. Geol. Soc.) It is remarkable after a flood has covered the low pastures to observe the numbers of birds, crows, thrushes, herons, gulls, that assemble when the water recedes ; the drowned earth-worm is their chief prey. t 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. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 153 LETTEE XXXVI.^ TO THE SAME. Selborne, Nov. 22nd, 1777. Dear Sir, — You cannot but remember that the 26th and 27th of last March were very hot days, — so sultry that everybody complained and were restless under those sensations to which they had not been reconciled by gradual approaches. This sudden summer-like heat was attended by many summer coin- cidences ; for on tho’se two days the thermometer rose to sixty-six in the shade ; many species of insects revived and came forth ; some bees swarmed in this neighbourhood; the old tortoise, near Lewes, in Sussex, awakened and came forth out of its dormitory ; and, what is most to my present purpose, many house-swallows appeared and were very alert in many places, and particularly at Chobham, in Surrey. But as that short warm period was succeeded as well as preceded by harsh severe weather, with frequent frosts and ice, and cutting winds, the insects withdrew, the tortoise retired again into the ground, and the swallows were seen no more until the 10th 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 much matters would conclude that they had taken their last farewell ; but then it may be seen in my diaries also that considerable flocks have discovered themselves again in the first week of November, and often on the 4th day of that month only for one day ; and that not as if they were in actual migration, but playing about at their leisure and feeding calmly, as if no enterprise of moment at all agitated their spirits. And this was the case in the beginning of this very month; for on the 4th of November, more than twenty house-martins, which, in appearance, had all departed about the 7 th of October, were seen again for that one morning only sporting between my fields and the Hanger, and feasting on insects which swarmed in that sheltered district. The preceding day was wet and blustering, but the 4th was dark, and mild, and soft, the wind at south-west, and the thermometer at 58'4 ; a pitch not common at that season of the year. Moreover, it may not be amiss to add in this place, that whenever the thermometer is above 50, the bat comes flitting out in every autumnal and winter- month. From all these circumstances laid together, it is obvious that torpid insects, reptiles, and quadrupeds, are awakened from their profoundest * This letter was first published by Barrington in his “Miscellanies,” in an essay “ On the Torpidity of the Swallow Tribe, when they Disappear,” p. 225, and is prefaced as follows; “I shall here subjoin a letter which I received from that ingenious and observant naturalist, the Rev. Mr. White, of Selborne, in Hamp- shire.” It appears to have been printed as received. The opinions given in this letter have been generated apparently by his correspondence with Barrington, and those contained in the last paragraph especially, or in Letter LV., cannot be maintained. 154 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. slumbers by a little untimely warmtb ; and therefore that nothing so much promotes this death-like stupor as a defect of heat. And farther, it is reasonable to suppose that two whole species, or at least many individuals of those two species of British hirundines do never leave this island at all, but partake of the same benumbed state; for we cannot suppose, that after a month’s absence, house-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. I am, &c. LETTER XXXVII. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Jan . 8 th , 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 tender that neither his hands or feet were able to perform their functions ; so that the poor object was half his time on crutches, incapable of employ, and languishing in a tiresome state of indolence and inactivity. His habit was lean, lank and cadaverous. In this sad plight he dragged on a miserable existence, a burden to himself and his parish which was obliged to 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 which 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 given them in the Levitical law.* Nor was the rancour of this foul disorder much abated in the last period of their commonwealth, as may' be seen in many passages of the New Testament. Some centuries ago this horrible distemper prevailed all Europe over : and our forefathers were by no means exempt, as appears by the large provision made for objects labouring under this calamity. There was an hospital for female lepers in the diocese of Lincoln ; a noble one near Durham ; three in London and Southwark ; and perhaps many more in or near our great towns and cities. Moreover, some crowned heads, and other wealthy and charitable personages, be- queathed large legacies to such poor people as languished under this hopeless infirmity. * See Leviticus, xiii. xiv. NATURAL HISTORY OF SEI.BORNE. 155 It must, therefore, in these days be to an 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 now is a rare sight. He will, moreover, when engaged in such a train of thought naturally inquire for the reason. This happy change, perhaps, may have originated and been continued from the much smaller quantity of salted meat and fish now eaten in these kingdoms ; from the use of linen next the skin ; from the plenty of better bread ; and from the profusion of fruits, roots, legumes, and greens, so common in every family. Three or four centuries ago before there were any enclosures, sown-grasses, field-turnips, or field-carrots, or hay, all the cattle which had grown fat in summer, and were not killed for winter use, were turned out soon after Michaelmas to shift as they could through the dead months ; so that no fresh meat could be had in winter or spring. Hence the marvellous account of the vast stores of salted flesh found in the larder of the eldest Spencer* in the days of Edward II., even so late in the spring as the 3rd of May. It was from magazines like these that the turbulent barons supported in idleness their riotous swarms of retainers ready for any disorder or mischief. But agriculture is now arrived at such a pitch of perfection that our best and fattest meats are killed in the winter ; and no man need eat salted flesh unless he prefers it, that has money to buy fresh. One cause of this distemper might be, no doubt, the quantity of wretched fresh and salt fish consumed by the commonalty at all seasons as well as in Lent; which our poor now would hardly be persuaded to touch. The use of linen changes, shirts or shifts, in the room of sordid and filthy woollen, long worn next the skin, is a matter of neatness com- paratively modern ; but must prove a great means of preventing cutaneous ails. At this very time woollen, instead of linen, prevails among the poorer Welch, 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 cutaneous disorders, from a wretchedness and poverty of diet. As to the produce of a garden, every middle-aged person of obser- vation may perceive, within his own memory, both in town and country, how vastly the consumption of vegetables is increased. Green-stalls in cities now support multitudes in a comfortable state, while gardeners get fortunes. Every decent labourer also has his garden, which is half his support, as well as his delight ; and common farmers provide plenty of beans, peas, and greens, for their hinds to eat with their bacon ; and those few that do not are despised for their sordid parsimony, and looked upon as regardless of the welfare of their dependents. Potatoes have prevailed in this little district by means of premiums within these twenty years only ; and are much esteemed here now by the poor, who would scarce have ventured to taste them in the last reign. Our Saxon ancestors certainly had some sort of cabbage, because * Viz., Six hundred bacons, eighty carcasses of beef, and six hundred muttons. 156 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. they call the month of February “ sprout cale but long after their days the cultivation of gardens was little attended to.* The religious, being men of leisure, and keeping up a constant correspondence with Italy, were the first people among us that had gardens and fruit-trees in any perfection within the wall of their abbies f 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 gardening made such hasty advances. Lord Cobham, Lord Ila, and Mr. W aller, of Beaconsfield, were some of the first people of rank that promoted the elegant science of ornamenting with- out despising the superintendence of the kitchen quarters and fruit walls. A remark made by the excellent Mr. Ray, in his Tour of Europe,” at once surprises us, and corroborates what has been advanced above ; for we find him observing so late as his 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 adds : curled endive blanched is much used beyond seas ; and, for a raw sallet, seemed to excel lettuce itself.” Now this journey was under- taken no longer ago than in the year 1663. I am, &c. LETTER XXXVIII. TO THE SAME. Selbobne, Feh. 12th, 1778. “ Fort^ puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, Dixerat, ecquis adest ? et, adest, responderat echo, Flic stupet ; utque aciem partes divisit in omnes ; Voce, veni, clamat magna. Vocat ilia vocantem." t Dear Sir, — In a district so diversified as this, so full of hollow vales and hanging woods, it is no wonder that echoes should abound. Many we have discovered that return the cry of a pack of dogs, the notes of a hunting-horn, a tunable ring of bells, or the melody of birds very agreeably ; but we were still at a loss for a polysyllabical articulate echo, till a young gentleman, who had parted from his company in a * As our Saxon ancestors called the month of February ‘ sprout-cale, * so the names of many other months were equally significant : viz., March, Stormy Month ; May, Trimilki, the cows being milked three times a-day ; June, Dig-and- Weed Month; September, Barley Month,” &c. — Mitford. t “ 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 architecture. ” — Dalrymple’s Annals of Scotland. X “ Chance parts the youth from his companions dear. He cries “Who’s here ? ” and Echo answers “Here He stares around, and for a while stands dumb. Then shouts out, “ Come,” and Echo answers “Come.” NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 157 summer evening walk, and was calling after them, stumbled upon a very curious one in a spot where it might least be expected. At first he was much surprised, and could not be persuaded but that he was mocked by some boy ; but repeating his trials in several languages, and finding his respondent to be a very adroit polyglot, he then discerned the deception. This echo in an evening, before rural noises cease, would repeat ten syllables most articulately and distinctly, especially if quick dactyls were chosen. The last syllables of “ Tityre, tu patulse 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, embarrassed 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 oflT. Buildings, or naked rocks, re-echo much more articulately than hanging woods or vales ; because in the latter the voice is as it were entangled, and embarrassed in the covert, and weakened in the rebound. The true object of this echo, as we found by various experiments, is the stone-built, tiled hop-kiln in G ally-lane, which measures in front forty feet, and from the ground to the eaves twelve feet. The true centrum phonicum, or just distance, is one particular spot in the king’s field, in the path to Nore-hill, on the very brink of the steep balk above the hollow cart-way. In this case there is no choice of distance ; but the path, by mere contingency, happens to be the lucky, the identical spot, because the ground rises or falls so immediately, if the speaker either retires or advances, that his mouth would at once be above or below the object. We measured this polysyllabical echo with great exactness, and found the distance to fall very short of Dr. Plot’s rule for distinct articulation ; for the Doctor, in his history of Oxfordshire, allows a hundred and twenty feet for the return of each syllable distinctly ; hence this echo, which gives ten distinct syllables, ought to measure four hundred yards, or one hundred and twenty feet to each syllable ; whereas our distance is only two hundred and fifty -eight yards, or near seventy-five feet, to each syllable. Thus our measure falls short of the Doctor’s, as five to eight but then it must be acknowledged that this candid philosopher was convinced afterwards, that some latitude must be admitted of in the distance of echoes according to time and place. 153 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. When experiments of this sort ar^ making, it should always be remembered that weather and the time of day have a vast influence on an echo ; for a dull, heavy, moist air deadens and clogs the sound ; and hot sunshine renders the air thin and weak, and deprives it of all its springiness, and a ruffling wind quite defeats the whole. In a still, clear, dewy evening the air is most elastic ; and perhaps the later the hour the more so. Echo has always been so amusing to the imagination, that the poets have personified her ; and in their hands she has been the occasion of many a beautiful fiction. Nor need the gravest man be ashamed to appear taken with such a phenomenon, since it may become the subject of philosophical or mathematical inquiries. One should have imagined that echoes, if not entertaining, must at least have been harmless and inoflfensive ; yet,yirgil 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. ” This wild and fanciful assertion will hardly be admitted by the philosophers of these days, especially as they all now seem agreed that insects are not furnished with any organs of hearing at all. But if it should be urged, that though they cannot hear yet perhaps they may feel the repercussions of sounds, I grant it is possible they may. Yet that these impressions are distasteful or hurtful, I deny, because bees, in good summers, thrive well in my outlet, where the echoes are very strong ; for this village is another Anathoth, a place of responses and echoes. Besides, it does not appear from 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 haled a ship at the distance of a mile, and still these insects pursued their various employments undisturbed, and without showing the least sensibility or resentment.* Some time since its discovery this echo is become totally silent, though the object, or hop-kiln, remains ; nor is there any mystery in * Insects are now proved to be sensible of the impression of sounds. Mr. Bennet has quoted experiments of Brunelli in proof ; he learned to imitate the chirping of grasshoppers, and when he did this at the door of a closet in which they were kept they soon began to answer him. “He afterwards enclosed a male grasshopper in a box, and placed it in one part of his garden, leaving a female at liberty in a distant part of it ; as soon as the male began to sing the female immediately hopped away towards him. ” Insects being in possession of the power of emitting sounds, these must be subservient for some purpose, and from the above experiments we find them to be responded to. It is remarkable that in the Cicadie the females are destitute of the sound-making organs, “Yet,” writes Owen, in one of the latest general summaries of structure (1843), “the precise organ has not yet been definitely recognised. ” And Messrs. Gould and Agassiz state the grasshopper, for instance, to have a sort of ear, no longer situated in the head as with other animals, but in the legs, and from this fact we may be allowed to suppose that if no organ of hearing has yet been found in most insects, it is because it has been sought for in the head only.” NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE. 159 this defect ; for the field between is planted as an hop-garden, and the voice of the speaker is totally absorbed and lost among the poles and entangled foliage of the hops. And when the poles are removed in autumn the disappointment is the same ; because a tall quick-set hedge, nurtured up for the purpose of shelter to the hop ground, entirely interrupts the impulse and repercussion of the voice ; so that till those obstructions are removed no more of its garrulity can be expected. Should any gentleman of fortune think an echo in his park or outlet a pleasing incident, he might build one at little or no expense. For whenever he had occasion for a new barn, stable, dog-kennel, or the like structure, it would be only needful to erect this building on the gentle declivity of an hill, with a like rising opposite to it, at a few hundred yards distance; and perhaps success might be the easier insured could some canal, lake, or stream intervene. From a seat at the centrum pJionicum 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 ‘ ‘ quse nec reticere loquenti, Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit resouabilis echo.” I am, &c. P.S. The classic reader will, I trust, pardon the following lovely quotation, so finely describing echoes, and so poetically accounting for their causes from popular superstition : — “ Quae benb quom videas, rationem reddere possis Tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loca sola Saxa paries formas verborum ex ordine reddant, Palanteis comites quom monteis inter opacos Quaerimus, et magnS, disperses voce ciemus. Sex etiam, aut septem loca vidi reddere voces Unam quom jaceres : ita colles coUibus 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 latb 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. * “Whence may’st thou solve, ingenuous ! to the world The rise of echoes, formed in desert scenes. Mid rocks, and mountains, mocking every sound, When late we wander through their solemn glooms, And, with loud voice, some lost companion call. And oft re-echoes echo till the peal Rings seven times round ; so rock to rock repels The mimic shout, reiterated close. “ Here haunt the goat-foot satyrs, and the nymphs. As rustics tell, and fauns whose frolic dance. And midnight revels oft, they say, are heard Breaking the noiseless silence ; while soft strains Melodious issue, and the vocal band 160 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. LETTEE XXXIX. TO THE SAME. Selborne, May lUh, 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 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, allowance being made for accidents, breed yearly eight pairs more, what becomes annually of this increase ; and what determines every spring which pairs shall visit us, and reoccupy their ancient haunts ] Ever since I have attended to the subject of ornithology, I have always supposed that that sudden reverse of aflfection, that strange avriaropyrj, which immediately succeeds in the feathered kind to the most passionate fondness, is the occasion of an equal dispersion of birds over the face of the earth. Without this provision one favourite district would be crowded with inhabitants, while others would be destitute and forsaken. But the parent birds seem to maintain a jealous supriority, and to oblige the young to seek for new abodes ; and the rivalry of the males in many kinds, prevents their crowding the one on the other. Whether the swallows and house-martins return in the same exact number annually is not easy to say, for reasons given above ; but it is apparent, as I have remarked before in my Monographies, that the numbers returning bear no manner of proportion to the numbers retiring. LETTEE XL. TO THE SAME. Selborne, June 2nd, 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 Strike to their madrigals the plaintive lyre. Such, feign they, sees the shepherd obvious oft. Led on by Pan, with pine-leaved garland crown’d And seven-mouth’d reed his labouring lip beneath, Waking the woodland muse with ceaseless song.” J. Mason Good. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 161 off this aspersion should be by no means content with a list of names ; he should study plants philosophically, should investigate the laws of vegetation, should examine the powers and virtues of efficacious herbs, should promote their cultivation ; and graft the gardener, the planter, and the husbandman, on the phytologist. Not that system is by any means to be thrown aside ; without system the field of Nature would be a pathless 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 elegancies of life. To plants we owe timber, bread, beer, honey, wine, oil, linen, cotton, &;c. what not only strengthens our hearts, and exhilarates our spirits, but what secures us from inclemencies of weather and adorns our persons. Man, in his true state of nature, seems to be subsisted by spontaneous vegetation ; in middle climes, where grasses prevail, he mixes some animal food with the produce of the field and garden ; and it is towards the polar extremes only that, like his kindred bears and wolves, he gorges himself with # flesh alone, and is driven, to what hunger has never been known to compel the very beasts, to prey on his own species.* The productions of vegetation have had a vast influence on the commerce of nations, and have been the great promoters of navigation, as may be seen in the articles of sugar, tea, tobacco, opium, ginseng, betel, paper, &c. As every climate has its peculiar produce, our natural wants bring on a mutual intercourse ; so that by means of trade each distant part is supplied with the growth of every latitude. But, without the knowledge of plants and their culture, we must have been content with our hips and haws, without enjoying the delicate fruits of India and the salutiferous drugs of Peru. Instead of examining the minute distinctions of every various species of each obscure genus, the botanist 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, the hardy from the tender, nor the succulent and nutritive from the dry and juiceless. The study of grasses would be of great consequence to a northerly, and grazing kingdom. The botanist that could improve the swerd of the district where he lived would be an useful member of society : to raise a thick turf on a naked soil would be worth volumes of systematic knowledge ; and he would be the best commonwealth’s man that could occasion the growth of two blades of grass where one alone was seen before.” I am, &c. * See the late Voyage to the South Seas. 162 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. LETTEE XLL TO THE SAME. Selborne, July Zrd, 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 wanting, it must be in the large aquatic plants, which are not to be expected on a spot far removed from rivers, and lying up amidst the hill country at the spring heads. To enumerate all the plants that have been discovered within our limits would be a needless work ; but a short list of the more rare, and the spots where they are to be found, may be neither unacceptable nor unentertaining : — • Helleborus fcetidus, stinking hellebore, bear’s foot, or setterworth, — all over the High- wood and Coney -croft-hanger : this continues a great branching plant the winter through, blossoming about January, and is very ornamental in shady walks and shrubberies. The good women give the leaves powdered to children troubled with worms ; but it is a violent remedy, and ought to be administered with caution. Helleborus viridis, green hellebore, — in the deep stony lane on the left hand just before the turning to Norton-farm, and at the top of Middle Dorton under the hedge : this plant dies down to the ground early in autumn, and springs again about February, flowering almost as soon as it appears above ground. Vaccinium oxycoccos, creeping bilberries, or cranberries, — in the bogs of Bin’s-pond.* Vaccinium myrtilluSj whortle, or bleaberries, — on the dry hillocks of W oolmer-forest. Drosera rotundifolia, round-leaved sundew, — in the bogs of Bin’s- pond. Drosera longifolia, long-leaved sundew, — in the bogs of Bin’s-pond. Comarum palustre, purple comarum, or marsh cinquefoil, — in the bogs of Bin’s-pond. Hypericum androscEmum, Tutsan, St. John’s Wort, — in the stony, hollow lanes. Vinca minor, less periwinkle, — in Selborne-hanger and Shrub-wood. Monotropa liypopithys, yellow monotropa, or birds’ nest, — in Sel- borne-hanger under the shady beeches, to whose roots it seems to be parasitical, at the north-west end of the Hanger. Chlora perfoliata, BlacTcstonia perfoliata, Hudsoni, perfoliated j^ellow- wort, — on the banks in the King’s-field. Paris quadrifolia, herb of Paris, true-love, or one-berry, — in the Church-litten-coppice. * See note Letter VIII. to Pennant, p. 20. — Bin’s Pond is now drained. The marsh plants therefore, are most probably now wanting. Drosera longifolia would in all probability be D. anglica. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 163 Chrysosplenium oppositifolium, opposite golden saxifrage, — in the dark and rocky hollow lanes. Gentiana amarella, autumnal gentian, or fellwort, — on the Zigzag and Hanger. Lathrcea squamaria, tooth-wort, — in the Church-litten-coppice under some hazels near the foot-bridge, in Trimming’s garden hedge, and on the dry wall opposite Grange-yard. Dipsacus pilosm, small teasel, — in the Short and Long Lith. Lathyrus sylvesiris, narrow-leaved, or wild lathyrus, — in the bushes at the foot of the Short Lith, near the path. Ophrys spiralis, ladies traces, — in the Long Lith, and towards the south corner of the common. Ophrys nidus avis, birds’ nest ophrys, — in the Long Lith under the shady beeches among the dead leaves; in Great Horton among the bushes, and on the Hanger plentifully. Serapias latifolia, helleborine, — in the High-wood 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. Samhucus ehulus, dwarf elder, walwort, or danewort, — among the rubbish and ruined foundations of the Priory.