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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20934-0.txt b/20934-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd3850d --- /dev/null +++ b/20934-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4687 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2, by Gilbert White + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2 + +Author: Gilbert White + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: March 29, 2007 [eBook #20934] +[Most recently updated: October 24, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Les Bowler + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, VOL. 2 *** + + + + + CASSELL'S NATIONAL LIBRARY. + + + + + + THE + NATURAL HISTORY + OF + SELBORNE. + + + BY + THE REV. GILBERT WHITE, A.M. + + VOL. II. + + CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: + _LONDON_, _PARIS_, _NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_. + 1887. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Gilbert White's home in the quiet Hampshire village of Selborne is an old +family house that has grown by additions, and has roofs of nature's +colouring, and creeping plants on walls that have not been driven by +scarcity of ground to mount into the air. The house is larger, by a +wing, now than when White lived in it. A little wooded park, that +belongs to it, extends to a steep hill, "The Hanger," clothed with a +hanging wood of beech. The Hanger and the slope of Nore Hill place the +village in a pleasant shelter. A visit to Selborne can be made by a walk +of a few miles from Alton on the South Western Railway. It is a country +walk worth taking on its own account. + +The name, perhaps, implies that the place is wholesome. It was a village +in Anglo-Saxon times. Its borne or burn is a brook that has its spring +at the head of the village, and "sael" meant prosperity or health of the +best. It is the "sel" in the German "Selig" and the "sil" in our +"silly," which once represented in the best sense well-being of the +innocent. So our old poets talk of "seely sheep;" but as the guileless +are apt prey to the guileful, silliness came to mean what "blessed +innocence" itself now stands for in the language of men who, poor +fellows, are very much more foolish. So Selborne has a happy old +pastoral name. The fresh, full spring, called the "Well Head," which +gives its name to Selborne, doubtless brought the village to its side by +the constant water supply that it furnished. The rivulet becomes at +Oakhanger a considerable stream. + +The Plestor, mentioned in the second letter as having once had a great +oak in it which was blown down in the great storm of 1703--a storm of +which Defoe collected the chief records into a book--bears witness also +to the cheerful village life of old. The name is a corruption of Play- +stow; it was the playground for the village children. That oak blown +down in 1703, which the vicar of the time vainly endeavoured to root +again, was said to have lived 432 years before the time of its overthrow. +The old yew in the churchyard has escaped all storms. + +Gilbert White wrote three or four pieces of verse. Of one of them, "An +Invitation to Selborne," these are the closing lines:-- + + "Nor be that 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 garden stands, + Beneath, deep valleys, scooped 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; + There, like a picture, lies my lowly seat, + A rural, sheltered, 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, + Rills purl between, and dart a quivering light." + +H. M. + + + + +LETTERS TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. + + +LETTER XV. + + +SELBORNE, _July_ 8_th_, 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 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 churchyard to +be full of goblins and spectres. White owls also often scream horribly +as they fly along; from this screaming probably arose the common people's +imaginary species of screech-owl, which they superstitiously think +attends the windows of dying persons. The plumage of the remiges of the +wings of every species of owl that I have yet examined is remarkably soft +and pliant. Perhaps it may be necessary that the wings of these birds +should not make much resistance or rushing, that they may be enabled to +steal through the air unheard upon a nimble and watchful quarry. + +While I am talking of owls, it may not be 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 a hen's egg. I have +known an owl of this species live a full year without any water. Perhaps +the case may be the same with all birds of prey. When owls fly they +stretch out their legs behind them as a balance to their large heavy +heads, for as most nocturnal birds have large eyes and ears they must +have large heads to contain them. Large eyes, I presume, are necessary +to collect every ray of light, and large concave ears to command the +smallest degree of sound or noise. + +I am, etc. + +* * * * * + +[It will be proper to premise here that the sixteenth, eighteenth, +twentieth, and twenty-first letters have been published already in the +"Philosophical Transactions;" but as nicer observation has furnished +several corrections and additions, it is hoped that the republication of +them will not give offence; especially as these sheets would be very +imperfect without them, and as they will be new to many readers who had +no opportunity of seeing them when they made their first appearance.] + +"The hirundines are a most inoffensive, harmless, entertaining, social, +and useful tribe of birds; they touch no fruit in our gardens; delight, +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 sunbeams 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; 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 _hippoboscoe +hirundinis_, with narrow subulated wings, abounding in every nest; and +are hatched by the warmth of the bird's own body during incubation, and +crawl about under its feathers. + +"A species of them is familiar to horsemen in the south of England under +the name of forest-fly; and to some of side-fly, from its running +sideways like a crab. It creeps under the tails, and about the groins, +of horses, which, at their first coming out of the north, are rendered +half frantic by the tickling sensation; while our own breed little +regards them. + +"The curious Reaumur discovered the large eggs, or rather _pupoe_, of +these flies as big as the flies themselves, which he hatched in his own +bosom. Any person that will take the trouble to examine the old nests of +either species of swallows may find in them the black shining cases or +skins of the _pupoe_ of these insects; but for other particulars, too +long for this place, we refer the reader to 'L'Histoire d'Insectes' of +that admirable entomologist. Tom. iv., pl. ii." + + + +LETTER XVI. + + +SELBORNE, _Nov._ 20_th_, 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 April; usually some +few days later than the swallow. For some time after they appear the +hirundines in general pay no attention to the business of nidification, +but play and sport about, either to recruit from the fatigue of their +journey, if they do migrate at all, or else that their blood may recover +its true tone and texture after it has been so long benumbed by the +severities of winter. About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, +the martin begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion for its +family. The crust or shell of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt +or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought +together with little bits of broken straws to render it tough and +tenacious. As this bird often builds against a perpendicular wall +without any projecting ledge under, it requires its utmost efforts to get +the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it may safely carry the +superstructure. On this occasion the bird not only clings with its +claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against +the wall, making that a fulcrum; and thus steadied, it works and plasters +the materials into the face of the brick or stone. But then, that this +work may not, while it is soft and green, pull itself down by its own +weight, the provident architect has prudence and forbearance enough not +to advance her work too fast; but by building only in the morning, and by +dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, gives it sufficient +time to dry and harden. About half an inch seems to be a sufficient +layer for a day. Thus careful workmen, when they build mud-walls +(informed at first, perhaps, by this little bird), raise but a moderate +layer at a time, and then desist, lest the work should become top-heavy, +and so be ruined by its own weight. By this method in about ten or +twelve days is formed a hemispheric nest with a small aperture towards +the top, strong, compact, and warm; and perfectly fitted for all the +purposes for which it was intended. But then nothing is more common than +for the house-sparrow, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it +as its own, to eject the owner, and to line it after its own manner. + +After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as Nature seldom +works in vain, martins will breed on for several years together in the +same nest, where it happens to be well sheltered and secure from the +injuries of weather. The shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic +work, full of knobs and protuberances on the outside; nor is the inside +of those that I have examined smoothed with any exactness at all; but is +rendered soft and warm, and fit for incubation, by a lining of small +straws, grasses, and feathers, and sometimes by a bed of 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 provision, that the dung of nestlings is +enveloped in a tough kind of jelly, and therefore is the easier conveyed +off without soiling or daubing. Yet, as nature is cleanly in all her +ways, the young perform this office for themselves in a little time by +thrusting their tails out at the aperture of their nest. As the young of +small birds presently arrive at their ἡλικία, or full growth, they +soon become impatient of confinement, and sit all day with their heads +out at the orifice, where the dams, by clinging to the nest, supply them +with food from morning to night. For a time the young are fed on the +wing by their parents; but the feat is done by so quick and almost +imperceptible a flight that a person must have attended very exactly to +their motions before he would be able to perceive it. As soon as the +young are able to shift for themselves, the dams immediately turn their +thoughts to the business of a second brood; while the first flight, +shaken off and rejected by their nurses, congregate in great flocks, and +are the birds that are seen clustering and hovering on sunny mornings and +evenings round towers and steeples, and on the roofs of churches and +houses. These congregatings usually begin to take place about the first +week in August, and therefore we may 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 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 a +house without eaves in an exposed district, where some martins build year +by year in the corners of the windows. But, as the corners of these +windows (which face to the south-east and south-west) are too shallow, +the nests are washed down every hard rain; and yet these birds drudge on +to no purpose from summer to summer, without changing their aspect or +house. It is a piteous sight to see them labouring when half their nest +is washed away and bringing dirt . . . "_generis lapsi sarcire ruinas_." +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 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 districts where they are bred, they must undergo +vast devastations somehow and somewhere; for the birds that return yearly +bear no manner of proportion to the birds that retire. + +House-martins are distinguished from their congeners by having their legs +covered with soft downy feathers down to their toes. They are no +songsters, but twitter in a pretty inward soft manner in their nests. +During the time of breeding they are often greatly molested with fleas. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XVII. + + +RINGMER, near LEWES, _Dec._ 9_th_, 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 a 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. Ray used to visit a family just at the +foot of these hills, and was so ravished with the prospect from Plumpton +Plain, near Lewes, that he mentions those scapes in his "Wisdom of God in +the Works of the Creation" with the utmost satisfaction, and thinks them +equal to anything he had seen in the finest parts of Europe. + +For my own part, I think there is somewhat peculiarly sweet and amusing +in the shapely-figured aspect of chalk-hills in 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 +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? + +By what I can guess from the admeasurements of the hills that have been +taken round my house, I should suppose that these hills surmount the wild +at an average at about the rate of five hundred feet. + +One thing is very remarkable as to the sheep: from the westward till you +get to the river Adur all the flocks have horns, and smooth white faces, +and white legs, and a hornless sheep is rarely to be seen; but as soon as +you pass that river eastward, and mount Beeding Hill, all the flocks at +once become hornless, or as they call them, poll-sheep; and have, +moreover, black faces with a white tuft of wool on their foreheads, and +speckled and spotted legs, so that you would think that the flocks of +Laban were pasturing on one side of the stream, and the 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 nous_, the disappearing of the +latter is more marvellous than that of the former, and much more +unaccountable. The hirundines, if they please, are certainly capable of +migration, and yet no doubt are often found in a torpid state; but +redstarts, nightingales, white-throats, black-caps, etc., are very ill +provided for long flights; have never been once found, as I ever heard +of, in a torpid state, and yet can never be supposed, in such troops, +from year to year to dodge and elude the eyes of the curious and +inquisitive, which from day to day discern the other small birds that are +known to abide our winters. But, notwithstanding all my care, I saw +nothing like a summer bird of passage; and what is more strange not one +wheat-ear, though they abound so in the autumn as to be a considerable +perquisite to the shepherds that take them; and though many are to be +seen to my knowledge all the winter through in many 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 Brightelmstone 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 the 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 progressive succession. It does not appear that any wheat-ears +are taken to the westward of Houghton Bridge, which stands on the river +Arun. + +I did not fail to look particularly after my new migration of +ring-ousels, and to take notice whether they continued on the downs 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 whin-chats, some rooks, and +several kites and buzzards. + +About Midsummer a flight of cross-bills comes to the pine-groves about +this house, but never makes any long stay. + +The old tortoise, that I have mentioned in a former letter, still +continues in this garden; and retired under ground about the 20th +November, and came out again for one day on the 30th: it lies now buried +in a wet swampy border under a wall facing to the south, and is enveloped +at present in mud and mire! + +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, etc. + + + +LETTER XVIII. + + +SELBORNE, _Jan._ 29_th_, 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 13th April, as I have remarked from many years' observation. Not +but now and then a straggler is seen much earlier; and, in particular, +when I was a boy I observed a swallow for a whole day together on a sunny +warm Shrove Tuesday; which day could not fall out later than the middle +of March, and often happened early in February. + +It is worth remarking that these birds are seen first about lakes and +mill-ponds; and it is also very particular, that if these early visitors +happen to find frost and snow, as was the case of the two dreadful +springs of 1770 and 1771, they immediately withdraw for a time. A +circumstance this much more in favour of hiding than migration; since it +is much more probable that a bird should retire to its hybernaculum just +at hand, than return for a week or two 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 Virgil's time: + + . . . "Ante + Garrula quam tignis nidos suspendat hirundo." + +In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called _ladu swala_, the barn +swallow. Besides, in the warmer parts of Europe there are no chimneys to +houses, except they are English-built: in these countries she constructs +her nest in porches, and gateways, and galleries, and open halls. + +Here and there a bird may affect some odd, peculiar place; as we have +known a swallow build down the shaft of an old well, through 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, and +particularly from owls, which frequently fall down chimneys, perhaps in +attempting to get at these nestlings. + +The swallow lays from four to six white eggs, dotted with red specks; and +brings out her first brood about the last week in June, or the first week +in July. The progressive method by which the young are introduced into +life is very amusing: first, they emerge from the shaft with difficulty +enough, and often fall down into the rooms below: for a day or so they +are fed on the chimney-top, and then are conducted to the dead leafless +bough of some tree, where, sitting in a row, they are attended with great +assiduity, and may then be called _perchers_. In a day or two more they +become _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 associates 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 executing the most sudden turns and quick evolutions. +Avenues, and long walks, under hedges, and pasture-fields, and mown +meadows where cattle graze, are her delight, especially if there are +trees interspersed; because in such spots insects most abound. When a +fly is taken a smart snap from her bill is heard, resembling the noise at +the shutting of a watch-case: but the motion of the mandibles is too +quick for the eye. + +The swallow, probably the male bird, is the _excubitor_ to house-martins, +and other little birds, announcing the approach of birds of prey. For as +soon as a hawk appears, with a shrill alarming note he calls all the +swallows and martins about him; who pursue in a body, and buffet and +strike their enemy till they have driven him from the village, darting +down from above on his back, and rising in a perpendicular line in +perfect security. This bird also will sound the alarm, and strike at +cats when they climb on the roofs of houses, or otherwise approach the +nests. Each species of hirundo drinks as it flies along, sipping the +surface of the water; but the swallow alone, in general, washes 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 seaport towns, and making little excursions over the +salt water. Horsemen on wide downs are often closely attended by a +little party of swallows for miles together, which 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 _Coleoptera_, as well as on gnats and +flies; and often settles on dug ground, or paths, for gravels to grind +and digest its food. Before they depart, for some weeks, to a bird, they +forsake houses and chimneys, and roost in trees; and usually withdraw +about the beginning of October; though some few stragglers may appear on +at times till the first week in November. + +Some few pairs haunt the new and open streets of London next the fields, +but do not enter, like the house-martin, the close and crowded parts of +the city. + +Both male and female are distinguished from their congeners by the length +and forkedness of their tails. They are undoubtedly the most nimble of +all the species: and when the male pursues the female in amorous chase +they then go beyond their usual speed, and exert a rapidity almost too +quick for the eye to follow. + +After this circumstantial detail of the life and discerning στοργὴ +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 implement 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 +undistinguishing, limited faculty; and blind to every circumstance that +does not immediately respect self-preservation, or lead at once to the +propagation or support of their species. + +I am, with all respect, etc., etc. + + + +LETTER XIX. + + +SELBORNE, _Feb._ 14_th_, 1774. + +Dear Sir,--I received your favour of the 8th, 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 Virgil might intend in the lines in question, since the ancients +did not attend to specific differences like modern naturalists; yet +somewhat may be gathered, enough to incline me to suppose that in the two +passages quoted the poet had his eye on the swallow. + +In the first place the epithet _garrula_ suits the swallow well, who is a +great songster, and not the martin, which is rather a mute bird; and when +it sings is so inward as scarce to be heard. Besides, if _tignum_ in +that place signifies a rafter rather than a beam, as it seems to me to +do, then I think it must be the swallow that is alluded to, and not the +martin, since the former does frequently build within the roof against +the rafters, while the latter always, as far as I have been able to +observe, builds without the roof against eaves and cornices. + +As to the simile, too much stress must not be laid on it, yet the epithet +_nigra_ speaks plainly in favour of the swallow, whose back and wings are +very black, while the rump of the martin is milk-white, its back and +wings blue, and all its under part white as snow. Nor can the clumsy +motions (comparatively clumsy) of the martin well represent the sudden +and artful evolutions and quick turns which Juturna gave to her brother's +chariot, so as to elude the eager pursuit of the enraged AEneas. 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 remarkable year for floods +and high waters. The land-springs which we call lavants, break out much +on the downs of Sussex, Hampshire and Wiltshire. The country people say +when the _lavants_ rise corn will always be dear; meaning that when the +earth is so glutted with water as to send forth springs on the downs and +uplands, that the corn-vales must be drowned; and so it has proved for +these ten or eleven years past. For land-springs have never obtained +more since the memory of man than during that period; nor has there been +known a greater scarcity of all sorts of grain, considering the great +improvements of modern husbandry. Such a run of wet seasons a century or +two ago would, I am persuaded, have occasioned a famine. Therefore +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 +Rutland, and elsewhere, yields remarkably bad, and our wheat on the +ground, by the continual late sudden vicissitudes from fierce frost to +pouring rains, looks poorly, and the turnips rot very fast. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XX. + + +SELBORNE, _Feb._ 26_th_, 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 reciting the +circumstances attending the life and conversation of this little bird, +since it is _fera natura_, at least in this part of the kingdom, +disclaiming all domestic attachments, and haunting wild heaths and +commons where there are large lakes; while the other species, especially +the swallow and house-martin, are remarkably gentle and domesticated, and +never seem to think themselves safe but under the protection of man. + +Here are in this parish, in the sand-pits and banks of the lakes of +Wolmer forest, several colonies of these birds, and yet they are never +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 despatch, 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 not 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 intentionally 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 _latebroe_ being left unfinished arise from their +meeting in those places with strata too harsh, hard, and solid, for their +purpose, which they relinquish, and go to a fresh spot that works more +freely? Or may they not in other places fall in with a soil as much too +loose and mouldering, liable to flounder, and threatening to overwhelm +them and their labours? + +One thing is remarkable--that, after some years, the old holes are +forsaken and new ones bored; perhaps because the old habitations grow +foul and fetid from long use, or because they may so abound with fleas as +to become untenantable. This species of swallow, moreover, is strangely +annoyed with fleas; and we have seen fleas, bed-fleas (_pulex irritans_), +swarming at the mouths of these holes, like bees on the stools of their +hives. + +The following circumstance should by no means be omitted--that these +birds do not make use of their caverns by way of hybernacula, as might be +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 young in the dark, it would not be so easy to ascertain +the time of breeding, were it not for the coming forth of the broods, +which 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 _libelluloe_ (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 nest. 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 affords the +principal food of each respective species of swallow. + +Notwithstanding what has been advanced above, some few sand-martins, I +see, haunt the skirts of London, frequenting the dirty pools in 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 scaffold holes of some old or new deserted +building. They dip and wash as they fly sometimes, like the house-martin +and swallow. + +Sand-martins differ from their congeners in the diminutiveness of their +size, and in their colour, which is what is usually called a +mouse-colour. Near Valencia, 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, _Papilion +de Montagna_. + + + +LETTER XXI. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 28_th_, 1774. + +Dear Sir,--As the swift or black-martin is the largest of the British +_hirundines_, so it is undoubtedly the latest comer. For I remember but +one instance of its 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 the same) that they sometimes usurp upon +the house-sparrows, and expel them, as sparrows do the house and sand- +martin; well remembering that I have seen them squabbling together at the +entrance of their holes; and the sparrows up in arms, and much +disconcerted at these intruders. And yet I am assured, by a nice +observer in such matters, that they do collect feathers for their nests +in Andalusia, and that he has shot them with such materials in their +mouths. + +Swifts, like sand-martins, carry on the business of nidification quite in +the dark, in crannies of castles and towers, and steeples, and upon the +tops of the walls of churches under the roof; and therefore 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 9th 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 Odiham, in this county, +where we have seen many pairs entering the crevices, and skimming and +squeaking round the precipices. + +As I have regarded these amusive birds with no small attention, if I +should advance something new and peculiar with respect to them, and +different from all other birds, I might perhaps be credited; especially +as my assertion is the result of many years' exact observation. The fact +that I would advance is, that swifts tread, or propagate, 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 thundery 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 proportion than those of almost any other +bird. When they mute, or ease themselves in flight, they raise their +wings, and make them meet over their backs. + +At some certain times in the summer I had 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 _phryganeae_, _ephemerae_, and _libellulae_ (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 _pulli_; on the 8th +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 nest for hours together. + +Sometimes they pursue and strike at hawks that come in their way, but not +with that vehemence and fury that swallows express on the same occasion. +They are out all 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? 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? + +Swifts are very anomalous in many particulars, dissenting from all their +congeners not only in the number of their young, but in breeding but once +in a summer, whereas all the other British hirundines breed invariably +twice. It is past all doubt that swifts can breed but once, since they +withdraw in a short time after the flight of their young, and some time +before their congeners bring out their second broods. We may here remark +that, as swifts breed 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 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 occasionally to +the beginning of November. This early retreat is mysterious and +wonderful, since that time is often the sweetest season in the year. But +what is more extraordinary, they begin to retire still earlier in the +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? 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 congregate +with their congeners. They are fearless while haunting their nesting- +places, and are not to be scared with a gun, and are often beaten down +with poles and cudgels as they stoop to go under the eaves. Swifts are +much infested with those pests to the genus called _hippoboscoe +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 _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 _hippoboscoe_, 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 July 5th, 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 στοργὴ for her brood, which she supposed to be in danger, +that, regardless of her own safety, she would not stir, but lay sullenly +by them, permitting herself to be taken in hand. The squab young we +brought down and placed on the grass-plot, where they tumbled about, and +were as helpless as a new-born child. While we contemplated their naked +bodies, their unwieldy disproportioned abdomina, and their heads, too +heavy for their necks to support, we could not but wonder when we +reflected that these shiftless beings in a little more than a fortnight +would be able to dash through the air almost with the 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 ἡλικία, or state of perfection, while +the progressive growth of men and large quadrupeds is slow and tedious! + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXII. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 13_th_, 1774. + +Dear Sir,--By means of a straight cottage chimney I had an opportunity +this summer of remarking, at my leisure, how swallows ascend and descend +through the shaft; but my pleasure in contemplating the 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 +4th, the swift on April 24th, the bank-martin on April 12th, and the +house-martin not till April 30th. At South Zele, Devonshire, swallows +did not arrive till April 25th, swifts in plenty on May 1st, and house- +martins not till the middle of May. At Blackburn, in Lancashire, swifts +were seen April 28th, swallows April 29th, house-martins May 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 inducia scum avibus_, _quamdiu +cuculus cuculat_;" but it appears to me that during that period many +little birds are taken and destroyed by birds of prey, as may be seen by +their feathers left in lanes and under hedges. + +The missel-thrush is, while breeding, fierce and pugnacious, driving such +birds as approach its nest with great fury to a distance. The Welsh call +it "pen y llwyn," the head or master of the coppice. He suffers no +magpie, jay, or blackbird, to enter the garden where he haunts, and is, +for the time, a good guard to the new-sown legumens. In general he is +very successful in the defence of his family; but once I observed in my +garden that several 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 focis_; but numbers at last prevailed, they tore +the nest to pieces, and swallowed the young alive. + +In the season of nidification the wildest birds are comparatively tame. +Thus the ring-dove breeds in my fields, though they are continually +frequented; and the missel-thrush, though most shy and wild in the autumn +and winter, builds in my garden close to a walk where people are passing +all day long. + +Wall-fruit abounds with me this year; but my grapes, that used to be +forward and good, are at 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 disqualify me +for a naturalist; for, when those fits are upon me, I lose all the +pleasing notices and little intimations arising from rural sounds; and +May is to me as silent and mute with respect to the notes of birds, etc., +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." + + + +LETTER XXIII. + + +SELBORNE, _June_ 8_th_, 1775. + +Dear Sir,--On September 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 attention, a +shower of cobwebs falling from very elevated regions, and continuing, +without any interruption, till the close of the day. These webs were not +single filmy threads, floating in the air in all directions, but perfect +flakes or rags; some near an inch broad, and five or six long, which fell +with a degree of velocity that showed they were considerably heavier than +the atmosphere. + +On every side as the observer turned his eyes might he behold a continual +succession of fresh flakes falling into his sight, and twinkling like +stars as they turned their sides towards the sun. + +How far this wonderful shower extended would be difficult to say; but we +know that it reached 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 +thistledown, 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. Ray], then, when they were +become heavier than the air, they must fall. + +Every day in fine weather, in autumn chiefly, do I see those spiders +shooting out their webs and mounting aloft: they will go off from your +finger if you will take them into your hand. Last summer one alighted on +my book as I was reading in the parlour; and, running to the top of the +page, and shooting out a web, took 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. + + + +LETTER XXIV. + + +SELBORNE, _Aug._ 15_th_, 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 sheep, which constantly flock together. + +But this propensity seems not to be confined to animals of the same +species; for we know a doe, still alive, that was brought up from a +little fawn with a dairy of cows; with them it goes a-field, and with +them it returns to the yard. The dogs of the house take no notice of +this deer, being used to her; but, if strange dogs come by, a chase +ensues; while the master smiles to see his favourite securely leading her +pursuers over hedge, or gate, or stile, till she returns to the cows, +who, with fierce lowings and menacing horns, drive the assailants quite +out of the pasture. + +Even great disparity of kind and size does not always prevent social +advances and mutual fellowship. For a very intelligent and observant +person has assured me that, in the former part of his life, keeping but +one horse, he happened also on a time to have but one solitary hen, These +two incongruous animals spent much of their time together in a lonely +orchard, 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 companion. Thus, +by mutual good offices, each seemed to console the vacant hours of the +other: so that Milton, when he puts the following sentiment in the mouth +of Adam, seems to be somewhat mistaken: + + "Much less can _bird_ with _beast_, or fish with fowl, + So well converse, nor with the ox the ape." + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXV. + + +SELBORNE, _Oct._ 2_nd_, 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, etc. 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 gipsy girl lie in the midst of one of our hop-gardens, on the cold +ground, with nothing over her but a piece of a blanket extended on a few +hazel-rods bent hoop-fashion, and stuck into the earth at each end, in +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 those +people on the confines of Tartary, who were endeavouring to penetrate +those deserts, and try their fortune in China. + +Gypsies are called in French, Bohemians; in Italian and modern Greek, +Zingari. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXVI. + + +SELBORNE, _Nov._ 1_st_, 1775. + + "Hic . . . taedae pingues, hic plurimus ignis + Semper, et assidua postes fuligine nigri." + +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 +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 despatch, 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 seaside, the coarser animal-oils will +come very cheap. A pound of common grease may be procured for fourpence, +and about six pounds of grease will dip a pound of rushes, and one pound +of rushes may be bought for one shilling; so that a pound of rushes +medicated and ready for use, will cost three shillings. If men that keep +bees will mix a little wax with the grease, it will give it a +consistency, and render it more cleanly, and make the rushes burn longer; +mutton-suet would have the same effect. + +A good rush, which measured in length two feet four inches and a half, +being minuted, burnt only three minutes short of an hour; and a rush of +still greater length has been known to burn one hour and a quarter. + +These rushes give a good clear light. Watch-lights (coated with tallow), +it is true, shed a dismal 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 1/33 of a farthing, and 1/11 afterwards. +Thus a poor family will enjoy five and a half hours of comfortable light +for farthing. An experienced old housekeeper assures me that one pound +and a half of rushes completely supplies his family the year round, since +working people burn no 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 maidenhair, 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- +chestnut colour; and, being soft and pliant, is very proper for the +dusting of beds, curtains, carpets, hangings, etc. If these besoms were +known to the brushmakers in town, it is probable they might come much in +use for the purpose above mentioned. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXVII. + + +SELBORNE, _Dec._ 12_th_, 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 fireside, in a +kind of torpid state, seldom departing from the chimney-corner; but in +the summer he was all alert, and in quest of his game in the fields, and +on sunny banks. Honey-bees, humble-bees, and wasps, were his prey +wherever he found them; he had no apprehensions from their stings, but +would seize them _nudis manibus_, and at once disarm them of their +weapons, and suck their bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. +Sometimes he would fill his bosom between his shirt and his skin with a +number of these captives, and sometimes would confine them in bottles. He +was a very _merops 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, + Shouldst Wildman be . . . " + +When a tall youth he was removed from hence to a distant village, where +he died, as I understand, before he arrived at manhood. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + + +SELBORNE, _Jan._ 8_th_, 1776. + +Dear Sir,--It is the hardest thing in the world to shake off +superstitious prejudices: they are sucked in, as it were, with our +mother's milk; and growing up with us at a time when they take the +fastest hold and make the most lasting impressions, 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 +superstitions of this district, lest we should be suspected of +exaggeration in a recital of practices too gross for this enlightened +age. + +But the people of Tring, in Hertfordshire, would do well to remember that +no longer ago than the year 1751, and within twenty miles of the capital, +they seized on two superannuated wretches, crazed with age, and +overwhelmed with infirmities, on a suspicion of witchcraft; and, by +trying experiments, drowned them in a horse-pond. + +In a farm-yard near the middle of this village stands at this day, a row +of pollard-ashes, which by the seams and long cicatrices down their +sides, manifestly show that, in former times, they have been cleft +asunder. These trees when young and flexible, were severed and held open +by wedges, while ruptured children, stripped naked, were pushed through +the apertures, under a persuasion that, by such a process, the poor babes +would be cured of their infirmity. As soon as the operation was over, +the tree, in the suffering part, was plastered with loam, and carefully +swathed up. If the parts coalesced and soldered together, as usually +fell out, where the feat was performed with any adroitness at all, the +party was cured; but, where the cleft continued to gape, the operation it +was supposed, would prove ineffectual. Having occasion to enlarge my +garden not long since, I cut down two or three such trees, one of which +did not grow together. + +We have several persons now living in the village who, in their +childhood, were supposed to be healed by this superstitious ceremony, +derived down perhaps from our Saxon ancestors, who practised it before +their conversion to Christianity. + +At the 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 +nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, +the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with +the loss of the use of the limb. Against this accident, to which they +were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew- +ash at hand, which when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for +ever. A shrew-ash was made thus:--Into the body of the tree a deep hole +was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was thrust in +alive, and plugged in, no doubt, with several quaint incantations long +since forgotten. As the ceremonies necessary for such a consecration are +no longer understood, all succession is at an end, and no such tree is +known to subsist in the manor, or hundred. + +As to that on the Plestor + + "The late Vicar stubb'd and burnt it," + +when he was way-warden, regardless of the remonstrances of the +bystanders, who interceded in vain for its preservation, urging its power +and efficacy, and alleging that it had been + + "Religione patrum multos servata per annos." + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXIX. + + +SELBORNE, _Feb._ 7_th_, 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 +condensing the vapour, which trickles down the twigs and boughs, so as to +make the ground below quite in a float. In Newton Lane, in October, +1775, on a misty day, a particular oak in leaf dropped so fast that the +cart-way stood in puddles and the ruts ran with water, though the ground +in general was dusty. + +In some of our smaller islands in the West Indies, if I mistake not, +there are no springs or rivers; but the people are supplied with that +necessary element, water, merely by the dripping of some large teak +trees, which, standing in the bosom of a mountain, keep their heads +constantly enveloped with fogs and clouds, from which they dispense their +kindly never-ceasing moisture; and so render those districts habitable by +condensation alone. + +Trees in leaf have such a vast proportion more of surface than those that +are naked, that, in theory, their condensations should greatly exceed +those that are stripped of their leaves; but, as the former imbibe also a +great quantity of moisture, it is difficult to say which drip most: but +this I know, that deciduous trees that are entwined with much ivy seem to +distil the greatest quantity. Ivy-leaves are smooth, and thick, and +cold, and therefore condense very fast; and besides, evergreens imbibe +very little. These facts may furnish the intelligent with hints +concerning what sorts of trees they should plant round small ponds that +they would wish to be perennial; and show them how advantageous some +trees are in 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 chalk districts will allow that they ever saw springs in such a soil +but in valleys and bottoms, since the waters of so pervious a stratum as +chalk all lie on one dead level, as well-diggers have assured me again +and again. + +Now we have many such little round ponds in this district; and one in +particular on our sheep-down, three hundred feet above my house; which, +though never above three feet deep in the middle, and not more than +thirty feet in diameter, and containing perhaps not more than two or +three hundred 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 counterbalance 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 Vegetable Statics, advances, from experiment, that "the moister +the earth is the more dew falls on it in a night: and more than a double +quantity of dew falls on 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, etc., 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, etc. + + + +LETTER XXX. + + +SELBORNE, _April_ 3_rd_, 1776. + +Dear Sir,--Monsieur Herissant, a French anatomist, seems persuaded that +he has discovered the reason why cuckoos do not hatch their own eggs; the +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 _gallinae_, _columbae_, etc., 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- +flies; the last of which we have seen cuckoos catching on the wing as +they were just emerging out of the aurelia state. Among this farrago +also were to be seen maggots, and many seeds, which belonged either to +gooseberries, currants, cranberries, or some such fruit; so that these +birds apparently subsist on insects and fruits; nor was there the least +appearance of bones, feathers, or fur, to support the idle notion of +their being birds of prey. + +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-fowl, or goat-sucker, as soon as opportunity offered: because, if +their formation proves the same, the reason for incapacity in the cuckoo +will be allowed to have been taken up somewhat hastily. + +Not long after a fern-owl was procured, which, from its habit and shape, +we suspected might resemble the cuckoo in its internal construction. 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 _phalaenae_, 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, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXI. + + +SELBORNE, _April_ 29_th_, 1776. + +Dear Sir,--On August 4th, 1775, we surprised a large viper, which seemed +very heavy and bloated, as it lay in the grass basking in the sun. When +we came to cut it up, we found that the abdomen was crowded with young, +fifteen in number; the shortest of which measured full seven inches, and +were about the size of full-grown earth-worms. This little fry issued +into the world with the true viper-spirit about them, showing great +alertness as soon as disengaged from the belly of the dam: they twisted +and wriggled about, and set themselves up, and gaped very wide when +touched with a stick, showing manifest tokens of menace and defiance, +though as yet they had no manner of fangs that we could find, even with +the help of our glasses. + +To a thinking mind nothing is more wonderful than that early instinct +which impresses young animals with 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 neck, and not in the +abdomen. + + + +LETTER XXXII. + + +Castration has a strange effect: it emasculates both man, beast, and +bird, and brings them to a near resemblance of the other sex. Thus +eunuchs have smooth, unmuscular arms, thighs, and legs; and broad hips, +and beardless chins, and squeaking voices. Gelt stags and bucks