* Of all the propensities of plants, none seem more strange than their different periods of blossoming. Some produce their flowers in the winter, or very first dawnings of spring; many when the spring is established ; some at midsummer, and some not till autumn. When we see the helled)orus foetidus and hellehorus niger blowing at Christmas, the hellehorus hyemalis in January, and the hellehorus viridis as soon as ever it emerges out of the ground, we do not wonder, because they are kindred plants that we expect should keep pace the one with the other ; but other 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 varieties of the same genus, of which there is only one species, not being able to discern any difference in the corolla, or in the internal structure. Yet the vernal crocus expands its flowers by the beginning of March at farthest, and often in very rigorous weather ; and cannot be retarded but by some violence offered; while the autumnal (the saffron) defies the influence of the spring and summer, and will not blow till most plants begin to fade and run to seed. This circumstance is one of the wonders of the creation, little noticed because a common occurrence; yet ought not to be overlooked on account of its being * This letter in the original edition of 1780 concluded here, but in the 4to edition by Mitford what follows was added to it. This has appeared in all the editions subsequently as part of the original letter, but we are not aware at what time or under what circumstances this was written. M 2 164 NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SEI^BOENE. familiar, since it would be as difficult to be explained as tbe most stupendous phenomenon in nature. “ Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow Congeal’d; the crocus’ flamy hud 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.’* LETTEE XLII. TO THE SAME. “ Omnibus animalibus reliquis certus et uniusmodi, et in suo cuique gcuere incessus est : aves solse vario meatu feruntur, et in terrS,, et in aere.” Selborne, Aiig. *Ithj 1778. Dear Sir, — A good ornithologist should be able to distinguish birds by their air as well as by their colours and shape ; on the ground as well as on the wing ; and in the bush as well as in the hand. For, though it must not be said that every species of birds has a manner peculiar to itself, yet there is somewhat in most genera at least, that at first sight discriminates them, and enables a judicious observer to pronounce upon them with some certainty. Put a bird in motion “ Et vera incessu patuit .” 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 th e Saxon verb glidan, to glide. The kestrel, or wind- hover, has a peculiar mode of hanging in the air in one place, his wings all the while being briskly agi- tated. Hen-harriers fly low over heaths or fields of corn, and beat the ground regularly like a pointer or set- ting-dog. Owls move in a buoyant manner, as if lighter than the air ; they seem to want ballast. There is a peculiarity belonging to ravens that must draw the attention RAVEN. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 165 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 center of gravity. Rooks sometimes dive and tumble in a frolicksome manner; crows and daws swagger in their walk ; wood-peckers fly volatu undoso, opening and closing their wings at every stroke, and so are always rising or falling in curves. All of this genus use their tails, which incline downward, as a support while they run up trees. Parrots, like all other hooked-clawed birds, walk awkwardly, and make use of their bill as a third foot, climbing and descending with ridiculous caution. All the gallincB parade and walk gracefully, and run nimbly ; but fly with difficulty, with an impetuous whirring, and in a straight line. Magpies and jays flutter with powerless wings, and make no dispatch ; herons seem incumbered with too much sail for their light bodies, but these vast hollow wings are necessary in carrying burdens, such as large fishes and the like ; pigeons, and particularly the sort called smiters, have a way of clashing their wings the one against the other over their backs with a loud snap ; another variety, called tumblers, turn themselves over in the air. Some birds have movements peculiar to the season of love : thus ring- doves, though strong and rapid at other times, yet in the spring hang about on the wing in a toying and playful manner ; thus the cock-snipe, while breeding, forgetting his former flight, fans the air like the wind- hover ; and the green-finch in particular, exhibits such languishing and faultering 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. Skylarks rise and fall perpendicu- larly as they sing ; woodlarks hang poised in the air ; and titlarks rise and fall in large curves, singing in their descent. The white-throat uses odd jerks and gesticulations over the tops of hedges and bushes. All the duck-kind waddle ; divers and auks walk as if fettered, and stand erect on their tails : these are the compedes of Linnaeus. Geese and cranes, and most wild fowls, move in figured flights, often changing their position. The secondary remiges of Tringae, wild-ducks, and some others, are very long, and give their wings, when in motion, an hooked appearance. Dabchicks, moor-hens, and coots, fly erect, with their legs hanging down, and hardly make any dispatch ; the reason is plain, their wings are placed too forward out of the true center of gravity ; as the legs of auks and divers are situated too backward. m NATURAL HISTORY OP SELBORNE. LETTEE XLIII. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Sept. 9th, 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.f The language of birds is very ancient, and, like other ancient modes of speech, very elliptical ; little is said, but much is meant and understood. The notes of the eagle-kind are shrill and piercing ; and about the season of nidification much diversified, as I have been often assured by a curious observer of Nature, who long resided at Gibraltar, where eagles abound. The notes of our hawks much resemble those of the king of birds. Owls have very expressive notes ; they hoot in a fine vocal sound, much resembling the vox humana, and reducible by a pitch-pipe to a musical key. This note seems to express complacency and rivalry among the males ; they use also a quick call and an horrible scream ; and can snore and hiss when they mean to menace. Ravens, besides their loud croak, can exert a deep and solemn note that makes the woods to echo ; the amorous sound of a crow is strange and ridiculous ; rooks, in the breeding season, attempt sometimes in the gaiety of their hearts to sing, but with no great success ; the parrot- kind have many modulations of voice, as appears by their aptitude to learn human sounds ; doves coo in an amorous 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 melodj^ The swallow, as has been observed in a former letter, by a shrill alarm bespeaks the attention of the other hirundines, and bids them be aware 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- * See Spectator, Vol. vii.. No. 512 t Fish are not all mute. The grey gurnard, Trigla gurnardus, called crooner from its noise, may be seem in a calm day in large shoals rising and ploughing the surface of the sea with their noses, at which time they utter a grunting sound which may be heard at a distance of half a mile ; we have heard them called grunters. Schomburck writes of the Phractocephalus of the Guiana rivers “ that when hauled on shore they make a loud grunting noise.* >’-ATUIlAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 167 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 understood. And first the peacock, with his gorgeous train, demands our attention ; but, like most of the gaudy birds, his notes are grating and shocking to the ear : the yelling of cats, and the braying of an ass, are not more disgustful. The voice of the goose is trumpet-like, and clanking; and once saved the Capitol at Rome, as grave historians assert : the hiss, also, of the gander, is for- midable 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 petula>.t 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, o nri 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 expres- sion and so copious a language as common poultry. Take a chicken of four or five days old, and hold it up to a window where there are flies, and it will immediately seize its prey, with little twitterings of complacency ; but if you tender it a wasp or a bee, at once its note becomes harsh, and expressive of disapprobation and a sense of danger. When a pullet is ready to lay she intimates the event by a joyous and easy soft note. Of all the occurrences of 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 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 clocking and screaming about, and seems agitated as if possessed. The father of the flock has also a considerable vocabular}^ ; if he finds food, he calls a favourite concubine to partake ; and if a bird of prey passes over, with a warning voice he bids his family beware. The gallant chanticleer 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 distinguished in all ages as the countryman’s clock or larum, as the watchman that proclaims the divisions of the night. Thus the poet elegantly styles him : “ the crested cock, whose clarion sounds The silent hours.” 168 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. A neighbouring gentleman one summer had lost most of his chickens by a sparrow-hawk, that came gliding down between a faggot pile and the end of his house to the place where the coops stood. The owner, inwardly vexed to see his flock thus diminished, hung a setting-net adroitly between the pile and the house, into which the caitiff dashed, and was entangled. Resentment suggested the law of retaliation ; he therefore clipped the hawk’s wings, cut ofi* his talons, and, fixing a cork on his bill, threw him down among the brood-hens. Imagination cannot paint the scene that ensued; the expressions that fear, rage, and revenge, inspired, were new, or at least such as had been unnoticed before : the exasperated matrons upbraided, they execrated, they insulted, they triumphed. In a word, they never desisted from buffeting their adversary till they had torn him in an hundred pieces. LETTEE XLIY. TO THE SAME. “ Monstrent ***** Quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles Hyberui ; vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet.” Selborne. Gentlemen who have outlets might contrive to make ornament subservient to utility : a pleasing eye-trap might also contribute to promote science : an obelisk in a garden or park might be both an embellishment and an heliotrope. Any person that is curious, and enjoys the advantage of a good horizon, might, with little trouble, make two heliotropes ; the one for the winter, the other for the summer solstice : and the two erections might be constructed with very little expense ; for two pieces of timber frame-work, about ten or twelve feet high, and four feet broad at the base, and close lined with plank, would answer the purpose. The erection for the former should, if possible, be placed within sight of some window in the common sitting-parlour ; because men, at that dead season of the year, are usually within doors at the close of the day ; while that for the latter might be fixed for any given spot in the garden or outlet : whence the owner might contemplate, in a fine summer’s evening, the utmost extent that the sun makes to the northward at the season of the longest days. Now nothing would be necessary but to place these two objects with so much exactness, that the westerly limb of the sun, at setting, might but just clear the winter heliotrope to the west of it on the shortest day ; and that the whole disc of the sun, at the longest day, might exactly at setting also clear the summer heliotrope to the north of it. By this simple expedient it would soon appear that there is no such thing, strictly speaking, as a solstice ; for, from the shortest day, the owner would, every clear evening, see the disc advancing, at its setting, to the westward of the object ; and, from the longest day, observe the PEREGRINE FALCON. HYBRID PHEASANT. LfBRAKr OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILUNOIS NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. 169 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. LETTEE XLY. TO THE SAME. “ Mugire videbis Sub pedibus terrain, et descendere montibus ornos.” Selborne. When I was a boy I used to read, with astonishment and implicit assent, accounts in Baker’s Chronicle ” of walking hills and travelling mountains. John Philips, in his Cyder,” alludes to the credit that was given to such stories with a delicate but quaint vein of humour peculiar to the author of the ‘‘ Splendid Shilling.” “I nor advise, nor reprehend the choice Of Marcley Hill ; the apple no where finds A kinder mould ; ySt ’tis unsafe to trust Deceitful ground : who knows but that once more This mount may journey, and his present site Forsaken, to thy neighbour’s bounds transfer Thy goodly plants, affording matter strange For law debates. ” But, when I came to consider better, I began to feuspect 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 it befel not within the limits of this parish, yet as it was within the hundred of Selborne, and as the circumstances were singular, may fairly claim a place in a work of this nature. The months of January and February, in the year 1774, were remarkable for great melting snows and vast gluts of rain ; so that by the end of the latter month the land-springs, or lavants, began to prevail, and to be near as high as in the memorable winter of 1764. The beginning of March also went on in the same tenor ; when, in the night between the eighth and ninth of that month, a considerable part 170 NATUEAL HISTOEY OF SELBOENE. of the great woody hanger at Hawkley was torn from its place, and fell down, leaving a high free-stone cliff naked and hare, and resembling the steep side of a chalk-pit. It appears that this huge fragment, being perhaps sapped and undermined by waters, foundered, and was 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 far 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 vegetation, after taking the same desperate leap. That great part of this prodigious mass was absorbed in some gulf below, is plain also from the inclining ground at the bottom of the hill, which is free and unincumbered ; but would have been buried in heaps of rubbish, had the fragment parted and fallen forward. About an hundred yards from the foot of this hanging coppice stood a cottage by the side of a lane ; and two hundred yards lower, on the other side of the lane, was a farm-house, in which lived a labourer and his family ; and, just by, a stout new barn. The cottage was inhabited by an old woman and her son, and his wife. These people in the evening, which was very dark and tempestuous, observed that the brick floors of their kitchens began to heave and part ; and that the walls seemed to open, and the roofs to crack : but they all agree that no tremor of the ground, indicating an earthquake, was ever felt ; only that the wind continued to make a most tremendous roaring in the woods and hangers. The miserable inhabitants, not daring to go to bed, remained in the utmost solicitude and confusion, expecting every moment to be buried under the ruins of their shattered edifices. When daylight came they were at leisure to contemplate the devastations of the night : they then found that a deep rift, or chasm, had opened under their houses, and torn them, as it were, in two ; and that one end of the barn had suffered in a similar manner ; that a pond near the cottage had undergone a strange reverse, becoming deep at the shallow end, and so vice versa] that many large oaks were removed out of their perpendicular, some thrown down, and some fallen into the heads of neighbouring trees; and that a gate was thrust forward, with its hedge, full six feet, so as to require a new track to be made to it. From the foot of the cliff the general course of the ground, which is pasture, inclines in a moderate descent for half a mile, and is interspersed with some hillocks, which were rifted, in every direction, as well towards the great woody hanger, as from it. In the first pasture the deep clefts began ; and running across the lane, and under the buildings, made such vast shelves that the road was impassable for some time ; and so over to an arable field on the other side, which was strangely torn and disordered. The second pasture-field, being more soft and springy, was protruded forward without many fissures in the turf, which was raised in long ridges resembling graves, lying at right angles to the motion. At the bottom of this enclosure the soil and turf rose many feet against the bodies of some oaks that obstructed their farther course, and terminated this awful commotion. The perpendicular height of the precipice in general is twenty-three NATURAL HISTORY OP SELBORNE. 171 yards ; the length of the lapse or slip as seen from the fields below, one hundred and eighty-one ; and a partial fall, concealed in the coppice, extends seventy yards more ; so that the total length of this fragment that fell was two hundred and fifty- one yards. About fifty acres of land suffered from this violent convulsion ; 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 chasms as to be rendered for a time neither fit for the plough or safe for pasturage, till considerable labour and expense had been bestowed in levelling the surface and filling in the gaping fissures. LETTEE XLVL TO THE SAME. “ resonant arbusta Selborne. There is a steep abrupt pasture field and interspersed with furze close to the back of this village, well known by the name of Short Lithe, consisting of a rocky dry soil, and inclining to the afternoon sun. This spdt abounds with the gryllus campestris, 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 172 NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE, may gratify his curiosity without injuring the object of it. It is remarkable^ that though these insects are furnished with long legs RIYULET IN SHORT LITHE. 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 and female, each as it may happen ; but there must be a time when the sexes have some intercourse, and then the wings may be useful perhaps during the hours of night. When the males meet they will fight fiercely, as I * Xenarchus, the Athenian comic poet of the Middle Comedy, flourished about B.c. 330 ; in his play, yclept ^arvo?, or “ Sleep, ” he thus felicitates the male cicadas, — sir ila‘)v 01 TiTTiya ovx iHhalyoovii dtv rous yuvcci^h ot>y ot/ovv — “ Ingentem lato dedit ore fenestram : Apparet domus intus, et atria longa patescunt : Apparent penetralia.” There were many caverns and winding passages leading to a kind of chamber, neatly smoothed and rounded, and about the size of a moderate snuff-box. Within this secret nursery were deposited near an hundred eggs of a dirty yellow colour, and enveloped in a tough skin, but too lately excluded to contain any rudiments of young, being full of a viscous substance. The eggs lay but shallow, and within the influence of the sun, just under a little heap of fresh-mowed mould, like that which is raised by ants. When mole-crickets fly they move cursu undoso,” rising and falling in curves, like the other species mentioned before. In different parts of this kingdom people call them fen-crickets, churr-worms, and eve- churrs, all very apposite names. Anatomists, who have examined the intestines of these insects, asto^nish me with their accounts ; for they say that, from the structure, position, and number of their stomachs, or maws, there seems to be good reason to suppose that this and the two former species ruminate or chew the cud like many quadrupeds ! LETTEE XLIX. TO THE SAME. Selborne, May *lth, 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 occurrences still arise as long as any inquiries are kept alive. In the last week of last month five of those most rare birds, too uncommon to have obtained an English name, but known to naturalists by the terms of himantopus, or loripes, and cliaradrius himantopus,* were shot upon the verge of Frinsham-pond, a large lake belonging to the Bishop of Winchester, and lying between Woolmer-forest and the town of Farnham, in the county of Surrey. The pond keeper says there were three brace in the flock : but, that after he had satisfied his curiosity, he suffered the sixth to remain unmolested. One of these specimens I procured, and found the length of the legs to be so extra- ordinary, that, at first sight, one might have supposed the shanks had ♦ “ Himantopedes loripedes quidam, quibus serpendo ingredi natura est.” J^«vTo®-oy 9 , name of a tribe of ^Ethiopians, used by Pliny. Himantopus melanopterus of modem ornithologists. It has been known as an occasional visitant to Britain since the time of Sibbald, but may yet be considered as one of our rarest species. We have no good detailed account of its habits. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 177 been fastened on to impose on the credulity of the beholder : they were legs in caricatura; and had we seen such proportions on a Chinese or Japan screen we should have made large allowances fo • the fancy of the draughtsman. These birds are of the plover family, and might with propriety be called the stilt plovers. Brisson, under that idea, gives them the appo- site name of Vechasse. My spe- cimen, when drawn and stuffed with pepper, weighed only four ounces and a quarter, though the naked part of the thigh measured three inches and an half, and the legs four inches and a half. Hence we may safely assert that these birds exhibit, weight for inches, incom- parably the greatest length of legs of any known bird. The flamingo, for instance, is one of the most long-legged birds, and yet it bears no manner of pro- portion to the Jiimantopus j for a long-legged plover. cock flamingo weighs, at an average, about four pounds avoirdupois; and his legs and thighs measure usually about twenty inches. But four pounds are fifteen times and a fraction more than four ounces, and one quarter ; and if four ounces and a quarter have eight inches of legs, four pounds must have one hundred and twenty inches and a fraction of legs ; viz., somewhat more than ten feet ; such a monstrous proportion as the world never saw ! If you should try the experiment in still larger birds the disparity would still increase. It must be matter of great curiosity to see the stilt plover move ; to observe how it can wield such a length of lever with such feeble muscles as the thighs seem to be furnished with. At best one should expect it to be but a bad walker : but what adds to the wonder is, that it has no back toe. Now without that steady prop to support its steps it must be liable, in speculation, to perpetual vacillations, and seldom able to preserve the true center of gravity. The old name of hiinantopm is taken from Pliny; and, by an awkward metaphor, implies that the legs are as slender and pliant as if cut out of a thong of leather. Neither Willughby nor Kay, in all their curious researches, either at home or abroad, ever saw this bird. Mr. Pennant never met with it in all Great Britain, but observed it often in the cabinets of the curious at Paris. Hasselquist says that it migrates to Egypt in the autumn : and a most accurate observer of Nature has assured me that he has found it on the banks of the streams in Andalusia. Our writers record it to have been found only twice in Great Britain. From all these relations it plainly appears that these long-legged N 178 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 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 remarkable make, can constantly breed unobserved in this kingdom. LETTEE L. TO THE SAME. Selborne, April 21si, 1780. Dear Sir. — The old Sussex tortoise, that I have mentioned to you so often, is become my property. I dug it out 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 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, requiring, I conclude, a freer respiration as it becomes more alive. This creature not only goes under the earth from the middle of November to the middle of April, but sleeps great part of the summer : for it goes to bed in the longest days at four in the afternoon, and often does not stir in the morning till late. Besides, it retires to rest for every shower ; and does not move at all in wet days. When one reflects on the state of this strange being, it is a matter of wonder to find that Providence should bestow such a profusion of days, such a seeming waste of longevity, on a reptile that appears to relish it so little as to squander more than two-thirds of its existence in a joyless stupor, and be lost to all sensation for months together in the profoundest of slumbers. While I was writing this letter, a moist and warm afternoon, with the thermometer at 50, brought forth troops of shell-snails ; and, at the same juncture, the tortoise heaved up the mould and put out its head ; and the next morning came forth, as it were raised from the dead ; and walked about till four in the afternoon. This was a curious coincidence ! a very amusing occurrence ! to see such a similarity of feelings between the two (j)ep€oiKOL 1 for so the Greeks called both the shell-snail and the tortoise.* * We take the following information from the note to this chapter in Mr. Rennet’s edition. The tortoise died in the spring of 1794, and the shell of it was preserved, and at the time Mr. Bennet wrote his notes (1836), it w^s in the possession of NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 179 Summer birds are, this cold aud 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. LETTEE LI. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Sejpt. Zrd, 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 the uncomfortable months of winter. But supposing that the examination would be made to the best advantage in the spring, and observing that no martins had appeared by the 11th of April last ; on that day I employed some men to explore the shrubs and cavities of the suspected spot. The persons took pains, but without any success ; however, a remarkable incident occurred in the midst of our pursuit : while the labourers were at work a house-martin, the first that had been seen this year, came down the village in the sight of several people, and went at once into a nest, where it stayed a short time, and then flew over the houses ; for some days after no martins were observed, not till the 16th of April, and then only a pair. Martins in general were remarkably late this year. LETTEE LIT. TO THE SAME. Selborne, Sept Qth , 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 perseverance of this individual made me suspect that the strongest Mrs. White, and a woodcut is given of it. Professor Bell, whose authority regard- ing the testudinata is the best in this country, if not elsewhere, refers it to the testudo marginata, a species not uncommon in Greece and the Mediterranean ; but Mr. Bennet, upon a careful examination and comparison of the shell of the Grecian species, thinks that he recognised distinctions that would entitle it to a separate name, and he has applied to it that of its owner. We shall rejoice if this can be established, which we have not at present materials to prove or disprove, and would therefore leave it to Professor Bell. The vignette is from the figure of the T. marginoia in Prof. Bell’s Testudinata. N 2 180 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 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 upon two young, which were fledged, and now put out their white chins from a crevice. These remained till the twenty-seventh, looking more alert every day, and seeming to long to be on the wing. After this day they were missing at once ; nor could I ever observe them with their dam coursing round the church in the act of learning to fly, as the first broods evidently do. On the thirty-first I caused the eaves to be searched, but we found in the nest only two callow, dead, stinking swifts, on which a second nest had been formed. This double nest was full of the black shining cases of the hippohoscce 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 beginning of August, yet that they can subsist longer is undeniable. The second is, that this uncommon event, as it was owing to the loss of the first brood, so it corroborates my former remark, that swifts breed regularly but once ; since, was the contrary the case, the occur- rence 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 third of September. LETTEE LIIL 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 a black dust-like appearance, on which the flies fed eagerly ; and that the shoots and leaves thus aflfected did not thrive ; nor did the fruit ripen. To this substance I applied my glasses ; but could not discover that it had anything 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 side proceeded a cotton-like substance, surrounding a multitude of eggs. This curious and uncommon por- duction 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 an horrid and loathsome pest. As soon as I had turned to the accounts given of this insect, I saw at once that it swarmed on my vine ; and did not appear to have been at all checked by the preceding winter, which had been uncommonly severe. Not being then at all aware that it had anything 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 imme- NATUEAI. HISTORY 0 ¥ SELBOllNE. 18] diately under my study-window, where I usually kept my specimens. True it is that I 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 observed, is a sea-port town to which the coccus might be con- veyed 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 published : — 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 suuddenly 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 everything 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. Clothing was to be seen connected with it but many brown oval husky shells, which bj^ no means looked like insects, but rather resembled bits of the dry bark of the vine. The tree had a plentiful crop of grapes set, when this pest appeared upon it ; but the fruit was manifestly injured by this foul incumbrance. It remained all the summer, still 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 perusing the works afterwards of M. de Reaumur, I found this matter perfectly described and accounted for. Those husky shells, which I had observed, were no other than the female coccus, from whose side this cotton-like substance exudes, and serves as a covering and security for their eggs.” To this account I think proper to add, that, though the female cocci are stationary, and seldom remove from the place to which they stick, yet the male is a winged insect ; and that the black dust which I saw was undoubtedly the excrement of the females, which is eaten by ants as well as flies. Though the utmost severity of our winter did not destroy 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 first, 1785. About three o’clock in the afternoon of that day, which was ver}’’ 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 182 NATURAL HISTORY OR SELBORNE. 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.* LETTEE LIY. TO THE SAME. Dear Sir, — When I happen to visit a family where gold and silver fishes are kept in a glass bowl, I am always pleased with the 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 sings 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 muscular back preponderates by its own gravity, and turns the belly uppermost, as lighter from its being a cavity, and because it contains the swimming-bladders, which contri- bute 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 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 (ducks’ meat), and also on small fry. When they want to move a little, they gently protrude themselves with their Pinnce pectorales ; but it is with their strong muscular tails only that they and all fishes shoot along with such inconceivable rapidity. It has been said, that the eyes of fishes are immoveable ; but these * For various methods by which several insects shift their quarters, see Herham’s “Physico-Theology.” NATURAL HISTOHY OF SELBORNE. 183 apparently turn them forward or backward in their sockets as occasions require. They take little notice of a lighted candle, though applied close to their heads, but flounce and seem much frightened by a sudden stroke of the hand against the support whereon the bowl is hung ; especially when they have been motionless, and are perhaps asleep. As fishes have no eye-lids, it is not easy to discern when they are sleeping or not, because their eyes are always open. !N'othing 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 agreeable manner. Gold and silver fishes, though originally native of China and Japan, yet are become so well reconciled to our climate as to thrive and multiply very fast in our ponds and 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 occa- sionally ; 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, ** Qui variare cupit rem prodigialit^r unam.” I am, &c. LETTEE LV. TO THE SAME. October \Uh, 1781. Deae Sik, — I think I have observed before that much of the most considerable part of the house-martins withdraw from hence about the first week in October ; but that some, the latter broods I am now con- vinced, 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 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 manner, and feasting on those insects 184 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. which love to haunt a spot so secure from ruffling winds. As my prin- cipal object was to discover the place of their roosting, I took care to wait on them before they retired to rest, and was much pleased to find that for several evenings together, just at a quarter-past five in the afternoon, they all scudded away in great haste towards the south- east, and darted down among the low shrubs above the cottages at the end of the hill. This spot in many respects seemed^ to be well calculated for their winter residence ; for in many parts it is as steep as the roof of any house, and therefore secure from the annoyances of water ; and it is moreover clothed with beechen shrubs, which, being stunted and bitten by sheep, make the thickest covert imaginable ; and are so entangled as to be impervious to the smallest spaniel ; besides, it is the nature of underwood beech never to cast its leaf all the winter ; so that, with the leaves on the ground and those on the twigs, no shelter can be more complete. I watched them on the thirteenth and fourteenth of October, and found their evening retreat was exact and uniform ; but after this they made no regular appearance. NTow and then a straggler was seen ; and on the twenty-second of October, I observed two in the morning over the village, and with them my remarks for the season ended. From all these circumstances put to- gether, it is more than probable that this lingering flight, at so late a season of the year, never departed from the island. Had they indulged me that autumn with a November visit, as I much desired, I presume that, with proper assistants, I should have settled the matter past all doubt ; but though the 3rd of November was a sweet day, and in appearance exactly suited to my wishes, yet not a martin was to be seen ; and so I was forced, reluctantly, to give up the pursuit. I have only to add that were the bushes, which cover some acres, and are not my own property, to be grubbed and carefully examined, 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. * * The examination would have been fruitless. See note to Letter XXXVI. MARTIN. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 185 LETTEE LVL TO THE SAME. They who write on natural history cannot too frequently advert t(5 instinct, that wonderful limited faculty, which, in some instances, rises the brute creation as it were, above reason, and in others leaves them so far below it. Philosophers have denied instinct to be that secret influence by which every species is impelled naturally to pursue, at all times, the same way or track, without any teaching or example ; whereas reason, without instruction, would often vary and do that by many methods which instinct effects by one alone. Now this maxim must be taken in a qualified sense ; for there are instances in which instinct does vary and conform to the circumstances of place and con- venience. It has been remarked that every species of bird has a mode of nidifi- cation peculiar to itself, so that a school-boy 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 vegetables, are hardly to be found, the nest of the chaffinch has not that elegant finished appearance, nor is it so beautifully studded with lichens, as in a more rural district ; and the wren is obliged to construct its house with straws and dry grasses, which do not give it that rotundity and 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 compressed. In the following instances instinct is perfectly uniform and con- sistent. There are three creatures, the squirrel, the field-mouse, and the bird called the nut-hatch {sitta Europcea), which live much on hazel- nut; and yet they open them each in a different way. The first, after rasping off the small end, splits the shell in two with his long fore teeth, as a man does with his knife ; the second nibbles a hole with his teeth, so regular as if drilled with a wimble, and yet so small that one would wonder how the kernel can be extracted through it ; while the last picks an irregular ragged hole with its bill : but as this artist has no paws to hold the nut firm while he pierces it, like an adroit workman, he fixes it, as it were, in a vice, in some cleft of a tree, or in some crevice ; when, standing over it, he perforates the stubborn shell. We have often placed nuts in the chink of a gate-post where nut-hatches have been known to haunt, and have always found that those birds have readily penetrated them. While at work they make a rapping noise that may be heard at a considerable distance. You that understand both the theory and practical part of music may best inform us why harmony or melody should so strangely assist some men, as it were by recollection, for days after the concert is over. What I mean the following passage will most readily explain : — 186 NATTJBAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. Praehabebat porro vocibus humanis, instrumentisque harmonicis musicam illam avium : non quod alia quoque non delectaretur : sed quod ex music^ humana relinqueretur in animo continens quaedam, attentionemque et somnum conturbans agitatio ; dum ascensus, exscensus, tenores, ac mutationes illae sonorum, et consonantiarum euntque, redeuntque per phantasiam : — cum nihil tale relinqui possit ex modulationibus avium^ quae, quod non sunt perinde a nobis imitabiles, non possunt perinde internam facultatem commovere ,” — Gassendus in Vita Peireskii. This curious quotation strikes me much by so well representing my own case, and by describing what I have so often felt, but never could so well express. When I hear fine music I am haunted with passages therefrom night and day ; and especially at first waking, which, by their importunity, give me more uneasiness than pleasure ; elegant lessons still tease my imagination, and recur irresistibly to my recol- lection at seasons, and even ^when 1 am desirous of thinking of more serious matters. I am, &c. LETTEE EVIL 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 stand in the nectarium of each petal. Sometimes it feeds on the ground like the hedge-sparrow, by hopping about on the grass-plots and mown walks. One of my neighbours, an intelligent and observing man, informs me that, in the beginning of May, and about ten minutes before eight o'clock in the evening, he discovered a great cluster of house-swallows, thirty, at least, he supposes, perching on a willow that hung over the verge of James Knight's upper-pond. His attention was first drawn by the twittering of these birds, which sat motionless in a row on the bough, with their heads all one way, and, by their weight, pressing down the twig so that it nearly touched the water. In this situation he watched them till he could see no longer. Repeated accounts of this sort, spring and fall, induce us greatly to suspect that house- swallows have some strong attachment to water, independent of the matter of food ; and, though they 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 Woolmer Forest sent me a peregrine-falcon, NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 187 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 Farringdon, and sent by me to Mr. Pennant into North Wales.* Since that time I have met with none till now. The specimen mentioned above was in fine preserva- tion, and not injured by the shot : it measured forty-two inches from wing to wing, and twenty-one from beak to tail, and weighed two pounds and an half standing weight. This species is 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 formidable, sharp, long talons : the eyelids and cere of the bill were yellow ; but the irides of the eyes dusky ; the beak was thick and hooked, and of a dark colour, and had a jagged process near the end of the upper mandible on each side : its tail, or train, was short in proportion to the bulk of its body ; yet the wings, when closed, did not extend .to the end of the train. From its large and fair proportions it might be supposed to have been a female ; but I was not permitted to cut open* the specimen. For one of the birds of prey, which are usually lean, this was in high case : in its craw were many barley-corns, which probably came from the crop of the wood-pigeon, on which it was feeding when shot ; for voracious birds do not eat grain, but, when devouring their quarry, with undis- tinguishing vehemence swallow bones and feathers, and all matters, indiscriminately. This falcon was probably driven from the moun- tains of North Wales or Scotland, where they are known to breed, by rigorous weather and deep snows that had lately fallen. I am, &c. LETTEE LVIIL TO THE SAME. My near neighbour, a young gentleman in the service of the East India Company, has brought home a dog and a bitch of the Chinese breed from Canton, such as are fattened in that country for the purpose of being eaten : they are about the size of a moderate spaniel ; of a pale yellow colour, with coarse bristling hairs on their backs ; sharp upright ears, and peaked heads, which give them a very fox-like appearance. Their hind legs are unusually straight, without any bend at the hock or ham, to such a degree as to give them an awkward gait when they trot. When they 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 * See my tenth and eleventh letter to that gentleman. 188 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 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 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 ofiered 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 efibct of choice breeding and cultivation. Thus, in the Travels of Ysbrandt Ides from Muscovy to China,” the dogs which draw the Tartars on snow-sledges, near the river Oby, are engraved with prick- ears, like those from Canton. The Kamschatdales also train the same sort of sharp-eared, peak-nosed dogs to draw their sledges ; as may be seen in an elegant print engraved for Captain Cook’s last voyage round the world. Now we are upon the subject of dogs, it may not be impertinent to add, that spaniels, as all sportsmen know, though they hunt partridges and pheasants as it were by instinct, and with much delight and alacrity, yet will hardly touch their bones when ofiered 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, since the end of hunting seems to be, that the chase pursued should be eaten. Dogs again will not devour the more rancid water-fowls, nor indeed the bones of any wild fowls ; nor will they touch the foetid bodies of birds that feed on offal and garbage ; and indeed there may be somewhat of providential instinct in this circumstance of dislike ; for vultures,* and kites, and ravens, and crows, &c., were intended to be messmates with dogsf over their carrion; and seem to be appointed by Nature as fellow-scavengers to remove all cadaverous nuisances from the face of the earth. I am, &c. * “ Hasselquist, in his travels to the Levant, observes that the dogs and vultures at Grand Cairo maintain such a friendly intercourse as to bring up their young together in the same place, ” t “ The Chinese word for a dog to an European ear sounds like quihlohJ' i 1 Canton, Tchin or khuon. Pekin, kineu. Greek, xluv. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 189 LETTEE LIX. The fossil wood buried in the bogs of Woolmer 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 villa'ge ; this was the butt-end of a small oak, about five feet long, and about five inches in diameter. It had apparently been severed 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 inlaying it along with whiter woods. Those that are much abroad on evenings after it is dark, in spring, and summer, frequently hear a nocturnal bird passing by on the wing, and repeating often a short, quick note. This bird I have remarked myself, but never could make out till lately. I am assured now that it is the stone-curlew {charadrius oedicnemus). Some of them pass over or near my house almost every evening after it is dark, from the uplands of the hill and North Fields, 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 the 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 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.” I am, &c. LETTEE LX. TO THE SAME. In reading Dr. Huxam’s Observationes de Acre,” &c., written at Plymouth, I find by those curious and accurate remarks, which contain an 190 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 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*266 in.; and in 1741, 20*354 in. ; and again, in 1743, only 20*908 in. 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*114in. — a quantity of rain that has twice been exceeded at Selborne in the short period of my observations. Dr. Huxam 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 appearance in the sky, in very dry seasons, arises from the want of moisture sufficient to let the light through, and render the atmosphere transparent ; because he had observed several bodies more diaphanous when wet than dry ; and did never recollect that the air had that look in rainy seasons. , My friend, who lives just beyond the top of the down, brought his three swivel guns to try them in my outlet, with their muzzles towards the Hanger, supposing that the report would have had a great effect ; but the experiment did not answer his expectation. 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 Combwood ponds ; and after a pause seemed to take up the crash again, and to extend round Hartley Hangers, and to die away at last among the coppices and coverts of Ward-le-Ham. It has been remarked before that this district is an Anathoth, a place of responses or echoes, and therefore proper for such experiments : we may farther add that the pauses in echoes, when they cease and yet are taken up again, like the pauses in music, surprise the hearers, and have a fine effect on the imagination. The gentleman abovementioned has just fixed a barometer in his parlour at Newton Yalence. The tube was first filled here (at Selborne) twice with care, when the mercury agreed and stood exactly with my own; but, being filled twice again at Newton, the mercury stood, on account of the great elevation of that house, three-tenths of an inch lower than the barometers at this village, and so continues to do, be the weight of the atmosphere what it may. The plate of the barometer at Newton is figured as low as 27 ; because in stormy weather the mercury there will sometimes descend below 28. We have supposed Newton House to stand two hundred feet higher than this 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. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 191 It may not be impertinent to add, that the barometers at Selborne stand three-tenths of an inch lower than the barometers at South Lambeth : whence we may conclude that the former place is about three hundred feet higher than the latter; and with good reason, because the streams that rise with us run into the Thames at 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 an hundred miles, I am, &c. LETTEE LXL TO THE SAME. Since the weather of a district is undoubtedly part of its natural history, I shall make no further apology for the four following letters, which will contain many particulars concerning some of the great frosts, and a few respecting some very hot summers, that have distinguished themselves from the rest during the course of my observations. As the frost in January 1768 was, for the small time it lasted, the most severe that we had then known for many years, and was remark- ably injurious to evergreens, some account of its rigour, and reason of its ravages, may be useful, and not unacceptable to persons that delight in planting and ornamenting ; and may particularly become a work that professes never to lose sight of utility. For the last two or three days of the former year there were con- siderable falls of snow, which lay deep and uniform on the ground without any drifting, wrapping up the more humble vegetation in perfect security. From the 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 laurus- tines, bays, laurels, and arbutuses looked^ in three or four days, as if they had been burnt in the fire ; while a neighbour’s plantation ot 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, pease-haum, straw, reeds, or any such covering, for a short time ; or, if his shrubberies are extensive, to see that his people go about witfi 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. 192 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. It may perhaps appear at first like a paradox ; but doubtless the more tender trees and shrubs should never be planted in hot aspects ; not only for the reason assigned above, hut also because, thus circum- stanced, they are disposed to shoot earlier in the spring, and to grow on later in the autumn than they would otherwise do, and so are s^iferers by lagging or early frosts. For this reason also plants from Siberia will hardly endure our climate ; because, on the very first advances of spring, they shoot away, and so are cut off by the severe nights of March or April. Dr. Fothergill and others have 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 afterwards to inconveniencies when rigorous weather returns. The coincidents attending this short but intense frost were, that the horses fell sick with an epidemic distemper, which injured the winds of many, and killed some ; that colds and coughs were general among the human species ; that it froze under people’s beds for several nights ; that meat was so hard frozen that it could not be spitted, and could not be secured but in cellars ; that several red-wings and thrushes were killed by the frost ; and that the large titmouse continued to pull straws lengthwise from the eaves of thatched houses and barns in a most adroit manner, for a purpose that has been explained already.* On the 3rd of January, Benjamin Martin’s thermometer within doors, in a close parlour where there was no fire, fell in the night to 20^, and on the 4th, to 18°, and on the 7th, to 17^°, a degree of cold which the owner never since saw in the same situation ; and he regrets much that he was not able at that juncture to attend his instrument abroad. All this time the wind continued north and north-east ; and yet on the 8th roost-cocks, which had been silent, began to sound their clarions, and crows to clamour, as prognostic of milder weather; and, moreover, moles began to heave and work, and a manifest thaw took place. From the latter circumstance we may conclude that thaws often originate under ground from warm vapours which arise ; else how should subter- raneous animals receive such early intimations of their approach. Moreover, we have often observed that cold seems to descend from above ; for, when a thermometer hangs abroad in a frosty night, the intervention of a cloud shall immediately raise the mercury 10° ; and a clear sky shall again compel it to descend to its former gage. And here it may be proper 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 declension of cold ; but often take place immediately from intense freezing ; as men in sickness often mend at once from a paroxysm. * See Letter XLI. to Mr. Pennant. viper’s head. TORTOISE. library OF THE UWVtMtTY ttAlNOIS NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 193 To the great credit of Portugal laurels and American junipers, be it remembered that they remained untouched amidst the general havoc : hence men should learn to ornament chiefly with such trees as are able to withstand accidental severities, and not subject themselves to the vexation of a loss which may befal them once perhaps in ten years, yet may hardly be recovered through the whole course of their lives. As it appeared afterwards, the ilexes were much injured, the cypresses were half destroyed, the arbutuses lingered on, but never recovered ; and the bays, laurustines, and laurels, were killed to the ground ; and the very wild hollies, in hot aspects, were so much aflfected that they cast all their leaves. By the 14th of January the snow was entirely gone ; the turnips emerged not damaged at all, save in sunny places ; the wheat looked delicately, and the garden plants were well preserved ; for snow is the most kindly mantle that infant vegetation can be wrapped in : were it not for that friendly meteor no vegetable life could exist at all in northerly regions. Yet in Sweden the earth in April is not divested of snow for more than a fortnight before the face of the country is covered with flowers. LETTEE LXII. TO THE SAME. There were some circumstances attending the remarkable frost in January 1776, so singular and striking, that a short detail of them may not be unacceptable. The most certain way to be exact will be to copy the passages from my journal, which were taken from time to time, as things occurred. But it may be proper previously to remark that the first week in January was uncommonly wet, and drowned with vast rains from every quarter : from whence may be inferred, as there is great reason to believe is the case, that intense frosts seldom take place till the earth is perfectly 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 12 th, when a prodigious mass /over- whelmed all the works of men, drifting over the tops of the gat^s and filling the hollow lanes. On the 14th the writer was obliged to be much abroad ; and thinks he never before or since has encountered such rugged Siberian weather. Many of the narrow roads were now filled above the tops of the hedges ; through which the snow was driven into most romantic and grotesque 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- * The autumn preceding January 1768 was very wet, and particularly the month of September, during which there fell at Ljmdon, 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 season, and when the springs were very high. 0 194 IS^ATUEAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. places ; for cocks and hens are so dazzled and confounded by the glare of snow that they would soon perish without assistance. The hares also lay sullenly in their seats^ and would not move till compelled by hunger; being conscious — poor animals — that the drifts and heaps treacherously betray their footsteps, and prove fatal to numbers of them. From the 14th the snow continued to increase, and began to stop the road wagons, and coaches, which could no longer keep on their regular stages ; and especially on the western roads, where the fall appears to have been deeper than in the south. The company at Bath, that wanted to attend the Queen’s birth-day, were strangely incom- moded : 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 relent- less heaps of snow were too bulky to be removed ; and so the 18th passed over, leaving the company in very uncomfortable circumstances at the Castle and other inns. On the 20th the sun shone out for the first time since the frost began ; a circumstance that has been remarked before much in favour of vegetation. All this time the cold was not very intense, for the ther- mometer stood at 29°, 28°, 25°, and thereabout ; but on the 21st 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 22nd the author had occasion to go to London through a sort of Laplandian scene, very wild and grotesque indeed. But the metropolis itself exhibited a still more singular appearance than the country ; for, being bedded deep in snow, the pavement of the streets could not be touched by the wheels or the horses’ feet, so that the carriages ran about without the least noise. Such an exemption from din and clatter was strange, but not pleasant ; it seemed to convey an uncomfortable idea of desolation : — “ Ipsa silentia terrent.” On the 27th much snow fell all day, and in the evening the frost became very intense. At South Lambeth, for the four following nights, the thermometer fell to 11°, 7°, 6°, 6°; and at Selborne to 7°, 6°, 10° ; and on the 31st of January, just before sunrise, with rime on the trees and on the tube of the glass, the quicksilver sunk exactly to zero, being 32° below the freezing point ; but by eleven in the morning, though in the shade, it sprang up to 16^°,* — a most unusual degree of * At Selbome the cold was greater than at any other place that the author could hear of with certainty : though some reported at the time that at a village in Kent the thermometer fell two degrees below zero, viz. thirty-four degrees below the freezing point. The thermometer used at Selborne was graduated by Benjamin Martin. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 195 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 constitutions could scarcely endure to face it. The Thames was at once so frozen over both above and below bridge that crowds ran about on the ice. The streets were now strangely encumbered with snow, which crumbled and trod dusty ; and, turning grey, resembled bay-salt ; what had fallen on the roofs was so perfectly dry that, from first to last, it lay twenty-six days on the houses in the city : a longer time than had been remembered by the oldest housekeepers living. According to all appearances we might now have expected the continuance of this rigorous weather for weeks to come, since every night increased in severity; but behold, without any apparent cause, on the 1st of February a thaw took place, and some rain followed before night, making good the observation above, that frosts often go oflf as it were at once, without any gradual declension of cold. On the 2nd of February the thaw persisted ; and on the 3rd swarms of little insects were frisking and sporting in a court-yard at South Lambeth, as if they had felt no frost. Why the juices in the small bodies and smaller limbs of such minute beings are not frozen is a matter of curious inquiry. Severe frosts seem to be partial, or to run in currents ; for at the same juncture, as the author was informed by accurate correspondents, at Lyndon, in the county of Rutland, the thermometer stood at 19 ° ; at Blackburn, in Lancashire, at 19°; and at Manchester at 21°, 20°, and 18°. Thus does some unknown circumstance strangely overbalance latitude, and render the cold sometimes much greater in the southern than the northern parts of this kingdom. The consequences of this severity were, that in Hampshire, at the melting of the snow, the wheat looked well, and the turnips came forth little injured. The laurels and laurustines were somewhat damaged, but only in hot aspects. No evergreens were quite destroyed ; and not half the damage sustained that befell in January 1768. Those laurels that were a little scorched on the south sides were perfectly untouched on their north sides. The care taken to shake the snow day by day from the branches seemed greatly to avail the author’s evergreens. A neighbour’s laurel-hedge, in a high situation, and facing to the north, was perfectly green and vigorous ; and the Portugal laurels remained unhurt. As to the birds, the thrushes and blackbirds were mostly destroyed ; and the partridges, by the weather and poachers, were so thinned that few remained to breed the following year. LETTEE LXIII. TO THE SAME. As the frost in December 1784 was very extraordinary, you, I trust, will not be displeased to hear the particulars ; and especially when I 0 2 196 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, 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 7th, with the barometer at 28*5° — came on a vast snow, which continued all that day and the next, and most part ot the following night ; so that by the morning of the 9th the works of men were quite overwhelmed, the lanes filled so as to be impassable, and the ground covered twelve or fifteen inches without any drifting. In the evening of the 9th the air began to be so very sharp that we thought it would be curious to attend to the motions of a thermometer ; we therefore hung out two, one made by Martin and one by Dollond, which soon began to show us what we were to expect ; for by ten o’clock, they fell to 21°, and at eleven to 4°, when we went to bed. On the 10th, in the morning, the quicksilver of Dollond’s glass was down to half a degree below zero ; and that of Martin’s, which was absurdly graduated only to four degrees above zero, sunk quite into the brass guard of the ball ; so that when the weather became most interesting this was useless. On the 10th, at eleven at night, though the air was perfectly still, Dollond’s glass went down to one degree below zero ! This strange severity of the weather made me very desirous to know what degree of cold there might be in such an exalted and near situation as Newton. We had therefore, on the morning of the 10th, written to Mr. , and intreated him to hang out his thermometer, made by Adams, and to pay some attention to it morning and evening, expecting wonderful phenomena, in so elevated a region, at two hundred feet or more above my house. But, behold ! on the 10th, at eleven at night, it was down only to 17°, and the next morning at 22°, when mine was at 10° ! We were so disturbed at this unexpected reverse of comparative local cold, that we sent one of my glasses up, thinking that of Mr. must, somehow, be wrongly constructed. But, when the instruments came to be confronted, they went exactly together ; so that, for one night at least, the cold at Newton was 18° less than at Selborne ; and, through the whole frost, 10° or 12° ; and indeed, when we came to observe consequences, we could readily credit this ; for all my laurustines, bays, ilexes, arbutuses, cypresses, and even my Portugal laurels,* and (which occasions more regret) my fine sloping laurel-hedge, were scorched up; while, at Newton, the same trees, have not lost a leaf ! We had steady frost on to the 25th, when the thermometer in the morning was down to 10° with us, and at Newton only to 21°. Strong frost continued till the 31st, when some tendency to thaw was observed ; and, by January the 3rd, 1785, the thaw was confirmed, and some rain fell. A circumstance that I must not omit, because it was new to us, is, that on Friday, December the 10th, being bright sunshine, the air was full of icy spiculce, floating in all directions, like atoms in a •* 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. NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 197 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 evaporations from the snow frozen as they mounted ! We were much obliged to the thermometers for the early informa- tion 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 store of roots and fruits, and had their very bread and cheese frozen. I must not omit to tell you that, during these two Siberian days, my parlour cat was so electric, that had a person stroked her, and been properly insulated, the shock might have been given to a whole circle of people. I forgot to mention before, that, during the two severe days, two men, who were tracing hares in the snow, had their feet frozen ; and two men, who were much better employed, had their fingers so aflected by the frost, while they were thrashing in a barn, that a mortification followed, from which they did not recover for many weeks. This frost killed all the furze and most of the ivy, and in many places stripped the hollies of all their leaves. It came at a very early time of the year, before old November ended ; and yet may be allowed from its efiects to have exceeded any since 1730-40. LETTEE LXIV. 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 sunshine 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 suflered 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 198 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. what I have heard travellers assert, that they never ate a good apple or apricot in the south of Europe, where the heats were so great as to render the juices vapid and insipid. The great pests of a garden are wasps, which destroy all the finer fruits just as they are coming into perfection. In 1781 we had none; in 1783 there were myriads ; which would have devoured all the produce of my garden, had not we set the boys to take the nests, and caught thousands with hazel-twigs tipped with bird-lime : we have since employed the boys to take and destroy the large breeding wasps in the spring. Such expedients have a great effect on these marauders, and will keep them under. Though wasps do not abound but in hot summers, yet they do not prevail in every hot summer, as I have instanced in the two years above-mentioned. In the sultry season of 1783, honey-dews were so frequent as to deface and destroy the beauties of my garden. My honeysuckles, which were one week the most sweet and lovely objects that the 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 appearance seems to be this, that in hot weather the effluvia of flowers in fields and meadows and gardens are drawn up in the day by a brisk evaporation, and then in the night fall down again with the dews, in which they are entangled ; that the air is strongly scented, and therefore 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 observed to mount as high as 83° or 84°; but with us, in this hilly and woody district, I have hardly ever seen it exceed 80 ° ; nor does it often arrive at that pitch. The reason, I conclude, is, that our dense clayey soil, so much shaded by trees, is not so easily heated through as those above-mentioned : and, besides, our mountains cause currents of air and breezes ; and the vast effluvia from our woodlands temper and moderate our heats. LETTEE LXV. TO THE SAME. The summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one, and full of horrible phaenomena ; for, besides the alarming meteors and tremendous thunder storms that affrighted and distressed the different counties of this kingdom, the peculiar haze, or smoky fog, that prevailed for many weeks in this island, and in every part of Europe, and even beyond its limits, was a most extraordinary appearance, unlike any- thing known within the memory of man. By my journal I find that I had noticed this strange occurrence from June 23rd to July 20th NATUEAL HISTORY OF SELBOENE. 199 inclusive, during which period the wind varied to every quarter without making any alteration in the air. The sun, at noon, looked as blank as a clouded moon, and shed a rust-coloured ferruginous light on the ground, and floors of rooms ; 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 on the day after it was killed; and the flies swarmed so in the lanes and hedges that they rendered the horses half frantic, and riding irksome. The country people began to look with a superstitious awe at the red, louring aspect of the sun; and indeed there was reason for the ihost enlightened person to be apprehensive ; for, all the while, Calabria and part of the isle of Sicily, were torn and convulsed with earthquakes ; and about that juncture a volcano sprang out of the sea on the coast of Norway. On this occasion Milton’s noble simile of the sun, in his first book of Paradise Lost,” frequently occurred to my mind ; and it is indeed particularly applicable, because, towards the end, it alludes to a superstitious kind of dread, with which the minds of men are always impressed by such strange and unusual phaenomena. “ As when the sun, new risen, Looks through the horizontal, misty air, Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon. In dAm eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs . ” LETTEE LXVI. 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 sometimes divide in two, go in part to one of those quarters, and in part to the other ; as was truly the case in summer 1783, when, though the country round was continually harassed with tempests, and often from the south, yet we escaped them all, as appears by my journal of that summer. The only way that I can at all account for this fact — for such it is — is that, on that quarter, between us and the sea, there are continual mountains, hill behind hill, such as Nore-hill, the Barnet, Butser-hill, and 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 mischievous contents, which are discharged into the trees and summits as soon as they come in contact with those turbulent meteors ; while the humble vales escape, because they are so far beneath them. But, when I say I do not remember a thunder-storm from the south, I do not mean that we never have suffered from thunder-storms at all ; for on June 5th, 1784, the thermometer in the morning being 200 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. at 64°, and at noon at 70°, the barometer at 29‘6|°, and the wind north, I observed a blue mist, smelling strongly of sulphur, hanging along our sloping woods, and seeming to indicate that thunder was at hand. 1 1 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 center of the storm, was greatly injured ; as was Grange, which lay next to it. It did but just reach to the middle of the village, where the hail broke my north windows, and all my garden-lights and hand-glasses, and many of my neighbours’ windows. The extent of the storm was about two miles in length and one in breadth. We were just sitting down to dinner; but were soon diverted from our repast by the clattering of tiles and the jingling of glass. There fell at the same time prodigious torrents of rain on the farms above-mentioned, which occasioned a flood as violent as it was sudden ; doing great 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 ponds and pools say that the dashing of the water made an extraordinary appearance, the froth and spray standing up in the air three feet above the surface. The rushing and 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 machine at that place rang repeatedly, and fierce sparks were discharged. When I first took the present work in hand I proposed to have added an ^^Annm 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 in my way to be mentioned in my series of letters ; but, as Mr. Aikin of Warrington has lately published somewhat of this sort, and as the length of my correspondence has suf5.ciently put your patience to the test, I shall here take a respectful leave of you and natural history together, and am. With all due deference and regard. Your most obliged and most humble servant, GIL. WHITE. Selborne, June 2,bth, ITS/. THE ANTIQUITIES OP SELBORNE. LETTEE I. It is reasonable to suppose that in remote ages this woody and mountainous district was inhabited only by bears and wolves. Whether the Britons ever thought it worthy their attention, is not in our power to determine ; but we may safely conclude, from circumstances, that it was not unknown to the Romans. Old people remember to have heard their fathers and grandfathers say that, in dry summers and in windy weather, pieces of money were sometimes found round the verge of Woolmer pond ; and tradition had inspired the foresters with a notion that the bottom of that lake contained great stores of treasure. During the spring and summer of 1740 there was little rain; and the following summer also, 1741, was so uncommonly dry, that many springs and ponds failed, and this lake in particular, whose bed became as dusty as the surrounding heaths and wastes. This favourable juncture indivced some of the forest-cottagers to begin a search, which was attended with such success, that all the labourers in the neighbourhood flocked to the spot, and with spades and hoes turned up great part of that large area. Instead of pots of coins, as they expected, they found great heaps, the one lying on the other, as if shot out of a bag ; many of which were in good preservation. Silver and gold these inquirers expected to And ; but their discoveries consisted solely of many hundreds of Roman copper-coins, and some medallions, all of the lower empire. There was not much virtH stirring at that time in this neighbourhood ; however, some of the gentry and clergy around bought what pleased them best, and some dozens fell to the share of the author. The owners at flrst held their commodity at an high price ; but. finding that they were not likely to meet with dealers at such a rate, they soon lowered their terms, and sold the fairest as they could. The coins that were rejected became current, and passed for farthings at the petty shops. Of those that we saw, the greater part were of Marcus Aurelius, and the Empress Faustina, his wife, the father and mother of Commodus. Some of Faustina were in high relief, and exhibited a 202 ANTIQUITIES OE SELBORNE, very agreeable set of features, which probably resembled that lady, who was more celebrated for her beauty than for her virtues. The medallions in general were of a paler colour than the coins. To pretend to account for the means of their coming to this place would be spending time in conjecture. The spot, I think, could not be a Roman camp, because it is commanded by hills on two sides ; nor does it show the least traces of entrenchments ; nor can I suppose that it was a Roman town, because I have too good an opinion of the taste and judgment of those polished conquerors to imagine that they would settle on so barren and dreary a waste. LETTEE II. That Selbome was a place of some distinction and note in the time of the Saxons we can give most undoubted proofs. But, as there are few if any accounts of the villages before Domesday, it will be best to begin with that venerable record. Ipse rex tejiet Selesburne. Eddid regina tenuit, et nunquam geldavit. De isto manerio done dedit rex Radfredo presbytero dimidiam hidam cum ecclesia. Tempore regis Edwardi et post, valuit duodecim solidos et sex denarios ; modo octo solidos et quatuor denarios.” Here we see that Selborne was a royal manor : and that Editha, the queen of Edward the Confessor, had been lady of that manor, and was succeeded in it by the Conqueror, and that it had a church. Besides these, many circumstances concur to prove it to have been a Saxon village ; such as the name of the place itself,* the names of many fields, and some families,t with a variety of words in husbandry and common life, still subsisting among the country people. * Selesburne, Seleburne, Selburn, Selbourn, Selborne, and Selborn, as it has been variously spelt at different periods, is of Saxon derivation ; for Sel signifies great, and burn torrens, a brook or rivulet: so that the name seems to be derived from the great perennial stream that breaks out at the upper end of the village. — Sel also signifies bonus, item foecundus, fertilis. “Sel ^aepj'-tun: fcecunda graminis clausura; fertile pascuum: a meadow in the parish of Godelming is still called Sal-gars-ton. ” — Lye’s Saxon Dictionary, in the Supplement, by Mr. Manning. t Thus, the name of Aldred signifies all-reverend, and that of Kemp means a soldier. Thus we have a church-litton, or enclosure for dead bodies, and not a church-yard; there is also a Culver-croft near the Grange-farm, being the enclosure where the priory pigeon-house stood, from culver a pigeon. Again there are three steep pastures in this parish called the Lithe, from Hlithe, clivus. The wicker-work that binds and fastens down a hedge on the top is called ether, from ether, an hedge. When the good women call their hogs they cry sic, sic,'^ not knowing that sic is Saxon, or rather Celtic, for a hog. Coppice or brushwood our countrymen call rise, from hris, frondes ; and talk of a load of rise. Within the author’s memory the Saxon plurals, housen and peason, were in common use. But it would be endless to instance in every circumstance : he that wishes for more specimens must frequent a farmer’s kitchen. I have therefore selected some words to show how familiar the Saxon dialect was to this district, since in more than seven hundred years it is far' from being obliterated. 1 porcus, apud Lacones ; un Porceau chez les Lacbdemoniens : ce mot a sans doute estb pris des Celtes, qui disoent sic, pour marquer un porceau. Encore aujour’huy quand les Bretons chassent ces animaux, ils ne disent autrement, que sic, sic. — AntiquiU de la Nation et de la Langue des Celtes, par Pezron. ANTIQUITIES OE SELBORNE. 203 What probably first drew the attention of the Saxons to this spot was the beautiful spring or fountain called Well Head,* which induced them to build by the banks of that perennial current; for ancient settlers loved to reside by brooks and rivulets, where they could dip for their water without the trouble and expense of digging wells and of drawing. It remains still unsettled among the antiquaries at what time tracts of land were first appropriated to the chase alone for the amusement of the sovereign. Whether our Saxon monarchs had any royal forests, does not, I believe, appear on record ; but the Constitutiones de Foresta,” of Canute, the Dane, are come down to us. We shall not, therefore, pretend to say whether Woolmer Forest existed as a royal domain before the conquest. If it did not, we may suppose it was laid out by some of our earliest Norman kings, who were exceedingly attached to the pleasures of the chase, and resided much at Winchester, which lies at a moderate distance from this district. The Plantagenet princes seem to have been pleased with Woolmer, for tradition says that King John resided just upon the verge, at Ward-le-ham, on a regular and remarkable mount, still called King John’s Hill, and Lodge Hill ; and Edward HI. had a chapel in his park, or enclosure, at Kingsley .+ Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Eichard, Duke of York, say my evidences, were both, in their turns, wardens of Woolmer Forest, which seems to have served for an appointment for the younger princes of the royal family, as it may again. I have intentionally mentioned Edward HI. and the dukes Hum- phrey and Eichard, before King Edward IL, because I have reserved, for the entertainment of my readers, a pleasant anecdote respecting that prince, with which I shall close this letter. As Edward H. was hunting on Woolmer Forest, Morris Ken, of the kitchen, fell from his horse several times, at which accidents the king laughed immoderately ; and, when the chase was over, ordered him twenty shillings,J an enormous sum for those days ! Proper allowances ought to be made for the youth of this monarch, whose spirits also, we may suppose, were much exhilarated by the sport of the day ; but, at the same time, it is reasonable to remark, that, whatever might be the occasions of Ken’s first fall, the subsequent ones seem to have been designed. The scullion appears to have been an artful fellow, and to have seen the king’s foible, which furnishes an early specimen of that his easy softness and facility of temper, of which the infamous Gaveston took such advantages, as brought innumerable calamities on the nation, and involved the prince at last in misfortunes and sufferings too deplorable to be mentioned, without horror and amazement. * Well-head signifies spring-head, and not a deep pit from whence wo draw water. For particulars about which see Letter I. to Mr. Pennant. t The parish of Kingsley lies between, and divides Wolmer Forest from Ayles Holt Forest. See Letter IX. to Mr. Pennant. t “Item, paid at the lodge at Woolmer, when the king was stag-hunting there, to Morris Ken, of the kitchen, because he rode before the king and often fell from his horse, at which the king laughed exceedingly — a gift, by command, of twenty shillings.” — A MS. in possession of Thomas Astle, Esq., containing the private expenses of Edward II. 204 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. SELBORNE CHURCH AND VICARAGE, LETTEE IIL From the silence of Domesday respecting churches^ it has been supposed that few villages had any at the time when that record was taken ; but Selborne, we see, enjoyed the benefit of one : hence, we may conclude, that this place was in no abject state even at that very distant period. How many fabrics have succeeded each other since the daj^s of Radfredrus the presbyter, we cannot pretend to say; our business leads us to a description of the present edifice, in which we shall be circumstantial. Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, consists of three aisles, and measures fifty-four feet in length, by forty-seven in breadth, being almost as broad as it is long. The present building has no pretensions to antiquity, and is, as I suppose, of no earlier date than the beginning of the reign of Henry YII. It is perfectly plain and unadorned, without painted glass, carved work, sculpture, or tracery. But when I say it has no claim to antiquity, I would mean to be understood the fabric in general ; for the pillars, which support the roof, are undoubtedly old, being of that low, squat, thick order, usually called Saxon. These, I should imagine, upheld the roof of a former church, which, falling into decay, was rebuilt on those massy props, because their strength had preserved them from the injuries of time.* * In the same manner, to compare great things with small, did Wykeham, when he new-built the cathedral at Winchester, from the tower westward, apply to his purpose the old piers or pillars of Bishop Walkelin’s church, by blending Saxon and Gothic architecture together. — See Lowth’s Life of Wykeham. ANTIQUITIES OE SELBOllNE. 205 Upon these rest blunt Gothic arches, such as prevailed in the reign above-mentioned, and by which, as a criterion, we would prove the date of the building. At the bottom of the south aisle, between the west and south doors, stands the font, which is deep and capacious, and consists of three massy round stones, piled one on another, without the least ornament or sculpture : the cavity at the top is lined with lead, and has a pipe at the bottom to convey off the water after the sacred ceremony is performed. The east end of the south aisle is called the South Chancel, and, till within these thirty years, was divided off by old carved Gothic frame- work of timber, having been a private chantry. In this opinion we are more confirmed by observing two Gothic niches within the space, the one in the east wall and the other in the south, near which there probably stood images and altars. In the middle aisle there is nothing remarkable ; but I remember when its beams were hung with garlands in honour of young women of the parish, reputed to have died virgins ; and recollect to have seen the clerk’s wife cutting, in white paper, the resemblances of gloves, and ribbons to be twisted in knots and roses, to decorate these memorials of chastity. In the church of Faringdon, which is the next parish, many garlands of this sort still remain. The north aisle is narrow and low, with a sloping ceiling, reaching within eight or nine feet of the floor. It had originally a flat roof, covered with lead, till, within a century past, a churchwarden stripping off the lead, in order, as he said, to have it mended, sold it to a plumber, and ran away with the money. This aisle has no door, for an obvious reason ; because the north side of the churchyard, being surrounded by the vicarage-garden, affords no path to that side of the church. Nothing can be more irregular than the pews of this church, which are of all dimensions and heights, being patched up according to the fancy of the owners ; but whoever nicely examines them will find that the middle aisle had, on each side, a regular row of benches of solid oak, all alike, with a low back-board to each. These we should not hesitate to say are coeval with the present church ; and especially as it is to be observed that, at their ends, they are orna- mented with carved blunt Gothic niches, exactly correspondent to the arches of the church, and to a niche in the south wall. The fourth aisle also has a row of these benches ; but some are decayed through age, and the rest much disguised by modern alterations. At the upper end of this aisle, and running out to the north, stands a transept, known by the name of the North Chancel, measuring twenty-one feet from south to north, and nineteen feet from east to west : this was intended, no doubt, as a private chantry ; and was also, till of late, divided off by a Gothic frame-work of timber. In its north wall, under a very blunt Gothic arch, lies perhaps the founder of this edifice, which, from the shape of its arch, may be deemed no older than the latter end of the reign of Henry VII. The tomb was examined some years ago, but contained nothing except the skull and thigh-bones of a large tall man, and the bones of a youth or woman, 206 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. lying in a very irregular manner, without any escutcheon or other token to ascertain the names or rank of the deceased. The grave was very shallow, and lined with stone at the bottom and on the sides. From the east wall project four stone brackets, which I conclude supported images and crucifixes. In the great thick pilaster, jutting out between this transept and the chancel, there is a very sharp gothic niche, of older date than the present chantry or church. But the chief pieces of antiquity are two narrow stone coflin-lids, which compose part of the floor, and lie from west to east, with the very narrow ends eastward : these belong to remote times ; and, if originally placed here, which I doubt, must have been part of the pavement of an older transept. At present there are no coffins under them, whence I con- clude they have been removed to this place from some part of a former church. One of these lids is so eaten by time, that no sculpture can be discovered upon it ; or, perhaps, it may be the wrong side uppermost ; but on the other, which seems to be of stone of a closer and harder texture, is to be discerned a discus, with a cross on it, at the end of a staff or rod, the well-known symbol of a Knight Templar.* This order was distinguished by a red cross on the left shoulder of their cloak, and by this attribute in their hand. Now, if these stones belonged to Knights Templars, they must have lain here many cen- turies ; for this order came into England early in the reign of King Stephen in 1113; and was dissolved in the time of Edward II. in 1312, having subsisted only one hundred and thirty -nine years. Why I should suppose that Knights Templars were occasionally buried at this church, will appear in some future letter, when we come to treat more particularly concerning the property they possessed here, and the intercourse that subsisted between them and the priors of Selborne. We must now proceed to the chancel, properly so called, which seems to be coeval with the church, and is in the same plain unadorned style, though neatly kept. This room measures thirty-one feet in length, and sixteen feet and a half in breadth, and is wainscoted all round, as high as to the bottom of the windows. The space for the communion- table is raised two steps above the rest of the floor, and railed in with oaken balusters. Here I shall say somewhat of the windows of the chancel in particular, and of the whole fabric in general. They are mostly of that simple and unadorned sort called Lancet, some single, some double, and some in triplets. At the east end of the -chancel are two of a moderate size, near each other ; and in the north wall two very distant small ones, unequal in length and height : and in the south wall are two, one on each side of the chancel-door, that are broad and squat, and of a different order. At the east end of the south aisle of the church there is a large lancet-window in a triplet ; and two very small, narrow, single ones in the south wall, and a broad squat window beside, and a double lancet one in the west end ; so that the appearance is very irregular. In the north aisle are two windows, made shorter when the roof was sloped ; and in the north transept a large triple window, shortened at the time of a repair in 1721 : when over it was * See Dugdale, Monasiicon Anglicanum, vol. ii., where there is a fine engraving of a Knight-Templar, by Hollar. ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 207 “Opened a round one of considerable size, which affords an agreeable light, and renders that chantry the most cheerful part of the edifice. The church and chancels have all covered roofs, ceiled about the year 1633 ; before which they were open to the tiles and shingles, showing the naked rafters, and threatening the congregation with the fall of a spar, or a blow from a piece of loose mortar. On the north wall of the chancel is fixed a large oval white marble monument, with the following inscription ; and at the foot of the wall, over the deceased, and inscribed with his name, age, arms, and time of death, lies a large slab of black marble : Prope hunc parietem sepelitur GILBERTUS WHITE, SAMSONIS WHITE, de Oxon. militis filius tertius, Collegii Magdale- -nensis ibidem alumnus, & socius. Tandem faven- -te collegio ad banc ecclesiam promotus; ubi primse- -va morum simplicitate, et diffusa erga omnes bene- volentia feliciter consenuit. Pastor fidelis, comis, affabilis, Maritus, et pater amantissimus, A conjuge invicem, et liberis, atque A parocbianis impensd dilectus. Pauperibus ita beneficus ut decimam partem census moribundus piis usibus consecravit. Mentis demum juxta et annis plenus • ex hac vita migravit Feb. 13°. anno salutis I72g ./Etatis suae 77. Hoc posuit Rebecca Conjux illius maestissima, mox secutura. On the same wall is newly fixed a small square table-monument of white marble, inscribed in the following manner : Sacred to the memory of the Revd. ANDREW ETTY, B. D. 23 Years Vicar of this parish : In whose character The conjugal, the parental, and the sacerdotal virtues were so happily combined as to deserve the imitation of mankind. And if in any particular he followed more invariably the steps of his blessed Master, It was in his humility. His parishioners, especially the sick and necessitous, as long as any traces of his memory shall remain, must lament his death. To perpetuate such an example, this stone is erected ; as while living he was a preacher of righteousness, so, by it, he being dead yet speaketh. He died April 8^^ 1784, aged 66 years. LETTEE IV. W E bave now taken leave of the inside of the church, and shall pass by a door at the west end of the middle aisle into the belfry. This room is part of a handsome square embattled tower of forty-five feet in 208 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBOENE. Beiglit, and of mucli more modern date than the church; but old enough to have needed a thorough repair in 1781, when it was neatly- stuccoed at a considerable expense, by a set of workmen who were employed on it for the greatest part of the summer. The old bells, three in number, loud and out of tune, were taken down in 1735, and cast into four ; to which Sir Simon Stuart, the grandfather of the present baronet, added a fifth at his own expense : and, bestowing it in the name of his favourite daughter, Mrs. Mary Stuart, caused it to be cast with the following motto round it : “ Clara puella dedit, dixitque mihi esto Maria : lUius et laudes nomen ad astra sono.” The day of the arrival of this tuneable peal was observed as an high festival by the village, and rendered more joyous, by an order from the donor, that the treble bell should be fixed bottom upward in the ground and filled with punch, of which all present were permitted to partake. The porch of the church, to the south, is modern, and would not be worthy attention did it not shelter a fine sharp gothic doorway. This is undoubtedly much older than the present fabric ; and, being found in good preservation, was worked into the wall, and is the grand entrance into the church : nor are the folding-doors to be passed over in silence ; since, from their thick and clumsy structure, and the rude flourished-work of their hinges, they may possibly be as ancient as the doorway itself. The whole roof of the south aisle, and the south side of the roof of the middle aisle, is covered with oaken shingles instead of tiles, on account of their lightness, which favours the ancient and crazy timber- frame. And, indeed, the consideration of accidents by fire excepted, this sort of roofing is much more eligible than tiles. For shingles well seasoned, and cleft from quartered timber, never warp, nor let in drifting snow ; nor do they shiver with frost ; nor are they liable to be blown off, like tiles ; but, when well nailed down, last for a long period, as experience has shown us in this place, where those that face to the north are known to have endured, untouched, by undoubted tradition, for more than a century. Considering the size of the church, and the extent of the parish, the churchyard is very scanty ; and especially as all wish to be buried on the south side, which is become such a mass of mortality that no person can be there interred without disturbing or displacing the bones of his ancestors. There is reason to suppose that it once was larger, and extended to what is now the vicarage court and garden ; because many human bones have been dug up in those parts several yards without the present limits. At the east end are a few graves ; yet none till very lately on the north side ; but, as two or three families of best repute have begun to bury in that quarter, prejudice may wear out by degrees, and their example be followed by the rest of the neighbourhood. In speaking of the church, I have all along talked of the east and west-end, as if the chancel stood exactly true to those points of the compass ; but this is by no means the case, for the fabric bears so much ANTIQUITIES OF SELBOllNE. 209 to the north of the east that the four corners of the tower, and not the four sides, stand to the four cardinal points. The best method of accounting for this deviation seems to be, that the workmen, who probably were employed in the longest days, endeavoured to set the chancels to the rising of the sun. Close by the church, at the west end, stands the vicarage -house ; an old, but roomy and convenient edifice. It faces very agreeably to the morning sun, and is divided from the village by a neat and cheerful court. According to the manner of old times, the hall was open to the roof ; and so continued, probably, till the vicars became family-men, and began to want more conveniences ; when they flung a floor across, and, by partitions, divided the space into chambers. In this hall we remember a date, some time in the reign of Elizabeth ; it was over the door that leads to the stairs. Behind the house is a garden of an irregular shape, but well laid out ; whose terrace commands so romantic and picturesque a prospect, that the first master in landscape might contemplate it with pleasure, and deem it an object well worthy of his pencil. LETTEE V. In the churchyard of this village is a yew-tree, whose aspect bespeaks it to be of a great age : it seems to have seen several centuries, and is probably coeval with the church, and therefore may be deemed an antiquity : the body is squat, short, and thick, and measures twenty- three feet in the girth, supporting an head of suitable extent to its bulk. This is a male tree, which in the spring sheds clouds of dust, and fills the atmosphere around with its farina.* As far as we have been able to observe, the males of this species become much larger than the females ; and it has so fallen out that most of the yew-trees in the church-yards of this neighbourhood are males : but this must have been matter of mere accident, since men, when they first planted yews, little dreamed that there were sexes in trees. In a yard, in the midst of the street, till very lately grew a middle- sized female tree of the same species, which commonly bore great crops of berries. By the high winds usually prevailing about the autumnal equinox, these berries, then ripe, were blown down into the road, where the hogs ate them. And it was very remarkable, that, though barrow-hogs and young sows found no inconvenience from this food, yet milch-sows often died after such a repast : a circumstance that can be accounted for only by supposing that the latter, being much exhausted and hungry, devoured a larger quantity. While mention is making of the bad effects of yew-berries, it may be proper to remind the unwary that the twigs and leaves of yew, ^ This is represented in the front of the vignette which heads Letter III., it is still a striking object, and now measures twenty-three feet in girth. P 210 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBOENE. though eaten in a very small quantity, are certain death to horses and C€)ws, and that in a few minutes. An horse tied to a yew-hedge, or to a faggot-stack of dead yew, shall be found dead before the owner can be aware that any danger is at hand ; and the writer has been several times a sorrowful witness to losses of this kind among his friends; and in the island of Ely had once the mortification to see nine young steers or bullocks of his own all lying dead in an heap from browsing a little on an hedge of yew in an old garden, into which they had broken in snowy weather. Even the clippings of a yew hedge have destroyed a whole dairy of cows when thrown inadvertently into a yard. And yet sheep and turkeys, and, as park-keepers say, deer will crop these trees with impunity. Some intelligent persons assert that the branches of yew, while green, are not noxious ; and that they will kill only when dead and withered, by lacerating the stomach ; but to this assertion we cannot by any means assent, because, among the number of cattle that we have known fall victims to this deadly food, not one has been found, when it was opened, but had a lump of green yew in its paunch. True it is, that yew-trees stand for twenty-years or more in a field, and no bad consequences ensue; but at some time or other cattle, either from wantonness when full, or from hunger when empty (from both which circumstances we have seen them perish), will be meddling, to their certain destruction ; the yew seems to be a very improper tree for a pasture-field. Antiquaries seem much at a loss to determine at what period this tree first obtained a place in church-yards. A statute passed A.D. 1307 and 35 Edward I. the title of which is Ne rector arbores in cemeterio prosternat.” Now if it is recollected that we seldom see any other very large or ancient tree in a churchyard but yews, this statute must have principally related to this species of tree ; and consequently their being planted in churchyards is of much more ancient date than the year 1307. As to the use of these trees, possibly the more respectable parishioners were buried under their shade before the improper custom was intro- duced of burying within the body of the church, where the living are to assemble. Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse,* was buried under an oak ; the most honourable place of interment probably next to the cave of Machpelah,t which seems to have been appropriated to the remains of the patriarchal family alone. The farther use of the yew-trees might be as a screen to churches, by their thick foliage, from the violence of winds ; perhaps also for the purpose of archery, the best long bows being made of that material ; and we do not hear that they are planted in the churchyards of other parts of Europe, where long bows were not so much in use. They might also be placed as a shelter to the congregation assembling before the church doors were opened, and as an emblem of mortality by their funereal appearance. In the south of England every churchyard almost has its tree, and some two ; but in the north, we understand, few are to be found. * Gen. XXXV. 8. t Gen. xxiii. 9. ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 211 The idea of R. C. that the yew-tree afforded its branches instead of palms for the processions on Palm Sunday, is a good one, and deserves attention. See Gent. Mag.” vol. 1. p. 128. LETTEE VI. The living of Selborne was a very small vicarage ; but, being in the patronage of Magdalen College, in the university of Oxford, that society endowed it with the great tithes of Selborne, more than a century ago ; and since the year 1758 again with the great tithes of Oakhanger, called Bene’s parsonage ; so that, together, it is become a respectable piece of preferment, to which one of the fellows is always presented. The vicar holds the great tithes, by lease, under the college. The great disadvantage of this living is, that it has not one foot of glebe near home.* ITS PAYMENTS ARE — £. 8. d. King’s books 821 Yearly tenths 0 16 2^ Yearly procurations for Blackmore and Oakhanger 1 o 1 7 Chap, with acquit ) Selborne procurations and acquit. . . . . 0 9 0 I am unable to give a complete list of the vicars of this parish till towards the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; from which period the registers furnish a regular series. In Domesday we find thus — De isto manerio dono dedit Rex Radfredo presbytero dimidiam hidam cum ecclesia.” So that before Domesday, which was compiled between the years 1081 and 1086, here was an officiating minister at this place. After this, among my documents, I find occasional mention of a vicar here and there ; the first is — Roger, instituted in 1254. In 1410 John Lynne was vicar of Selborne. In 1411 Hugo Tybbe was vicar. The presentations to the vicarage of Selborne generally ran in the name of the prior and the convent ; but Tybbe was presented by Prior John Wynechestre only. June 29, 1528, William Fisher, vicar of Selborne, resigned to Miles Peyrson. 1594, William White appears to have been vicar to this time. Of this person there is nothing remarkable, but that he hath made a regular entry twice in the register of Selborne of the funeral of Thomas Cowper, bishop of Winchester, as if he had been buried at Selborne ; yet this learned prelate, who died 1594, was buried at Winchester, in the cathedral, near the episcopal throne.f 1595, Richard Boughton, vicar. * At Bene’s, or Bin’s, parsonage there is a house and stout bam, and seven acres of glebe ; Bene’s parsonage is three miles from the church. t See “ Godwin de Prsesulibus,” Folio Cant. 1713, p. 239. p 2 212 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBOENE. 1590, William Inkforbye, vicar. May 1606, Thomas Phippes, vicar. June 1031, Ealph Austine, vicar. July 1632, John Longworth. This unfortunate gentleman, living in the time of CromwelTs usurpation, was deprived of his preferment for many years, probably' because he would not take the league and covenant ; for I observe that his father-in-law, the Eeverend Jethro Beal, rector of Faringdon, which is the next parish, enjoyed his benefice during the whole of that unhappy period. Longworth, after he was dispossessed, retired to a little tenement about one hundred and fifty yards from the church, where he earned a small pittance by the practice of physic. During those dismal times it was not uncommon for the deposed clergy to take up a medical character; as was the case in particular, I know, with the Eeverend Mr. Yalden, rector of Compton, near Guildford, in the county of Surrey. Yicar Longworth used frequently to mention to his sons, who told it to my relations, that, the Sunday after his deprivation, his puritanical successor stepped into the pulpit with no small petulance and exultation : and began his sermon from Psalm xx. 8, They are brought down and fallen ; but we are risen and stand upright.” This person lived to be restored in 1660, and continued vicar for eighteen years ; but was so impoverished by his misfortunes, that he left the vicarage-house and premises in a very abject and dilapidated state. July 1678. Eichard Byfield, who left eighty pounds by will, the interest to be applied to apprentice out poor children ; but this money, lent on private security, was in danger of being lost, and the bequest remained in an unsettled state for near twenty years, till 1700 ; so that little or no advantage was derived from it. About the year 1759 it was again in the utmost danger by the failure of a borrower ; but, by prudent management, has since been raised to one hundred pounds stock in the three per cents reduced. G^he trustees are the vicar and the renters or owners of Temple, Priory, Grange, Blackmore, and Oakhanger-house, for the time being. This gentleman seemed inclined to have put the vicarial premises in a comfortable state ; and began by building a solid stone wall round the front court, and another in the lower yard, between that and the neighbouring garden ; but was interrupted by death from fulfilling his laudable intentions. April, 1680, Barnabas Long became vicar. June, 1681. This living was now in such low estimation in Magdalen College that it descended to a junior fellow, Gilbert White, M. A. who was instituted to it in the thirty-first year of his age. At his first coming he ceiled the chancel, . and also floored and wainscoted the parlour and hall, which before were paved with stone, and had naked walls ; he enlarged the kitchen and brewhouse, and dug a cellar and well ; he also built a large new barn in the lower yard, removed the hovels in the front court, which he laid out in walks and borders ; and entirely planned the back garden, before a rude field with a stone-pit in the midst of it. By his will he gave and bequeathed “ the sum of forty pounds to be laid out in the most necessary repairs of the church ; that is, in strengthening and securing such parts as seem decaying and ANTIQUITIES OE SELBORNE. 213 dangerous,” With this sum two large buttresses were erected to support the east end of the south wall of the church ; and the gable- end wall of the west end of the south aisle was new built from the ground. By his will also he gave One hundred pounds to be laid out on lands ; the yearly rents whereof shall be employed in teaching the poor children of Selbourn parish to read and write^ and say their prayers and catechism, and to sew and knit ; — and be under the direction of his executrix as long as she lives ; and, after her, under the direction of such of his children and their issue, as shall live in or within five miles of the said parish ; and on failure of any such, then under the direction of the vicar of Selbourn for the time being ,* but still to the uses above- named.” With this sum was purchased, of Thomas Turville, of Hawkeley, in the county of Soutliampton, yeoman, and Hannah his wife, two closes of freehold land, commonly called Collier’s, containing, by estimation, eleven acres, lying in Hawkeley aforesaid. These closes are let at this time, 1785, on lease, at the rate of three pounds by the year. This vicar also gave by will two hundred pounds towards the repairs of the highways * in the parish of Selborne. That sum was carefully and judiciously laid out in the summer of the year, 1730, by his son John White, who made a solid and firm causey from Rood Green, all down Honey Lane, to a farm called Oak Woods, where the sandy soil begins. This miry and gulfy lane was chosen as worthy of repair, because it leads to the forest, and thence through the Holt to the town of Farnham in Surrey, the only market in those days for men who had wheat to sell in this neighbourhood. This causey was so deeply bedded with stone, so properly raised above the level of the soil, and so well drained, that it has, in some degree, withstood fifty-four years of neglect and abuse ; and might, with moderate attention, be rendered a solid and comfortable road. The space from Rood Green to Oak Woods measures about three quarters of a mile. In 1727, William Henry Cane, B.D., became vicar, and, among several alterations and repairs, new-built the back front of the vicarage- house. On February 1st, 1740, Buncombe Bristowe, D.D., was instituted to this living. What benefactions this vicar bestowed on the parish will be best explained by the following passages from his will : — Item, I hereby give and beaqueath to the minister and church-wardens of the parish of Selbourn, in the county of Southampton, a mahogany table, which I have ordered to be made for the celebration of the Holy Communion ; and also the sum of thirty pounds, in trust, to be applied in manner following; that is, ten pounds towards the charge of erecting a gallery at the west end of the church ; and ten pounds to be laid out for cloathing, and such like necessaries, among the poor (and especially among the ancient and infirm) of the said parish ; and the remaining ten pounds to be distributed in bread, at twenty shillings a * Such legacies were very common in former times, before any effectual laws were made for the repairs of highways ." — Sir John CuUum's Hawste^ p. 15. 214 ANTIQUITIES OE SELBORNE. week, at the discretion of John White, Esq., or any of his family, who shall be resident iif the said parish.” On November 12th, 1758, Andrew Etty, B.D., became vicar. Among many useful repairs he new-roofed the body of the vicarage-house ; and wainscoted, up to the bottom of the windows, the whole of the chancel ; to the neatness and decency of which he always paid the most exact attention. On September 25th, 1784, Christopher Taylor, B.D., was inducted into the vicarage of Selborne. LETTEE VIL I SHALL now proceed to the priory, which is undoubtedly the most interesting part of our history. The Priory of Selborne was founded by Peter de la Roche, or de Rupibus,* one of those accomplished foreigners that resorted to the court of King John, where they were usually caressed, and met with a more favourable reception than ought, in prudence, to have been shown by any monarch to strangers. This adventurer was a Poictevin by birth, had been bred to arms in his youth, and distinguished by knight- hood. Historians all agree not to speak very favourably of this remarkable man ; they allow that he was possessed of courage and fine abilities, but then they charge him with arbitrary principles, and violent conduct. By his insinuating manners he soon rose high in the favour of John; and in 1205, early in the reign of that prince, was appointed bishop of Winchester. In 1214, he became lord chief justiciary of England, the first magistrate of the state, and a kind of viceroy, on whom depended all the civil affairs in the kingdom. After the death of John, and during the minority of his son Henry, this prelate took upon him the entire management of the realm, and was soon appointed protector of the king and kingdom. The barons saw with indignation a stranger possessed of all the power and influence, to part of which they thought they had a claim ; they therefore entered into an association against him, and determined to wrest some of that authority from him which he had so unreasonably usurped. The bishop discerned the storm at a distance; and, prudently resolving to give way to that torrent of envy which he knew not how to withstand, withdrew quietly to the Holy Land, where he resided some time. At this juncture a very small part of Palestine remained in the hands of the Christians ; they had been by Saladine dispossessed of J erusalem, and all the internal parts, near forty years before ; and with difficulty maintained some maritime towns and garrisons ; yet the busy and enterprising spirit of de Rupibus could not be at rest ; he distinguished himself by the splendour and magnificence of his expenses, and amused his mind by strengthening fortresses and castles, and by * See “Godwin de Prsesulibns Anglise.” Folio. London, 1743, p. 217. ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 215 removing and endowing of churches. Before his expedition to the east he had signalised himself as the founder of convents, and as a bene- factor to hospitals and monasteries. In the year 1231 he returned again to England ; and the very next year, in 1232, began to build and endow the Priory of Selborne. As this great work followed so close upon his return, it is not improbable that it was the result of a vow made during his voyage : and especially as it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Why the bishop made choice of Selborne for the scene of his munificence can never be determined now ; it can only be said that the parish was in his diocese, and lay almost midway between Winchester and Farnham, or South Waltham and Farnham ; from either of which places he could without much trouble overlook his workmen, and observe what progress they made ; and that the situation was retired, with a stream running by it, and sequestered from the world, amidst woods and meadows, and so far proper for the site of a religious house.* The first person, with whom the founder treated about the purchase of land was Jacobus de Achangre, or Ochangre, a gentleman of property who resided in that hamlet ; and, as appears, at the house now called Oakhanger- house. With him he agreed for a croft, or little close of land, known by the name of La liega, or La lyge, which was to be the immediate site of the Priory. De Achangre also accommodated the bishop at the same instant with three more adjoining crofts, which for a time was all the footing that this institution obtained in the parish. The seller in the conveyance says, Warantizabimus, defendemus, et sequietabimus contra omnes gentes viz., “We will warrant the thing sold against all claims from any quarter.” In modern conveyancing this would be termed a covenant for further assurance. Afterwards is added — “ Pro hac autem donacione, &c., dedit mihi pred. Episcopus sexdecem marcas argenti in Gersumam : ” i. e., “ the bishop gave me sixteen silver marks as a consideration for the thing purchased.” As the grant from Jac. de Achangre was without date,t and the next is circumstanced in the same manner, we cannot say exactly what interval there was between the two purchases ; but we find that Jacobus de Nortun, a neighbouring gentleman, also soon sold to the bishop of Winchester some adjoining grounds, through which our stream passes, that the priory might be accommodated with a mill, which was a common necessary appendage to every manor ; he also allowed access * The institution at Selborne was a priory of black-canons of the order of St. Augustine, called also canons-regular. Regular-canons were such as lived in a conventual manner, under one roof, had a common refectory and dormitory, and were bound by vows to observe the rules and statutes of their order : in fine, they were a kind of religious, whose discipline was less rigid than the monks. The chief rule of these canons was that of St. Augustine, who was constituted bishop of Hippo, a.d. 395 ; but they were not brought into England till after the conquest ; and seem not to have obtained the appellation of Augustine canons till some years after. Their habit was a long black cassock, with a white rocket over it ; and over that a black cloak and hood. The monks were always shaved ; but these canons wore their hair and beards, and caps on their heads. There were of these canons, and women of the same order called Canonesses, about 175 houses. t The custom of affixing dates to deeds was not become general in the reign of Henry III. 216 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBOENE. to these lands by a road for carts and waggons. — ‘^Jacobus de NTortun concedit Petro Winton episcopo totnm cursum aque que descendit de Molendino de Durton usq; ad boscum Will. Mauduit, et croftam terre vocat: Edriche croft, cum extensione ejusdem et abuttamentis ; ad fundandam domum religiosam de ordine Sti. Augustini. Concedit etiam viam ad carros, et car etas,” &c. This vale, down which runs the brook, is now called the Long Lithe, or Lythe. Bating the following particular expression, this grant runs much in the style of the former : Dedit mihi episcopus predictus triginta quinque marcas argenti ad me acquietandum versus Judceos;'’ that is, ^^the bishop advanced me thirty-five marks of silver to pay my debts to the Jews,” who were then the only lenders of money. Finding himself still straitened for room, the founder applied to his royal master, Henry, who was graciously pleased to bestow certain lands in the manor of Selborne on the new priory of his favourite minister. These grounds had been the property of Stephen de Lucy ; and, abutting upon the narrow limits of the convent, became a very commodious and agreeable acquisition. This grant, I find, was made on March the 9th, in the eighteenth year of Henry, viz., 1234, being two years after the foundation of the monastery. The royal donor bestowed his favour with a good grace, by adding to it almost every immunity and privilege that could have been specified in the law- language of the times . — “ Quare volumus prior, &c., habeant totam terram, &c., cum omnibus libertatibus in bosco et piano, in viis et semitis, pratis et pascuis; aquis et piscariis; infra burgum, et extra burgum, cum soka et saca, Thol et Them, Infangenethef et Utfangene- thef, et hamsocne et blodwite, et pecunia que dari solet pro murdro et forstal, et flemenestrick, et cum quietancia de omni scotto et geldo, et de omnibus auxiliis regum, vicecomitum, et omn: ministralium suorum ; et hidagio et exercitibus, et scutagiis, et tallagiis, et shiris et hundredis, et placitis et querelis, et warda et wardpeny, et opibus castellorum et pontium, et clausuris parcorum, et omni carcio et sumagio, et domor: regal: edificatione, et omnimoda reparatione, et cum omnibus aliis libertatibus.” This grant was made out by Eichard bishop of Chichester, then chancellor, at the town of Northampton, before the lord chief justiciary, who was the founder himself. The charter of foundation of the Priory, dated 1233, comes next in order to be considered ; but being of some length, I shall not interrupt my narrative by placing it here. This my copy, taken from the original, I have compared with Dugdale’s copy, and find that they perfectly agree ; except that in the latter the preamble and the names of the witnesses are omitted. Yet I think it proper to quote a passage from this charter : “ Et ipsa domus religiosa a cujuslihet alterius domUs religiosce suhjectione libera permaneat, et in omnibus ahsoluta” to show how much Dugdale was mistaken when he inserted Selborne among the alien priories; forgetting that this disposition of the convent contradicted the grant that he had published. In the Monasticon Anglicanum,” in English, p. 119, is part of his catalogue of alien ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 217 priories, suppressed 2 Henry Y., viz., 1414, where may be seen as follows : — s. Sele, SusseXy SELEBURN. Shirburn. This appeared to me from the first to have been an oversight, before I had seen my authentic evidences. For priories alien, a few con- ventual ones excepted, were little better than granges to foreign abbeys, and their priors little more than bailiffs removeable at will ; whereas the priory of Selborne possessed the valuable estates and manors of Selborne, Achangre, Norton, Brompden, Bassinges, Basingstoke, and Natele; and the prior challenged the right of pillory, thurcet, and furcas, and every manorial privilege. I find next a grant from Jo. de Yenur, or Yenuz, to the prior of Selborne, — de tota mora [a moor or bog] ubi Berne oritur, usque ad campum vivarii, et de prato voc. Sydenmeade cum abutt: et de cursu aque molendini.” And also a grant in reversion '^unius virgate terre,” (a yard land) in Achangre at the d6ath of Richard Actedene his sister’s husband, who had no child. He was to present a pair of gloves of one penny value to the prior and canons, to be given annually by the said Richard ; and to quit all claim to the said lands in reversion, provided the prior and canons would engage annually to pay to the king, through the hands of his bailiffs of Aulton, ten shillings at four quarterly payments, pro omnibus serviciis, consuetudinibus, exac- tionibus, et demandis.” This Jo. de Yenur was a man of property at Oakhanger, and lived probably at the spot now called Chapel-farm. The grant bears date the 17th year of the reign of Henry III. (viz. 1233.) It would be tedious to enumerate every little grant for lands or tenements that might be produced from my vouchers. I shall there- fore pass over all such for the present, and conclude this letter with a remark that must strike every thinking person with some degree of wonder. No sooner had a monastic institution got a footing, but the neighbourhood began to be touched with a secret and religious awe. Every person round was desirous to promote so good a work; and either by sale, by grant, or by gift in reversion, was ambitious of appearing a benefactor. They who had not lands to spare gave roads to accommodate the infant foundation. The religious were not back- ward in keeping up this pious propensity, which they observed so readily influenced the breasts of men. Thus did the more opulent monasteries add house to house, and field to field, and by degrees manor to manor, till at last ^Uhere was no place left;” but every district around became appropriated to the purposes of their founders, and every precinct was drawn into the vortex. 218 ANTIQUITIES OE SELBORNE. LETTEE yill. Our forefathers in this village were no doubt as busy and bustling, and as important, as ourselves : yet have their names and transactions been forgotten from century to century, and have sunk into oblivion ; nor has this happened only to the vulgar, but even to men remarkable and famous in their generation. I was led into this train of thinking by finding in my vouchers that Sir Adam Gurdon was an inhabitant of Selborne, and a man of the first rank and property in the parish. By Sir Adam Gurdon I would be understood to mean that leading and accomplished malcontent in the Mountfort faction, who distinguished himself by his daring conduct in the reign of Henry III. The first that we hear of this person in my papers is, that with two others he was bailiff of Alton before the sixteenth of Henry III., viz., about 1231, and then not knighted. Who Gurdon was, and whence he came, does not appear : yet there is reason to suspect that he was originally a mere soldier of fortune, who had raised himself by marrying women of property. The name of Gurdon does not seem to be known in the south ; but there is a name so like it in an adjoining kingdom, and which belongs to two or three noble families, that it is probable this remarkable person was a North Briton; and the more so, since the Christian name of Adam is a distinguished one to this day among the family of the Gordons. But, be this as it may. Sir Adam Gurdon has been noticed by all the writers of English history for his bold disposi- tion and disaffected spirit, in that he not only figured during the successful rebellion of Leicester, but kept up the war after the defeat and death of that baron, entrenching himself in the woods of Hamp- shire, towards the town of Earnham. After the battle of Evesham, in which Mountfort fell, in the year 1265, Gurdon might not think it safe to return to his house for fear of a surprise ; but cautiously fortified himself amidst the forests and woodlands with which he was so weU acquainted. Prince Edward, desirous of putting an end to the troubles which had so long harassed the kingdom, pursued the arch-rebel into his fastnesses, attacked his camp, leaped over the entrenchments, and, singling out Gurdon^, ran him down, wounded him, and took him prisoner.* There is not perhaps in all history a more remarkable instance of command of temper, and magnanimity, than this before us : that a young prince, in the moment of victory, when he had the fell adversary of the crown and royal family at his mercy, should be able to withhold his hand from that vengeance which the vanquished so well deserved. A cowardly disposition would have been blinded by resentment ; but this gallant heir apparent saw at once a method of converting a most desperate foe into a lasting friend. He raised the fallen veteran from the ground, he pardoned him, he admitted him into his confidence, and introduced him to the queen, then lying at Guildford, that very M. Paris, p. 675, and Triveti Annale ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 219 evening. This unmerited and unexpected lenity melted the heart of the rugged Gurdon at once ; he became in an instant a loyal and useful subject;, trusted and employed in matters of moment by Edward when king, and confided in till the day of his death. LETTEE IX. It has been hinted in a former letter that Sir Adam Gurdon had availed himself by marrying women of property. By my evidences it appears that he had three wives, and probably in the following order : Constant ia, Ameria, and Agnes. The first of these ladies, who was the companion of his middle life, seems to have been a person of consider- able fortune, which she inherited from Thomas Makerel, a gentleman of Selborne, who was either her father or uncle. The second, Ameria, calls herself the quondam wife of Sir Adam, “ quae fui uxor,” &c., and talks of her sons under age. Now Gurdon had no son : and beside, Agnes, in another document, says, Ego Agnes quondam uxor Domini Adce Gurdon in pura et ligea viduitate mea but Gurdon could not leave two widows ; and therefore it seems probable that he had been divorced from Ameria, who afterwards married and had sons. By Agnes Sir Adam had a daughter Johanna, who was his heiress, to whom Agnes in her life-time surrendered part of her jointure : he had also a bastard son. Sir Adam seems to have inhabited the house now called Temple, lying about two miles east of the church, which had been the property of Thomas Makerel. In the year 1262 he petitioned the prior of Selborne in his own name, and that of his wife Constantia only, for leave to build him an oratory in his manor-house, in curia sua.” Licenses of this sort were frequently obtained by men of fortune and rank from the bishop of the diocese, the archbishop, and sometimes, as I have seen instances, from the pope ; not only for convenience-sake, and on account of distance, and the badness of the roads, but as a matter of state and distinction. Why the owner should apply to the prior, in preference to the bishop of the diocese, and how the former became competent to such a grant, I cannot say ; but that the priors of Selborne did take that privilege is plain, because some years afterward, in 1280, Prior Richard granted to Henry Waterford and his wife Nicholaa, a licence to build an oratory in their court-house, curia sua de Waterford,” in which they might celebrate divine service, saving the rights of the mother church of Basynges. Yet all the while the prior of Selborne grants with such reserve and caution, as if in doubt of his power, and leaves Gurdon and his lady answerable in future to the bishop, or his ordinary, or to the vicar for the time being, in case they should infringe the rights of the mother church of Selborne. The manor-house, called Temple,” is at present a single building, running in length from south to north, and has been occupied as a 220 ANTIQUITIES OE SELBORNE. common farmhouse from time immemorial. The south end is modern, and consists of a brewhouse, and then a kitchen. The middle part is an hall twenty*seven feet in length, and nineteen feet in breadth ; and has been formerly open to the top, but there is now a floor above it, and also a chimney in the western wall. The roofing consists of strong massive rafter-work ornamented with carVed roses. I have often looked for the lamb and flag, the arms of the knights templars, with- out success ; but in one corner found a fox with a goose on his back, so coarsely executed, that it required some attention to make out the device. Beyond the hall to the north is a small parlour with a vast heavy stone chimney-piece, and at the end of all the chapel or oratory, whose massive thick walls and narrow windows at once bespeak great antiquity. This room is only sixteen feet by sixteen feet eight inches ; and full seventeen feet nine inches in height. The ceiling is formed of vast joists, placed only five or six inches apart. Modern delicacy would not much approve of such a place of worship ; for it has at present much more the appearance of a dungeon than of a room fit for the reception of people of condition. The field on which his oratory abuts is called Chapel-field. The situation of this house is very particular, for it stands upon the immediate verge of a steep abrupt hill. Not many years since this place was used for a hop-kiln, and was divided into two stories by a loft, part of which remains at present, and makes it convenient for peat and turf, with which it is stowed. LETTEE X. The Priory at times was much obliged to Gurdon and his family. As Sir Adam began to advance in years he found his mind influenced by the prevailing opinion of the reasonableness and efficacy of prayers for the dead ; and therefore, in conjunction with his wife Constantia, in the year 1271, granted to the prior and convent of Selborne all his right and claim to a certain place, placea, called La Playstow,” in the village aforesaid, in liheram, 'puram, et perpetuam elemosinam” This Pleystow,* locus ludorum, or play-place, is a level area near the church of about forty-four yards by thirty-six, and is known now by the name of the Plestor.f 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 * In Saxon Pie jeptrOp, or Ple^ptOp ; viz., Plegestow, or Plegstow. t At this juncture probably the vast oak, mentioned p. 6, was planted by the prior, as an ornament to his new acquired market-place. According to this supposition the oak was aged 432 years when blown down. ANTIQUITIES OF SELBOENE. 221 assign so spacious a spot for the sports and amusements of its young people.* VILLAGE PLEYSTOW. As soon as the prior became possessed of this piece of ground, he procured a charter for a market f from King Henry III., and began to erect houses and stalls, seldas’' around it. From this period Selborne became a market town ; but how long it enjoyed that privilege does not appear. At the same time, Gurdon reserved to himself, and his heirs, a wa}^ through the said Plestor to a tenement and some crofts at the upper end, abutting on the south corner of the church-yard. This was in old days the manerial house of the street manor, though now a poor cottage, and is known at present by the modern name of Elliot’s. Sir Adam also did, for the health of his own soul and that of his wife ■* For more circumstances respecting the Plestor, see Letter II. to Mr. Pennant. t Bishop Tanner, in his “ Notitia Monastica,” has made a mistake respecting the market and fair at Selborne; for in his references to Dodsworth, cart. 54 Hen. III., m. 3., he says, “ De mercatu, etferia de Seleburn." But this reference is wrong ; for, instead of Seleburn, it proves that the place there meant was Lekeborne, or Legebome, in the county of Lincoln. This error was copied from the index of the Cat. MSS. Angl. It does not appear that there ever was a chartered fair at Selborne. For several particulars respecting the present fair at Selborne, see Letter XXVI. of these Antiquities. 222 ANTIQUITIES OE SELBORNE. Constantia, their predecessors and successors, grant to the prior and canons quiet possession of all the tenements and gardens, curtillagia’* which they had built and laid out on the lands in Selborne, on which he and his vassals, “ homines” had undoubted right of common ; and moreover did grant to the convent the full privilege of that right of common, and empowered the religious to build tenements and make gardens along the king’s highway in the village of Selborne. From circumstances put together, it appears that the above were the first grants obtained by the Priory in the village of Selborne after it had subsisted about thirty-nine years ; moreover, they explain the nature of the mixed manor still remaining in and about the village, where one field or tenement shall belong to Magdalen College in the University of Oxford, and the next to Norton Powlet, Esq., of Rotherfield House, and so down the whole street. The case was, that the whole was once the property of Gurdon, till he made his grants to the convent, since which some belongs to the successors of Gurdon in the manor, and some to the college ; and this is the occasion of the strange jumble of property. It is remarkable that the tenement and crofts which Sir Adam reserved at the time of granting the Plestor should still remain a part of the Gurdon Manor, though so desirable an addition to the vicarage that is not as yet possessed of one inch of glebe at home; but of late, viz., in January, 1785, Magdalen College purchased that little estate, which is life-holding, in reversion, for the generous purpose of bestowing it, and its lands, being twelve acres (three of which abut on the church-yard and vicarage garden) as an improvement hereafter to the living, and an eligible advantage to future incumbents. The year after Gurdon had bestowed the Plestor on the Priory, viz., in 1272, Henry HI., King of England, died, and was succeeded by his son Edward. This magnanimous prince continued his regard for Sir Adam, whom he esteemed as a brave man, and made him warden, custos” of the forest of Woolmer.* Though little emolument might * Since the letters respecting Woolmer-forest and Ayles-holt, pp. 14 — 26, were printed, the author has been favoured with the following extracts : — “In the ‘Act of Resumption, 1 Hen. VII.’ it was provided, that it be not prejudicial to ‘Harry at Lode, ranger of our forest of Wolmere, to him by oure letters patents before tyme gevyn.’ ” — Rolls of Pari., vol. vi. p. 370. “In the 11 Hen. VII., 1495, ‘Warlham (Wardleham) and the office of forest (forester) of Wolmere,’ were held by Edmund, duke of Suffolk.” — Rolls, ib. 474. “ Act of general pardon, 14 Hen. VIII., 1523, not to extend to ‘ Rich. Bp. of Wynton (bishop Fox) for any seizure or forfeiture of liberties, &c., within the forest of Wolmer, Alysholt, and Newe Forest; nor to any person for waste, &c., within the manor of Wardlam, or parish of Wardlam (Wardleham ) ; nor to abusing, estris) crink Chaffer or May-bug (scarabaeus melo- 1 lontha) ap. . . . Honeysuckle (lonicera periclymenum) fl. Toothwort (la!ihra3a squamaria) fl. . Apr. 30, June 6 . May 1. May 1, June 11 . May 1—26 . May 1. May 2 — 24. May 2 — 26 . May 3—30 . May 4 — 12. MARKWrCK. Mar. ‘28, May 28. Apr. 5, sings Apr. 25, last seen Sept. 30. Apr. 1, May 13. .Apr. 14 — 29, sits June 16—17. Apr. 24, May 25. May 17, June 11 ap. Apr. 28, May 19. Jan 15, Mar. 24. Apr. 1, May 9, April 14, May 5, sings May 3 — 10, last seen Sept. 23. Apr. 9, June 26. Apr. 10, June 4. Apr. 28, May 14. Mar. 30, May 10. Mar. 25, May 6. Mar. 24, May 6. Mar. 27, May 8. May 14, Aug. 10, seen. Apr. 19, May 26. March 29, May 13. Feb. 1, Oct. 24 ap. Apr. 11, May 26. Apr. 8—9. Mar. 31, May 8. March 30, May 10. Apr. 29, June 10. Apr. 18, May 13, last seen Nov. 10. Apr. 20, June 4. June 19, Sept. 28. May 16, Sept. 14. Mar. 27, May 10. May 2, J uly 7. Apr. 24, J une 21. Y 2 324 NATURALIST^S CALENDAU. WHITE. MARKWICK. Shell-snails copulate . . ... Sedge warbler (sylvia salicaria) sings . Mealy tree (viburnum lantana) fl. . . Fly-catcher (stoparolas. muscicapa ) grisola) ap. . . . . . ) Apis longicornis, ap Sedge warbler (sylvia salicaria) ap. Oak (quercus robur) fl. . . . . Admiral butterfly (papilio atalanta) ap. Orange-tip (papilio cardamines) ap. Beech (fagus sylvatica) fl Common maple (acer campestre) fl. Barberry-tree (berberis vulgaris) fl. . . Wood argus butterfly (papilio aigeria) ap. Orange lily (lilium bulbiferum) fl. . Burnet moth (sphinx filipendulse) ap. . Walnut (juglans regia) 1 Laburnum (cytisus laburnum) fl. . Forest fly (hippobosca equina) ap. . . Saintfoin (hedysarum onobrychis) fl. Peony (pseonia officinalis) fl. . . Horse chestnut (sesculus hippocasta-) num) fl 1 Lilac (syringa vulgaris) fl. . . Columbine (aquilegia vulgaris) fl. . . Medlar (mespilus germanica) fl. Tormentil (tormentilla erecta seu offici- ) nalis of Smith) fl ) Lily of the valley (con vallaria majalis) fl. Bees (apis mellifica) swarm Woodroof (asperula odorata) fl. . . . Wasp, female (vespa vulgaris) ap. . Mountain ash (sorbus seu pyrus aucu- paria of Smith) fl ) Birds-nest orchis (ophrys nidus avis) fl. White-beam tree (cratsegus seu pyrus 1 aria of Smith) 1 j Milkwort (polygala vulgaris) fl. . . Dwarf cistus (cistus helianthemum) fl. . Gelder rose (viburnum opulus) fl. . Common elder (sambucus nigra) fl. . . Cantharis noctiluca, ap Apis longicornis bores holes in walks . Mulberry-tree (morus nigra) 1. . . . Wild service tree (crata3gus seu pyrus ) torminalis of Smith) fl. . . / Sanicle (sanicula europfea) fl. . . . Avens (geum urbanum) fl. . . . Female fool’s orchis (orchis morio) fl. . Bagged Robin (lychnis flos cuculi) fl. Burnet (poterium sanguis orba) fl. . . Foxglove (digitalis purpurea) fl. . Corn-flag (gladiolus communis) fl. . . Serapias longifol. fl. .... Raspberry (rubus idseus) fl. . . . Herb Robert (geranium Robertianum) fl. Figwort (scrophularia nodosa) fl. . Cromwell (lithospermum officinale) fl. . Wood spurge(euphorbia amygdaloides)fl. Ramsons (allium ursinum) fl. . . . Mouse-ear scorpion grass (myosotis ) scorpioides) fl. . . . . j May 4, June 17. May 4 . Mays— 17 . . May 10—30 . May 10, June 9. May 11—13 . . May 13—15 . May 13. May 14 . , . May 15—26. May 16 . . . May 17 — 26 . May 17. May 18, June 11 . May 18, June 13. May 18 . . . May 18, June 5 . May 18, June 9. May 19, June 8 . May 20, June 15 . May 21, June 9 . May 21 May 21—27 . . May 21, June 20 . May 21 May 22 . . . May 22, July 22 . May 22 — 25 . May 23 . . May 23, June 8 . May 24, June 11 . May 24, June 4 . May 24, June 7 . May 25 May 26 . . . May 26, June 25 . May 26. May 27, June 9. May 27, June 13 . May 27 . . . May 27, June 13 . May 28 May 28 . . . May 29, June 1 . May 29 . . May 30, June 22 . May 30, June 20 . May 30, June 13 . May 30, June 31. May 30 . . . May 31 May 31 . , . June 1 June 1 . » . June 1 J line 2 — 30. Apr. 25, May 22. Apr. 29, May 21. Aug. 2. Apr. 29, June 4. Mar. 30, May 19. Apr. 23, May 28. Apr. 24, May 27. Apr. 28, June 4. June 14, July 22. May 24, June 26. Apr. 10, June 1. May 1, June 23. May 21, July 28. Apr. 18, May 26. Apr. 19, June 7. Apr. 15, May 30. May 6, June 13. Apr. 8, J une 19. Apr. 17, June 11. Apr. 27, June 13. May 12, June 23. Apr. 14, June 4. Apr. 2, June 4, last seen Nov. 2. Apr, 20, June 8. May 18, June 12. May 3. Apr. 13, June 2. May 4, Aug. 8. May 10, June 8. May 6, June 17. May 20, June 11. May 13, June 19. , April 23, June 4. May 9, June 11. Apr. 17, May 20. May 12, June 8. Apr. 30, Aug. 7. May 23, June 15. June 9, July 8. May 10, June 16. Mar. 7, May 16. May 12, June 20. May 10 — 24. Mar. 23, May 13. Apr. 21, June 4. Apr. 11, June 1. NATURALIST^S CALENDAR. 325 WHITE. MA.RKWICK. Grasshopper (gryllus grossus) ap. . . June 1 — 14 . 1 Mar. 25, July 6, last seen Nov. 3. Rose (rosa hortensis) fl June 1 — 21 . . June 7, July 1. Mouse-ear hawkweed (hieracium pilo- ) sella) fl 1 June 1, July 16 . Apr. 19, June 12. Buckbean (menyanthes trifoliata) fl. June 1 Apr. 20, June 8. Rose-chafler (scarabjeus auratus) ap. June 2 — 8 . . Apr. 18, Aug. 4. Sheep (ovis aries) shorn . . . . June 2 — 23 . May 23, June 17. Water-flag (iris pseudo-acorus) fl. . June 2 . , . May 8, June 9. Cultivated rye (secale cereale) fl. . . June 2. . May 27. Hounds’ tongue (cynoglossum ofli- ) cinale) fl ) June 2 . . . May 11, June 7. Helleborine (serapias latifolia) fl. , . June 2, Aug. 6 . July 22, Sept. 6. Green-gold fly (musca caesar) ap. . June 2. Argus butterfly (papilio moera) ap. . . June 2. Spearwort (ranunculus flammula) fl. June 3 . Apr. 25, June 13. Birdsfoot trefoil (lotus comiculatus) fl. . June 3 . . . Apr. 10, June 3. Fraxinella, or white dittany (dictam- ) nus albus) fl. . . . . ) June 3 — 11 . June 9, July 24. Phryganea nigra, ap. . . . . . June 3. Angler’s May-fly (ephemera vulg.) ap. . J une 3 — 14. Ladies’ finger (anthyllis vulneraria) fl. . June 4 . . . June 1, Aug. 16. Bee-orchis (ophrys apifera) fl. June 4, July 4. Pink (dianthus deltoides) fl. , . . J une 5 — 19 . May 26, July 6. Mock orange (philadelphus coronarius) fl. June 5 . . . May 16, June 23. Libellula virgo, ap. . . June 5 — 20. Vine (vitis vinifera) fl June 7, July 30 . June 18, July 29. Portugal laurel (prunus lusitanicus) fl. . June 8, July 1 . June 3, July 16. Purple-spotted martagon (lilium mar- ) tagon) fl ) June 8 — 25 . June 18, July 19. Meadow cranes-bill (geranium pra- > tense) fl j June 8, Aug. 1. Black bryony (tamus communis) fl. June 8 , . . May 15, June 21. Field pea (pisum sativum arvense) fl. . June 9 May 15, June 21. Bladder campion (cucubalus behen sen ) silene inflata of Smith) fl. . . J June 9 * i . May 4, July 13. Bryony (brionia alba) fl June 9 May 13, Aug. 17. Hedge-nettle (stachys sylvatica) fl. June 10 . . . May 28, J une 24. Bittersweet (solanum dulcamara) fl. . . June 11 May 15, June 20. Walnut (juglans regia) fl. June 12 . . . Apr. 18, June 1. Phallus impudicus, ap June 12, July 23. Rosebay willow-herb (epilobium an-) gustifolium) fl. . ) June 12 June 4, July 28. Wheat (triticum hybernum) fl. June 13, July 22. June 4 — 30. Comfrey (symphytum officinale) fl. . . J une 13 . . . May 4, June 23. Yellow pimpernel (lysimachia nemo- ) rum) fl ) June 13 — 30 Apr. 10, June 12. Tremella nostoc, ap. . . . . June 15, Aug. 24. Buckthorn (rhamnus catharticus) 1. June 16 May 25. Cuckow-spit insect (cicadia spumaria)ap. June 16 . . . June 2 — 21. Dog-rose (rosa canina) fl June 17, 18 . May 24, June 21. Puff-ball (lycoperdon bovista) ap. . June 17, Sept. 3 . May 6, Aug. 19. Mullein (verbascum thapsus) fl. . . June 18 . . . June 10, July 22. Viper’s bugloss (echium anglicum seu ) vulgare of Smith) fl. . . , ) June 19 May 27, July 3. Meadow hay cut . . . • . . June 19, July 20 June 13, July 7. Stag-beetle (lucanus cervus) ap. June 19 . . . June 14 — 21. Borage (borago officinalis) fl. . . , June 20 Apr. 22, July 26. Spindle-tree (euonymus europseus) fl. . June 20 . . . May 11, June 25. Musk thistle (carduus nutans) fl. , . June 20, July 4 . June 4, July 25. Dogwood (cornus sanguinea) fl. June 21 May 28, June 27. Field scabious (scabiosa arvensis) fl. . . June 21 . . . June 16, Aug. 14. Marsh thistle (carduus palustris) fl. June 21 — 27 May 15, June 19. 326 NATURALIST S CALENDAR. WHITE. MAHKWICK. Dropwort (spirsea filipendula) fl. . . Great wild valerian (valeriana offici- \ nalis) fl. ) Quail (perdix cotumix) calls . . . Mountain willow-herb (epilobium mon- ) tanum) fl ) Thistle upon thistle (carduus crispus) fl. Cow-parsnip (heracleum sphpndylium) fl. Earth-nut (bunium bulbocastanum seu ) flexuosum of Smith) fl. . . . . j Young frogs migrate .... (Estrus curvicauda, ap. • . . , . Vervain (verbena officinalis) fl. , Corn poppy (papaver rhoeas) fl. , . . Self-heal (prunella vulgaris) fl. Agrimony (agrimonia eupatpria) fl. . . Great horse-fly (tabanus bpvinus) ap. ,. Greater knapweed (centaurea scabiosa)fl. Mushroom (agaricus campestris) ap. Common mallow (malva sylvestris) fl. . Dwarf mallow (malva rotundifoHa) fl. . St. John’s wort (hypericum perfo- ) ratum) fl. . . . . | Broom-rape (orobanche major) fl. . . Henbane (hyoscyamus niger) fl. Goats-beard (tragopogon pratense) fl. Deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna) fl. Truffles begin to be found . . . . Young partridges fly ... . Lime-tree (tilia europsea) fl. * . . . Spearthistle (carduus lance olatus) fl. Meadow-sweet (spiraea ulmaria) fl. . . Greenweed (genista tinctoria) fl. Wild thyme (thymus serpyllum) fl. . . Stachys germanic. fl Day-lily (hemerocallis flava) fl. ■ . . . Jasmine (jasminum officinale) fl. . Holly-oak (alcea rosea) fl. . . . . Mohotropa hypopithys, fl. . . Ladies’ bedstraw ('galium verum)fl. , . Galium palustre, fl. . . . Nipplewort (lapsana communis) fl. . . Welted thistle (carduus acanthoides) fl. Sneezewort (achillea ptarmica) fl. . Musk mallow (malva moschata) fl. . . Pimpernel (anagallis arvensis) fl. . Hoary beetle (scarabseus solstit.) ap. Corn saw-wort (serratula arvensis seu ) carduus arvensis of Smith) fl. . j Pheasant’s eye (adonis annua seu ( autumnalis of Smith) fl. . . j Red eyebright (euphrasia seu bartsia ) odontites of Smith) fl. . . . j Thorough wax(bupleurum rotundifol. ) fl. Cockle (agrostemma githago) fl. . Ivy-leaved wild lettuce (prenanthes ) muralis) fl. . . . . . j Feverfew (matricaria seu pyrethrum ) parthenium of Smith) fl. . . J Wall pepper (sedum acre) fl. . . . Privet (hgustrum vulgare) fl. . Common toadflax (antirrhinum linaria)fl. Perennial wild flax (linum perenne) fl. . June 22, July 9 . June 22, July 7 . June 22, July 4 . June 22 . . . June 23 — 29 June 23 . . . June 23 June 2.3, Aug. 2. June .24. June 24, . . . j une 24 June 24 . . . June 24 — 29 June 24, Aug. 2. June 25 June 26, Aug. 30 June 26 June 26 . . . June 26 June 27, July 4 . June 27 June 27 . , . . June 27. June 28, July 29. June 28, July 31 June 28, July 31 June 28, July 12 June 28 . . . June 28 June 28 . . . June 29, July 20. June 29, July 4 . June 29, July 30 June 29, Aug. 4 . June 29, July 23. June 29 . . June 29. June 29 June 29. June 30 June SO . . . June 30 . June 30, July 17. July 1 . . . July 1 . July 2. July 2. July 2 . . . July 2. July 2 . . . July 3 . J uly 3 . . . July 3 . July 4 . . . May 8, Sept. 3. May 22, July 21. July 23, seen Sep. 1-18. June 5-^21. May 22, July 22. May 27, July 12. May 4—31. June 10, July 17. Apr. 30, July 15. June 7 — 23. June 7, July 9. June 7, Aug. 14. Apr. 16, Aug. 16. May 27, July 13. May 12, July 20. June 15, July 12. May 9, July 25. May 13, June 19. June 5 — 14. May 22, Aug. 14. July 8 — 28. June 12, July 30. June 27, July 18. June 16j July 24. June 4, July 24. June 6, July 19u May 29, June 9. June 27, July 21. July 4, Sept. 7. June 22, Aug. 3. May 30, July 24. June 22, Aug. 3. June 9, July 14. May 4, June 22. June 15, July 15. April 11, July 15. June 20, Aug. 10. May 14, July 25. June 2, July 25. June 19, July 24. June 8, July 12. June 3, July 13. June 21, Aug. 3. Apr. 21, July 6. J NATURALIST^S CALENDAli. 3i7 WHITE. MARKWICK. Whortleberries ripe (vaccinium ulig.) . July 4—24. Yellow base rocket (reseda lutea) fl. July 5 . . . July 19. Blue-bottle (centaurea cyanus) fi. . . July 5 . May'15, Oct. 14. Dwarf carliue thistle (carduiis acaulis) fl. July 5 — 12 . . June 30, Aug 4. Bull-rush, or cats-tail (typha latifolia) fl. J uly 6 . June 29, July 21. Spiked willow-herb (ly thrum salicaria) fi. July 6 .' . . June 24, Aug. 17. Black mullein (verbascum niger) fl. July 6. Chrysanthemum coronarium, fl. . . July 6. May 28, July 28. Marigolds (calendula oflicinalis) fl. July 6 — ^9 . . Apr. 20, July 16. Little field madder (sherardia arvensis) fl. July 7 . Jan. 11, June 6. Calamint (melissa seu thymus cala- ) mintha of Smith) fl. . . . j July T . July 21. Black horehound (ballota nigra) fl. July 7 . June 16, Sept. 12. Wood betony (betonica officinalis) fl. July 8—19 . . June 10, July 15. Round-leaved bell-flower (campanula ) rotundifolia) fl j" July 8 . June 12, July 29. All-good (chenopodium bonus hen- \ ricus) fl j July 8 . . . Apr. 21, June 15. Wild-carrot (daucus carota) fl. July '8 . June 7, July 14. Indian cress (epopseolum majus) fl. . . J uly 8 — 20 . . June 11, July 25. Cat-mint (nepata cataria) fl. . July 9. Cow-wheat (melampyrum sylvaticum ) seu pratense of Smith) fl. . . j July 9 . May 2, June 22. Crosswort (valantia cruciata seugalium 1 cruciatum of Smith) fl. . . J July 9 . . . Apr. 10, May 28. Cranberries ripe July 9 — 27. Tufted vetch (vicia cracca) fl. J uly 10 May 31, July 8. Wood vetch (vicia sylvat.) fl. . . . July 10. Little throat-wort (campanula glo- ) merata) fl. . . . . . j July 11 . . . July 28, Aug. 18. Sheep’s scabious (jasione montana) fl. . July 11 June 10, July 25. Pastinaca sylv. fl July 12. White lily (lilium candidum) fl. July 12 . . . June 21, July 22. Hemlock (conium maculatum) fl. . . July 13 June 4, July 20. Caucalis anthriscus, fl July 13. Flying ants, ap July 13 — Aug. 11 Aug, 29, Sept. 19. Moneywort (lysimachia nummularia) fl. July 13 . . . June 14, Aug. 16. Scarlet martagon (lilium chalcedoni- ) cum) fl. j July 14 — Aug. 4 . June 21, Aug. 6. Lesser stitchwort (stellaria graminea) fl. July 14 May 8, June 23. Fool’s parsley (sethusa cynapium) fl. July 14 . . . June 9, Aug. 9. Dwarf elder (sambucus ebulus) fl. . . July 14 — 29. Swallows and martins congregate . July 14, Aug. 29 Aug. 12, Sept. 8. Potato (solanum tuberosum) fl. . , . July 14 June 3, July 12. Angelica sylv. fl July 15. Digitalis ferrugin. fl July 15 — 25. Ragwort (senecio jacobsea) fl. . July 15 . . . June 22, July 13, Golden rod (solidago virgaurea) fl. . . July 15 July 7, Aug. 29. Star thistle (centaurea calcitrapa) fl. July 16' . . . July 16, Aug. 16. Tree primrose (oenothera biennis) fl. July 16 June 12, July 18. Peas (pisum sativum) cut July 17, Aug. 14 . July 13, Aug. 15. Galega officin. fl. July 17. Apricots (prunus armeniaca) ripe . July 17, Aug. 21 July 5, Aug. 16. Crown’s allheal (stachys palustris) fl. . July 17 .■ . . June 12, July 14. Branching willow-herb (epilobium ) ramos. ) fl. ) July 17. Rye-harvest begins July 17, Aug. 7. Yellow centaury (chlora perfoliatal fl. . Yellow vetchling (lathyrus aphaca) fl. . July 18,' Aug. 15 July 18. June 15, Aug. 13. Enchanter’s nightshade (circsea lute-) tiana) fl J July 18 . . . June 20, July 27. Water hemp agrimony (eupatorium ) cannabinum) fl. . ' . . . j July 18 July 4, Aug. 6. 328 NATURALIST S CALENDAR, WHITE. MARKWICK. Giant throatwort (campanula trache-'l Hum) fl. ) July 19 ; . . July 13, Aug. 14. Eyebright (euphrasia officinalis) fl. July 19 May 28, July 19. Hops (humulus lupulus) fl. ... July 19, Aug. 10. July 20, Aug. 17. Poultry moult July 19. Dodder (cuscuta europsea seu epithy- \ mum of Smith) fl j July 20 July 9, Aug. 7. Lesser centaury (gentiana seu chironia > centaurium of Smith) fl. . . j July 20 . . . June 3, July 19. Creeping water parsnep (slum nodi- ( florum) fl. j July 20 . . . July 10, Sept. 11. Common spurrey (spergula arvensis) fl. July 21 Apr. 10, July 16. Wild clover (trifolium pratense) fl. July 21 . . . May 2, June 7. Buckwheat (polygonum fagopyrum) fl. . July 21 June 27, July 10. Wheat harvest begins . . . . July 21, Aug. 23. July 11, Aug. 26. Great burr-reed (sparganium erectum) fl. July 22 . . . June 10, July 23. Marsh St. John’s-wort (hypericum ) elodes) fl ) July 22—31 . June 16, Aug. 10. Sun-dew (drosera rotundifolia) fl. . . July 22 . . . Aug. 1. March cinquefoil (comarum palustre) fl. July 22 May 27, July 12. Wild cherries ripe July 22. Lancashire asphodel (anthericum ossi- ) fragum) fl. j July 22 . . . June 31, July 29. Hooded willow-herb (scutellaria galeri- ) culata) fl J July 23 June 2, July 31. Water dropwort (oenanthe fistulos.) fl. . July 23. Horehound (marrubium vulg.) fl. . . July 23. Seseli caruifol. fl J uly 24. Water plantain (alisma plantago) fl. . . July 24 . . . May 1, July 31. Alopecurus mypsuroides, fl. . Virgin’s bower (clematis vitalba) fl. . . July 25. July 25, Aug. 9 . July 13, Aug. 14. Bees kill the drcnes .... July 25. Teasel (dipsacus sylvestris) fl. . . . July 26 July 16, Aug. 3. Wild maijoram (origanum vulgare)fl. . July 26 . . . July 17, Aug. 29. Swifts (hirundo apus) begin to depart . July 27—29 Aug. 5. Small wild teasel (dipsacus pilosus) fl. . July 28, 29. June 17, July 24. Wood sage (teucrium scorodonia) fl. July 28 . . . Everlasting pea (lathyrus latifolius) fl. . < July 28 J line 20, J uly 30. Trailing St. John’s-wort (hypericum) humifusum) fl. . ) July 29 . . . May 20, June 22. White hellebore (veratrum album) fl. July 30 July 18—22. Camomile (anthemis nobilis) fl. July 30 . . . June 21, Aug. 20. Lesser field scabious (scabiosa colum- ) baria) fl ) July 30 July 13, Aug. 9. Sun-flower (helianthus multiflorus) fl. . July 31, Aug. 6 . July 4, Aug. 22. July 2, Aug. 7. Y ello w loosestrife (ly simachia vulgaris) fl. July 31 . . . Swift (hirundo apus) last seen July 31, Aug. 27 Aug. 11. Oats (avena sativa) cut . . . . Aug. 1—16 . July 26, Aug. 19. Barley (hordeum sativum) cut Aug. 1—26 . . July 27, Sept. 4. Lesser hooded willow-herb (scutellaria ) mino^ fl j Aug. 1 Aug. 8, Sept. 7. Middle fleabane (inula disinterica) fl. Aug. 2 . . . July 7, Aug. 3. Apis manicata, ap Swallow-tailed butterfly (papilio i Aug. 2. Aug. 2. . 1 Apr. 20, June 7, last machaon) ap | seen Aug. 28. Whame or burrel-fly (oestrus bovis) lays ) eggs on horses ) Aug. 3—19. June 17, July 21. Sow thistle (sonchus arvensis) fl. . Aug. 3 . . . Plantain fritillary (papilio cinxia) ap. . Aug. 3. June 6—25. Yellow succory (picris hieracioides) fl. . Musca mystacea, ap Aug. 4 June 5, Aug. 11. Canterbury bells (campanula medium) fl. Aug. 5 . . . Mentha longifol. fl Aug. 5. NATUllALIST S CALENDAR. 329 WHITE. MARKWICK. Carline thistle (carliua vulgaris) fl. . . Venetian sumach (rhus cotinus) fl. Ptinus pectinicornis, ap Burdock (arctium lappa) fl. . Fell- wort (gentiana amarella) fl. Wormwood (artemisia absinthium) fl. . Mug wort (artemisia vulgaris) fl. . . St. Barnaby’s thistle (centauria solstit.) fl. Meadow saffron (colchicum autum- \ nale)fl ^ Michaelmas daisy (aster tradescantia) fl. Meadow rue (thalictrum flavum) fl. . . Sea holly (eryngium marit.) fl. China aster (aster chinensis) fl. . . . Boletus albus, ap Leas Venus looking-glass (campanula ) hybrida) fl ) Carthamus tinctor. fl Goldflnch (fringilla carduelis) young ) broods ap. ) Lapwings (tringa vanellus) congregate . Black-eyed marble butterfly (papilio ) semele) ap j Birds reassume their spring notes . . Devil’s bit (scabiosa succisa) fl. Thistle-down floats Ploughman’s spikenard (conyza squar- ) rosa) fl 1 Autumnal dandelion (leontodon autum- | nale) fl j Flies about in windows .... Linnets (fringilla linota) congregate . . Bulls make their shrill autumnal noise . Aster amellus, fl Balsam (impatiens balsamina) fl. . . Milk thistle (carduus marinus) fl. . Hop-picking begins Beech (fagus sylvatica) turns yellow Soapwort (saponaria officinalis) fl. . . Ladies traces (ophrys spiralis) fl. . Small golden black-spotted butterfly ) (papilio phlseas) ap j Swallow (hirundo rustica) sings Althjea frutex (hibiscus syriacus) fl. Great fritillary (papilio paphia) ap. . . Willow red under-wing moth (phalsena \ pacta) ap / Stone curlew (otis oedicnemus) clamours Phalsena russula, ap Grapes ripen Wood-owls hoot Saffron butterfly (papilio hyale) ap. Ring-ousel appears on its autumnal ) visit ) Flycatcher (muscicapa grisola)last seen Beans (vicia faba) cut .... Ivy (hedera helix) fl Stares congregate .... Wild honeysuckles fl. a second time . . Woodlark sings Woodcock (scolopax rusticola) returns . Aug. 7. Aug. 7 . Aug. 7. Aug. 8 . . . Aug. 8, Sept. 3. Aug. 8 . . Aug. 8 . Aug, 10. Aug. 10, Sept. 13 Aug. 12, Sept. 27 Aug. 14. Aug. 14. Aug. 14, Sept. 28 Aug. 14 . . Aug. 15 . . . Aug. 15. Aug. 15 Aug. 15, Sept. 12 Aug. 15. Aug. 16. Aug. 17 . Aug. 17, Sept. 10. Aug. 18. Aug. 18 Aug. 18. Aug. 18, Nov. 1 . Aug. 20. Aug. 22. Aug. 23 . Aug. 24 Aug. 24, Sept. 17 Aug. 24, Sept. 22 Aug. 25 . . . Aug. 27, Sept. 12 Aug. 29. Aug. 29 Aug. 30, Sept. 2 . Aug. 30. Aug. 31. Sept. 1, Nov. 7 . Sept. 1. Sept. 4, Oct. 24 . Sept. 4, Nov. 9. Sept, 4 . . . Sept. 4—30. Sept. 6 — 29 . Sept. 11 . . . Sept. 12, Oct. 2 . Sept. 12, Nov. 1 . Sept. 25, Sept. 28, Oct. 24. Sept. 29, Nov. 11 1 July 21, Aug. 18, June 5, July 20. June 17, Aug. 4. July 22, Aug. 21. July 9, Aug. 10. Aug. 15, Sept. 29. Aug. 11, Oct. 8. Aug. 6, Oct. 2. May 10. May 14. June 15. Sept. 25, Feb. 4. June 22, Aug. 23. July 25. Aug. 22, Nov. 8. May 22, July 26. Apr. 21, July 18. Sept. 1—15. Sept. 5—29. July 19, Aug. 23. Aug. 18, Sept. 18. Apr. 11, Aug. 20. July 20, Sept. 28. June 17. Aug. 31, Nov. 4. Aug. 5, Sept. 26. Sept. 4 — 30. Aug, 9, Oct. 14. Sept. 18, Oct. 28. June 4, Mar. 21. Oct. 1, Nov. 1, young ones April 28, last seen April. 330 NATUllALIST S CALENDAR, WHITE. MARKWICK. Strawberry-tree (arbutus unedo) fl. . . Oct. 1 . May 21, Dec. 10. Wheat sown . . . ' . Oct. 3, Nov. 9 Sept. 23, Oct. 19. Swallows last seen. (N.B. The house ) martin the latest.) . . . . j Oct. 4, Nov. 5 Nov. 16. f Oct. 1, Dec. 18, sings Redwing (turdus iliacus) comes Oct. 10, Nov. 10 1 Feb. 10, March 21, last seen April 13. Fieldfare (turdus pilaris) returns . . Oct. 12, Nov. 23 1 Oct. 13, Nov. 18, last seen May 1. Gossamer fills the air .... Oct. 15—27. Chinese holly-oak (alcea rosea) fl. . . Oct. 19 . July 7, Aug. 21. Hen chaffinches congregate . Oct. 20, Dec. 31. Wood-pigeons come Oct. 23, Dec. 27. Royston crow (corvus cornix) returns . Oct. 23,- Nov. 29 -j Oct. 13, Nov. 17, last seen April 15. Snipe (scolopax gallinago) returns . Oct. 25, Nov. 20 1 Sept. 29, Nov. 11, last seen April 14. Tortoise begins to bury himself . . . Oct. 27, Nov. 26. Rooks (corvus frugilegus) return to ) their nest-trees . . . . j Oct. 31, Dec. 25 . June 29, Oct. 20. Bucks grunt Nov. 1. Primrose (primula vulgaris) fl. Nov. 10 Oct, 7, Dec. 30. Green whistling plover ap. . . . Nov. 13, 14. Helvella mitra, ap Nov. 16. Greenfinches fiock Nov. 27. Hepatica, fl. . . . Nov.' 30, Dec. 29 . Feb. 19. Furze (ulex europseus) fl. . . . . Dec. 4—21 . . Dec. 16—31. Polyanthus (primula polyanthus) fl. Dec. 7—16 . Dec. 31. Young lambs dropped . . . . Dec. 11—27 . . Dec. 12, Feb. 21. Moles work in throwing up hillocks Dec. 12—23. Helleborus foetidus, fl. .... Dec. 14—30. Daisy (bellis perennis) fl; . . . Wall-flower (cheiranthus cheiri seu > Dec. 15 ■ . . Dec. 15 . . . Dec. 26—31. Nov. 5. fruticulosus of Smith) fl. . . i Mezereon, fl Dec. 15. Snowdrop, fl. . . . . . . Dec. 29. In sese vertitur annus. ■ POEMS SELECTED FROM THE MSS. OF THE KEY. GILBEET WHITE, POEMS. THE INVITATION TO SELBOKNE. 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 ornament 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 lawn the flowery 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,+ Emerging gently from the leafy dell ; By Fancy plann’d; as once the’ inventive maid Met the hoar sage amid the secret shade ; Bomantic spot ! from whence in prospect lies Whate’er of landscape charms our feasting eyes ; The pointed spire, the hall, the pasture-plain. The russet fallow, or the golden grain, * A kind of an arbour on the side of a hill. I A grotesque building, contrived by a young gentleman, who used to appear in the character of a hermit. on occasion 334 POEMS. 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 the unhandy grot ] Or novelty with some new charms surprises. Or from our very shifts some joy arises. Hark, while below the village-bells ring round, Echo, sweet nymph, returns the soften’d sound ; But if gusts rise, the rushing forests roar, Like the tide tumbling on the pebbly shore. Adown the vale, in lone, sequester’d nook, Where skirting woods embrown 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 Eeformation made her glorious stand : Still oft at eve belated shepherd-swains ^ See the cowl’d spectre skim the folded plains. To the high Temple would my stranger go,+ The mountain-brow commands the woods below ; In Jewry first this order found a name. When madding Croisades set the w orld 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 fb defy To mortal fight Turcbstan chivalry. ISTorbe the Parsonage by the muse forgot ; The partial bard admires his native spot ; Smit with its beauties, loved, as yet a child, (Unconscious why) its scapes grotesque, and wild. High on a mound th’ exalted gardens stand, Beneath, deep valleys scoop’d by Nature’s hand. A Cobham here, exulting in his art. Might blend the General’s with the Gardener’s part ; Might fortify with all the martial trade Of rampart, bastion, fosse, and palisade ; Might plant the mortar with wide threatening 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 ; * The ruins of a priory, founded by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, t The remains of a preceptory of the Knights Temples ; at least it was a farm dependent upon some preceptory of that order. I find it was a preceptory, called the Preceptory of Sudington ; now called Southington. POEMS. 335 There, like a picture, lies my lowly seat, A rural, shelter’d, unobserved 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. Kills purl between, and dart a quivering light. SELBORNE HANGER. A WINTER PIECE. TO THE MISS BATTIES. The Bard, who sang so late in blithest strain Selbornian prospects, and the rural reign. Now suits his plaintive pipe to sadden’d tone. While the blank swains the changeful year bemoan. 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, clustering fogs involve the country round. The valley and the blended mountain-ground Sink in confusion; but with tempest-wing Should Boreas from his northern barrier spring. The rushing woods with deafening clamour roar. Like the sea tumbling on the pebbly shore. When spouting rains descend in torrent tides. See the torn Zigzag weep its channel’d sides : Winter exerts its rage ; heavy and slow. From the keen east rolls on the treasured snow ; Sunk with its weight the bending boughs are seen. And one bright deluge whelms the works of men. Amidst this savage landscape, bleak and bare. Hangs the chill hermitage in middle air ; Its haunts forsaken, and its feasts forgot, A leaf-strown, lonely, desolated cot ! Is this the scene that late with rapture rang. Where Delphy danced, and gentle Anna sang ; With fairy-step where Harriet tripped so late, And on her stump reclined the musing Kitty sate ? Return, dear Nymphs ; prevent the purple spring. Ere the soft nightingale essays to sing ; Ere the first swallow sweeps the freshening plain. Ere love-sick turtles breathe their amorous pain Let festive glee th’ enliven’d village raise. Pan’s blameless reign, and patriarchal days ; N 336 POEMS. 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 every power to please. Nov. 1, 1763. ON THE RAINBOW. “ Look upon the Rainbow, and praise him that made it ; very beautiful is the brightness thereof.” — Eccles. xliii. 11. On morning or on evening cloud impress’d, Bent in vast curve, the watery meteor shines Delightfully, to the levelled 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, ‘^Thoumadest the cloud. Maker Omnipotent, and thou the bow ; And by that covenant graciously hast sworn Never to drown the world again :f 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.” — Heaven-taught, so sang the Hebrew bard. J 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 t * Gen. ix. 12—17. I Gen. viii. 22. Moses. POEMS. 337 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. INDEX. — -f — Ancient coins, discovery of, at Selborne, 201 Anecdote of a young cuckoo, 103 Anecdotes of owls, 114 Animals, love of company exhibited by, 138 Antique vase or urn found at Selborne Priory, 262 Antiquities of Selborne, 201 Ants, emigration of, 295 Aphides, emigration of, 181 Ashforde, the last Prior of Selborne, 255 Aurora-borealis, 305 Bank-mantin, burrowed nests of the, 128 Barometrical observations at Selborne, 190 Bat, new kind of, discovered, 76 , singular species of, first noticed by White, 76 Bavaria, general extermination of game in, 18 Beans and Peas sown by birds, 301 Belfry of Selborne church, 207 Bin’s pond, disappearance of, 20 Birds, beans and peas sown by, 301 , how supported during the winter . months, 83 infested by insects, 116 of prey, rapacity of, when- hungry, 277 • singular social habits of, 66 that sing whilst flying, 95 varied motions of, 164 Bishop Farmer’s account of Selborne Priory, 259 Blind worm, controversy regarding the habits of the, 44 Bohemian wax-wing, occasional visits of the, 31 Breeding properties of the cuckoo, 99 Brood-hens, revenge of, upon a sparrow- hawk, 168 Bridge, ancient, at Selborne, 258 “British Zoology,” White’s contribution to Pennant’s, 78 Bull of Pope Martin V. regarding Sel- borne priory, 238 Bustard, particulars regarding the, 72 Calendars, comparative view of White’s and Markwick’s, 319 — 330 Candles, rushes best adapted for, 140 Carp, supposed torpidity of the, 82 Castration, singular effects of, 149 Cat and leveret, anecdote of a, 150 Cat, squirrels nurtured by a, 288 Chapel of Whaddon, account of the, 258 Chimney-swallow, peculiar habits of the, 122 Cobwebs, extraordinary display of, 136 Coccus, an insect rarely seen in England, 180 Cockchafer, the, noticed by many Greek authors, 55 Cockroach, habits of the, 289 Colour, influence of, on the food of birds, 269 Congregation of birds, reasons for the, 110 Copper coins found at Selborne, 201 Copulation of rooks, 171 Courage of birds in defence of their young, 112 Cuckoo, nests selected by the, 97 , why eggs are said not to be hatched by the, 147 Cure for the bite of a viper, 43 Daws, the nest-building of, 50 Description of Selborne Church, 204 — 209 Dogs, aversion of, to dead game, 188 — - — , remarks about, 187 Ducks capable of perching in trees, 272 Dusting and washing birds, 102 Echo, how to produce an, 159 Echoes, Virgil’s notion regarding, 158 Edward II. , anecdote of, 203 Eels, the island of Ely famous for, 81 Election of a Prior of Selborne, 236 Encaustic tiles at Selborne, 245 Esculent swallow, description of the, 127 Experiments upon echoes, results of, 157 Extraordinary land-slip near Selborne, 169 Fair, origin of the, at Selborne, 263 Fairy-rings, how produced, 302 Fall of Selborne Priory, 255 340 INDEX. Fallow-deer, breathing apparatus of, 35 error respecting, 35 Familiarity of birds, 95 Family tortoise, more particulars re- garding the, 265 Fattening of animals during moderate frosts, 99 Fern-fowl, flying powers of the, 77 Fern-owl, or goat-sucker, habits of the, 280 Field-cricket, habits of the, 171 Fieldfares, roosting-places of, 64 Fish in Selborne streams, 27 Fly-catcher, singular characteristic of the, 25 Food of the ring-dove, 276 required by gold and silver flsh, 182 Forest or sand-stone, 9 Fossil shells in the neighbourhood of Selborne, 7 trees in Woolmer Bottoms, 14 * wood in Woolmer Forest, 189 Fowls, partiality for devouring wasps, 269 Fox, singular death of a, 273 Freestone, use and application of, 8 Game, extermination of. in Bavaria, 18 Garden cultivation, benefits resulting from, 155 Geolosrical formations at Selborne, 2 Gilbert White’s poems, 334 — 337 Glow-worms not always luminous, 296 Goat-sucker, habits of the, described, 280 *, singular powers of the, 52 Gold and silver fish, habits of, 182 Grange at Selborne, court-leets held in the, 263 Grasshopper-lark, habits of the, 40 Great speckled diver, or loon, descrip- tion of the, 277 Grosbeak, food of the, 285 Guinea-fowls, singular roosting -place of, 272 Gypsies, anecdotes of, 139 Harvest-bug and other insects, habits of, 73 Harvest-mouse, singular nest of the, 30 Heath-cock, extirpation of the, 15 Hedgehog, habits of the, 63 Heliotropes, simple mode of construct- ing, 168 Hen -partridges, extraordinary instinct of, 273 Historical records of Selborne, 220—225 Hollow lanes, description of two rocky, 10 Honey-buzzard, habits of the, 86 Honey-dew injurious to trees, 304 Hoopoe, portrait of the, 27 Hounds at fault in Hartley Wood, 286 House-cricket, peculiarities of the, 174 House-martin, domestic habits of the, 117—120 , mysterious disappearances of the, 184 , migratory or hybernatory, 77 , winter search for, 179 Hunting in Woolmer Forest by Edward II., 203 Hybrid pheasant, description of a, 273 IcHXEUMON-FLY, scrvices rendered by the, 293 Idiot boy, anecdote of an, 143 Insects and vermes, observations on, 287—297 Insects greedily eaten by various fowls, 269 Instinct, singular illustrations of, 185 Ireland, ornithology of, by Thompson, 85 John Moreton’s election to Selborne Priory, 248 Kite’s Hill, singular custom regarding, 263 Knights Templars, the, at Shelborne, 226 Kuckalm the ornithologist, 102 Language of birds, the, 166 Land-rail, habits of the, 275 Landsprings of Sussex, Markwick’s comments upon Gilbert White’s observations, 269 — 305 Meteorological observations, 303 Migration of birds, remarks Upon the, 106 Migratory habits of frogs, 42 Migratory habits of the swallow, 54 Mill of Selborne Priory, 259 Missel-thrush, pugnacious habits of the, 135 Mole-cricket, domestic habits of the, 175 Monuments in Selborne church, 207 Moose-deer, description of a, 65 Natural affections of the feathered ^tribes, 112, 114, 134 Naturalist’s calendar, preface to the, 315—318 — - summer evening walk, the, 57 Nest of the harvest mouse, 30 ^ chosen by the cuckoo, 97 , the house-martin’s mode of build- ing its, 117 Nidification of woodcocks and field-fares, 105 Nightingale and cuckoo, musical tones of the, 109 Nose-flies troublesome to horses, 293 Nuthatch or jar-bird, the, 40 Oaks, singular group of, 6 INDEX. 341 Observations from Mr. Gilbert White’s MSS., 269 on insects and vermes, 287 — 297 -= on quadrupeds, 285 on vegetables, 298 — 302 Old coins found near Selborne, 241 Otter found at Selborne, 67 Ousels, doubts regarding the habits of, 48, 50, 60, 68, 77, 78 Owls, musical pitch of, 108 Peacocks, difference between the train and tail of, 75 Pennant, White’s first letters addressed to, 1 Peregrine falcon, account of the, 27, 186 Peter Berne elected Prior of Selborne, 242 ; resigns his office, 243 ; re-elected, 246 ; his second resignation, 247 ; his poverty, 249 Peter de la Roche, account of, 214 Piers Plowman, prophecy of, 239 Plants, flowering propensities of, 163 Poems by Gilbert White, 334 — 337 Population of Selborne in 1783, 11 Ponds, natural economy of, 21 Prediction of Piers Plowman, 240 Presentiment, existence of a singular, at Selborne, 263 Procreation of toads and frogs, 41 Propensity of fowls to perch a distance from the ground, 272 Priors of Selborne, how chosen, 229 ; list of the, 250 Priory church at Selborne, remains of the, 262 ^ Priory of Selborne, antiquity of the, 214 ; benefactresses to the, 228 Quadrupeds, observations on, 285 Queen Anne at Wolmer forest, 16 Rabbits, turf improved by, 285 Rain, large falls of, at Selborne, 11 Rapacity of birds of prey, 277 Raven tree, the, and its inhabitants, 6 Red deer, Wolmer forest formerly inha- bited by, 16 Relics in Selborne priory, 241 Ring-dove, food of the, 276 Rivulet at Selborne, antiquity of the, 258 Rooks, curious proceedings of, 189 * , social habits of, 270 Rock-s Wallow, discovery of the, by John White, 71 Ruptures, superstitious cure for, 144 Rushes best suited for burning in candles, 141 Sagacity of birds, remarkable instances of the, 113, 271 Sand-martins, inferential torpidity of, 282 Sand-piper, migratory habits of the, 48 Scotland, defective maps of, 85 Seal used by the Priors of Selborne, 265 Selborne a Saxon village, 202 church, description of, 204 Selborne fair, origin of, 268 , list of rare plants found near, 162 , locality of the parish of, 1 Priors, list of, 250 priory, history of, 214 — 217 , suppressed by Pope InnocentVIII. , 255 Scopoli’s works. White’s opinion of, 68, 69, 71, 101, 102 Severe winters of 1776 and 1784, 193, 195 Sexual distinction of birds by their colour, 101 Sheep, difficulty of recognition among, after shearing, 285 Shell-snails devoured by thrushes, 271 Shower of aphides at Selborne, 295 Shrew-mouse, former cruel treatment of the, 145 Singing-birds at Selborne, list of, 93 , general remarks upon, 96 Sir Adam Gurdon, historical sketch of, 218, 220 Sloughing of snakes, 297 Snakes, singular mode of protection adopted by, 59 Snow-fleck, habits of the, 61 Soils of Holt and Wolmer forests, differ- ent nature of the, 22 Sparrow-hawks, daring conduct of, 86 Spiders, remarks concerning, 137 Spotted fly-catcher, ingenuity of a, 113 Squirrels suckled by a cat, 286 Stepe, formerly Prior of Selborne, 242 Stone coffin found at Selborne, 247 Stock-doves, discussion concerning, 87 Stone-curlews, migration of, at night, 279 winter habits of, 38 Summer birds of passage at Selborne, history of, 40, 90 Sussex Downs, geological formation of, 120 Swallows, alleged torpidity of, 24 , anecdotes of, 125 — — , concealment of, during the winter, 111 , congregating and disappearance of, 283 Swift, details regarding the habits of the, 130—134 , singular anecdote regarding the, 179 Tame bat, description of a, 28 Toads, alleged cure of cancers by moans of, 46, 50 , popular eiTors regarding, 42 , Sir Joseph Banks on, 42 Tortoise, death of the old Sussex, 178 Trees, condensing powers of, 145 Vase, antique, found at Selborne priory, 262 Vegetables, observations on, 298, 302 Vegetation, neglected study of, 16l Vicars of Selborne, history of, 211 Vipers, a batch of young, 148 •, remedy for the bite of, 43. Wagtails, singular practices of, 284 342 INDEX. W.'itson and Brimstone lodges, ancient custom regarding, 19 Waltham blacks, liunting propensities of the, 17 Wasps, food of, 292 Water-newt, habits of the, 43 Water-rat, anecdote of a, 62 Water-rats, not all web-footed, 20 Water produced by trees, 145 Weather, observations regarding the, 191—200 , summary of the, from 1768 to 1792, 308—312 Well-head,” description of the spring called, 3 Whaddon, account of the chapel of, 258 White, John, a correspondent of Lin- naeus, 70 White’s letters first addressed to Pen- nant, 1. opinion of Scopoli’s works, 68, 69, 71, 101, 102 White owls, peculiarities of, 115 rooks, rarity of, 37 Wild bees near Lewes, 292 boars in the New Forest, 23 William Thompson’s “Ornithology of Ireland, ” 85 Willow-wren, or chifif-chafFs, opinions regarding, 230 Winter birds of nassage at Selborne, 91 Wolmer forest, description of, 14 pond, extent of, 21 Woodchat, rarity of the, 60 Worms, services rendered by, l'52 Wrens, Various kinds of, 39 Wryneck, long tongue of the, 284 Wych elm, or hazel, at Selborne, 4 Wykeham of Winchester at Selborne, 231, 235 Yew-berries, poisonous effects of, 209 Yew-tree leaves, animals poisoned by eating, 209 in Selborne churchyard, 209 , Yellow wagtail, mistake regarding the, 33 Young rats suckled by a cat, 151 THE END. BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHlTEFRIARS. THE NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY. In Monthly Volumes at 2s. 6d. each. OE HANDSOMELY BOUND IN MOROCCO, 7s. 6d. PER VOLUME. TWO VOLS. IN ONE, MOROCCO, 10s. 6d., ADAPTED FOR SCHOOL PRIZES ; TWO VOLS. IN ONE, CALF, 9s. Volumes already Published : — • BOSWELL’S LIFE OF DR JOHNSON. Complete in Four Volumes. With numerous Portraits, Views, and Characteristic Designs, engraved from Authentic Sources. — Third Edition. THE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF ENGLISH SONGS, from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century. With Fifty Engravings from Original Designs. — Third Edition. THE MORMONS ; or, LATTER-DAY SAINTS. An Account of the Rise and Progress of this new Religious Sect. Illustrated with Forty Engravings from Original Sources. Third Edition. THE ORBS OF HEAVEN ; or, the Planetary and Stellar Worlds. A popular Exposition of the great Discoveries and Theories of modern Astronomy. Illustrated with Nebulae, Portraits, Views, Diagrams, &c. Fourth Edition. PICTURES OF TRAVEL IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. From the French of Alexandre Dumas. With Fifty spirited Engravings on Wood. — Second Edition. HUC’S TRAVELS IN TARTARY, THIBET, AND CHINA, in 1844, 5, and 6. Unabridged Edition. Two Volumes. With numerous Daguerreotyped Illustrations, and a Map of the Countries, clearly illustrating the Route of MM. Hue and Gabet. A WOMAN’S JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD. Unabridged. From the German of Ida Pfeiffer. In One Volume. With Engravings printed in Colours. — Third Edition. MEMOIRS OF EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELU- SIONS. 2vols. By Charles Mackay, LL.D. Illustrated with One Hundred and Twenty Engravings from scarce prints and other authentic sources. — Second Edition. “ These volumes will captivate the attention ot readers who, according to their various tempers, feel either inclined to laugh at or sigh over the follies of mankind.” — Times. BOSWELL’S JOURNAL OF A TOUR TO THE HEBRIDES. Companion Volume to “Boswell’s Life of Johnson,” with the Index to the “Life.” By R. Carruthers, Esq., of Inverness. — Second Edition. NARRATIVE OF A RESIDENCE AT THE CAPITAL OF THE KINGDOM OF SIAM. With a Description of the Manners and , Customs of the Modern Siamese. By Frederick Arthur Neale, formerly in the Siamese Service, Author of “Eight Years in Syria,” &c. THE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF SCOTTISH SONGS, from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century. With numerous Illustrations. PICTURESQCE SKETCHES OF LONDON, PAST AND PRESENT. By Thomas Miller, Author of the “History of the Anglo- Saxons,” &c. THE NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY. MADAME PFEIFFEE’S VISIT TO ICELAND AND THE SCANDINAVIAN NORTH, Comi)anion Volume to “A Woman’s Journey Round the World .” — Second Edition. ■The TSEAEIi or the alps, a History of the Persecu- tions of the Waldenses. By the Rev. Dr. Alexis Muston. — Second Edition. MADAME PFEIEEEE’S VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND, EGYPT, AND ITALY. Uniform with “A Woman’s Journey Round the World,” and “Visit to Iceland.” With Tinted Engravings . — Second Edition. A NAEEATIVE OF THE UNITED STATES EXPLOEING EXPEDITION. Two Volumes. With numerous Drawings made from the Sketches of the Artist who accompanied the Expedition, illustrative of the Manners, Customs, and Personal Appearance of the Inhabitants, and Views of the Scenery of the Countries Visited. THE ILIAD OF HOMED. Translated into English Verse by Alexander Pope. A New Edition, with Notes, Illustrations, and Introduc- tion by the Rev. Theodore Alois Blckley, M.A., Chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford. Two Volumes. *** This Edition of Homer’s Iliad contains the Classical Compositions of Flaxman, beautifully drawn by T. D. Scott, Esq., and engraved in the most careful manner by J. L. Williams, Esq. THE ODYSSEY OF HOMEE. With Flaxman’s Illustra- tions, &c. One Volume. Edited by the Rev. Theodore Alois Buckley. THE COMPLETE ANGLER OF IZAAK WALTON AND CHARLES COTTON. New Edition, superbly illustrated with Fifty Engravings of Fishes, Fishing Tackle, Flies, and Portraits and Landscapes. Edited by Ephemera of “ Bell’s Life in London.” *** This Edition of the Complete Angler contains 100 pages of Notes, both explanatory of the Text and adapting to modern experience and practice its obsolete instructions. EXTRAORDINARY MEN ; THEIR BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE. Illustrated with Fifty Engravings of Portraits, Birth-places, Incidents, &c. &c. THE PILGEIM’S PEOGEESS FEOM THIS WOELD TO TPIAT WHICH IS TO COME. By John Bunyan. A New Edition, with a Memoir by J. M. Hare. The Allegory illustrated with Thirty Outline Drawings by Clayton, and the Biographical Sketch with interesting relics and recollections of the Author, by J. L. Williams. *** To ensure the completeness of the present Edition it has been carefully reprinted '))errhatim, without abridgment or interpolation, from the genuine old editions of John Bunyan. TEAVELS IN SPAIN. From the French of Theophile Gautier. Illustrated with numerous Authentic Drawings by Macquoid, of Spanish Architecture, Scenery, and Costume. THE LIFE, PUBLIC AND DOMESTIC, OF THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE. By Peter Burke, Esq., of the Inner Temple and the Northern Circuit. Profusely illustrated with Portraits, Scenes of Events, and Landscape Views, relating to the great Orator and the other noted persons of his time and career. THE LIFE AND POETICAL WORKS OF ALEXANDER POPE, with Extracts from his Correspondence. By R. Carruthers, Esq., of Inverness. Illustrated with Portraits of distinguished Contemporaries of Pope, Scenes connected with the Poet’s Life and Works, and Incidents from his career. *** Great pains have been taken to render this Edition accurate and complete. Several important mistakes of the previous biographers and editors of Pope have been rectified, and new information added. Two volumes of the Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, uniform with “The Life,” have been published, and the concluding volume is nearly ready. Edited by R. Carruthers. . i \ ■ ' -r r ' , '‘?"' .) i . I i > J vSG •4i » \ i ?■ I > UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-U^BANA^ 3 0112 072376814