have +hornless heads, like hinds and does. Thus wethers have small horns, like +ewes; and oxen large bent horns, and hoarse voices when they low, like +cows: for bulls have short straight horns; and though they mutter and +grumble in a deep, tremendous tone, yet they low in a shrill high key. +Capons have small combs and gills, and look pallid about the head, like +pullets; they also walk without any parade, and hover 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. + + + +LETTER XXXIII. + + +The natural term of a 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 a half-bred bantam-sow, who was as thick as she was long, +and whose belly swept on the ground till she was advanced to her +seventeenth year, at which period she showed some tokens of age by the +decay of her teeth and the decline of her fertility. + +For about ten years this prolific mother produced two litters in the year +of about ten at a time, and once above twenty at a litter; but, as there +were 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, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXIV. + + +SELBORNE, _May_ 9_th_, 1776. + + " . . . admorunt ubera tigres." + +Dear Sir,--We have remarked in a former letter {83} how much incongruous +animals, in a lonely state, may be attached to each other from a spirit +of sociality; in this it may not be amiss to recount a different motive +which has been known to create as strange a fondness. My friend had a +little helpless leveret brought to him, which the servants fed with milk +in a spoon, and about the same time his cat kittened and the young were +dispatched and buried. The hare was soon lost, and supposed to be gone +the way of most foundlings, to be killed by some dog or cat. However, in +about a fortnight, as the master was sitting in his garden in the dusk of +the evening, he observed his cat, with tail erect, trotting towards him, +and calling with little short inward notes of complacency, such as they +use towards their kittens, and something gamboling after, which proved to +be the leveret that the cat had supported with her milk, and continued to +support with great affection. + +Thus was a graminivorous animal nurtured by a carnivorous and predaceous +one! + +Why so cruel and sanguinary a beast as a cat, of the ferocious genus of +_Felis_, the _murium leo_, as Linnaeus calls it, should be affected with +any tenderness towards an animal which is its natural prey, is not so +easy to determine. + +This strange affection probably was occasioned by that desiderium, those +tender maternal feelings, which the loss of her kittens had awakened in +her breast; and by the complacency and ease she derived to herself from +the procuring her teats to be drawn, which were too much distended with +milk, till, from habit, she became as much delighted with this foundling +as if it had been her real offspring. + +This incident is no bad solution of that strange circumstance which grave +historians as well as the poets assert, of exposed children being +sometimes nurtured by female wild beasts that probably had lost their +young. For it is not one whit more marvellous that Romulus and Remus, in +their infant state, should be nursed by a she-wolf, than that a poor +little sucking leveret should be fostered and cherished by a bloody +grimalkin. + + " . . . viridi foetam Mavortis in antro + Procubuisse lupam: geminos huic ubera circum + Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem + Impavidos: illam tereti cervice reflexam + Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua." + + + +LETTER XXXV. + + +SELBORNE, _May_ 20_th_, 1777. + +Dear Sir,--Lands that are subject to frequent inundations are always +poor; and probably the reason may be because the worms are drowned. The +most insignificant insects and reptiles are of much more consequence, and +have much more influence in the economy of Nature than the incurious are +aware of, and are mighty in their effect, from their minuteness, which +renders them less an object of attention, and from their numbers and +fecundity. Earth-worms, though in appearance a small and despicable link +in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. For, +to say nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds, which are almost +entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of +vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them, by boring, +perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains +and the fibres of plants, by drawing straws and stalks of leaves 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 +detestation of worms; the former because they render their walks +unsightly, and make them much work; and the latter because, as they +think, worms eat their green corn. But these men would find that the +earth without worms would soon become cold, hard-bound, and void of +fermentation, and consequently sterile; and 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 +_tipuloe_ (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. {86} + +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 very prolific. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXVI. + + +SELBORNE, _Nov._ 22_nd_, 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 coincidences; +for on those two days the thermometer rose to 66 degrees 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 April, when, the rigour of the +spring abating, a softer season began to prevail. + +Again, it appears by my journals for many years past that house-martins +retire, to a bird, about the beginning of October, so that a person not +very observant of such matters would conclude that they had taken their +last farewell; but then it may be seen in my diaries also that +considerable flocks have discovered themselves again in the first week of +November, and often on the fourth day of that month, only for one day, +and that not as if they were in actual migration, but playing about at +their leisure and feeding calmly, as if no enterprise of moment at all +agitated their spirits. And this was the case in the beginning of this +very month; for on the 4th November more than twenty house-martins, +which, in appearance, had all departed about the 7th 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 58.5 degrees, 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 +degrees, 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 +slumbers by a little untimely warmth, and therefore that nothing so much +promotes its 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 Asia to enjoy in March the +transient summer of a couple of days. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXVII. + + +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 nor feet were able to perform +their functions; so that the poor object was half his time on crutches, +incapable of employ, and languishing in a tiresome state of 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 a +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, bequeathed large legacies to such poor +people as languished under this hopeless infirmity. + +It must, therefore, in these days be to a humane and thinking person a +matter of equal wonder and satisfaction, when he contemplates how nearly +this pest is eradicated, and observes that a leper 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 May. It was +from magazines like these that 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 +comparatively modern, but must prove a great means of preventing +cutaneous ails. At this very time woollen, instead of linen, prevails +among the poorer Welsh, who are subject to foul eruptions. + +The plenty of good wheaten bread that now is found among all ranks of +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 observation +may perceive, within his own memory, both in town and country, how vastly +the consumption of vegetables is increased. Green-stalls in cities now +support multitudes in a comfortable state, while gardeners get fortunes. +Every decent labourer also has his garden, which is half his support, as +well as his delight; and common farmers provide plenty of beans, peas, +and greens, for 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 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 abbeys and priories. The barons neglected every +pursuit that did not lead to war or tend to the pleasure of the chase. + +It was not till gentlemen took up the study of horticulture themselves +that the knowledge of gardening made such hasty advances. Lord Cobham, +Lord Ila, and Mr. Waller, of Beaconsfield, were some of the first people +of rank that promoted the elegant science of ornamenting without +despising the superintendence of the kitchen quarters and fruit walls. + +A remark made by the excellent Mr. Ray, in his "Tour of Europe," at once +surprises us, and corroborates what has been advanced above; for we find +him observing so late as his 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 +excell lettuce itself." Now this journey was undertaken no longer ago +than in the year 1663. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXVIII. + + +SELBORNE, _Feb._ 12_th_, 1778. + + "Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, + Dixerat, ecquis adest? et, adest, responderat echo, + Hic stupet; utque aciem partes divisit in omnes; + Voce, veni, clamat magna. Vocat illa vocantem." + +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 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 patulae recubans . . . " + +were as audibly and intelligibly returned as the first; and there is no +doubt, could trial have been made, but that at midnight, when the air is +very elastic, and a dead stillness prevails, one or two syllables more +might have been obtained; but the distance rendered so late an experiment +very inconvenient. + +Quick dactyls, we observed, succeeded best; for when we came to try its +powers in slow, heavy, 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 off. Buildings, or naked rocks, re-echo much more articulately +than hanging woods or vales; because in the latter the voice is as it +were entangled, and embarrassed in the covert, and weakened in the +rebound. + +The true object of this echo, as we found by various experiments, is the +stone-built, tiled hop-kiln in Gally Lane, which measures in front forty +feet, and from the ground to the eaves twelve feet. The true _centrum +phonicum_, or just distance, is one particular spot in the king's field, +in the path to Nore Hill, on the very brink of the steep balk above the +hollow cart-way. In this case there is no choice of distance; but the +path, by mere contingency, happens to be the lucky, the identical spot, +because the ground rises or falls so immediately, if the speaker either +retires or advances, that his mouth would at once be above or below the +object. + +We measured this polysyllabical echo with great exactness, and found the +distance to fall very short of Dr. Plot's rule for distinct articulation; +for the doctor, in his history of Oxfordshire, allows a hundred and +twenty feet for the return of each syllable distinctly; hence this echo, +which gives ten distinct syllables, ought to measure four hundred yards, +or one hundred and twenty feet to each syllable; whereas our distance is +only two hundred and fifty-eight yards, or near seventy-five feet, to +each syllable. Thus our measure falls short of the doctor's, as five to +eight; but then it must be acknowledged that this candid philosopher was +convinced afterwards, that some latitude must be admitted of in the +distance of echoes according to time and place. + +When experiments of this sort are making, it should always be remembered +that weather and the time of day have a vast influence on an echo; for a +dull, heavy, moist air deadens and clogs the sound; and hot sunshine +renders the air thin and weak, and deprives it of all its springiness, +and a ruffling wind quite defeats the whole. In a still, clear, dewy +evening the air is most elastic; and perhaps the later the hour the more +so. + +Echo has always been so amusing to the imagination that the poets have +personified her; and in their hand she has been the occasion of many a +beautiful fiction. Nor need the gravest man be ashamed to appear taken +with such a phenomenon, since it may become the subject of philosophical +or mathematical inquiries. + +One should have imagined that echoes, if not entertaining, must at least +have been harmless and inoffensive; yet, Virgil advances a strange +notion, that they are injurious to bees. After enumerating some probable +and reasonable annoyances, such as prudent owners would wish far removed +from their bee gardens, he adds-- + + . . . "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 hailed a ship at the distance of a mile, +and still these insects pursued their various employments undisturbed, +and without showing the least sensibility or resentment. + +Some time since its discovery this echo is become totally silent, though +the object, or hop-kiln, remains; nor is there any mystery in this +defect; for the field between is planted as a hop-garden, and the voice +of the speaker is totally absorbed and lost among the poles and entangled +foliage of the hops. And when the poles are removed in autumn the +disappointment is the same; because a tall quick-set hedge, nurtured up +for the purpose of shelter to the hop ground, entirely interrupts the +impulse and repercussion of the voice; so that till those obstructions +are 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 a hill, with a like rising opposite to it, at a few hundred +yards distance; and perhaps success might be the easier ensured could +some canal, lake, or stream intervene. From a seat at the _centrum +phonicum_ he and his friends might amuse themselves sometimes of an +evening with the prattle of this loquacious nymph; of whose complacency +and decent reserve more may be said than can with truth of every +individual of her sex; since she is . . . + + " . . . quae nec reticere loquenti, + Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit resonabilis echo." + +I am, etc. + +P.S.--The classic reader will, I trust, pardon the following lovely +quotation, so finely describing echoes, and so poetically accounting for +their causes from popular superstition:-- + + "Quae bene quom videas, rationem reddere possis + Tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loca sola + Saxa paries formas verborum ex ordine reddant, + Palanteis comites quom monteis inter opacos + Quaerimus, et magna dispersos voce ciemus. + Sex etiam, aut septem loca vidi reddere voces + Unam quom jaceres: ita colles collibus ipsis + Verba repulsantes iterabant dicta referre. + Haec loca capripedes Satyros, Nymphasque tenere + Finitimi fingunt, et Faunos esse loquuntur; + Quorum noctivago strepitu, ludoque jocanti + Adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rumpi, + Chordarumque sonos fieri, dulceisque querelas, + Tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum: + Et genus agricolum late sentiscere, quom Pan + Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans, + Unco saepe labro calamos percurrit hianteis, + Fistula silvestrem ne cesset fundere musam." + + LUCRETIUS, Lib. iv. l. 576. + + + +LETTER XXXIX. + + +SELBORNE, _May_ 13_th_, 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 affection, that strange ἀντιστοργὴ, +which immediately succeeds in the feathered kind to the most +passionate fondness, is the occasion of an equal dispersion of birds over +the face of the earth. Without this provision one favourite district +would be crowded with inhabitants, while others would be destitute and +forsaken. But the parent birds seem to maintain a jealous superiority, +and to oblige the young to seek for new abodes; and the rivalry of the +males in many kinds, prevents their crowding the one on the other. +Whether the swallows and house-martins return in the same exact number +annually is not easy to say, for reasons given above; but it is apparent, +as I have remarked before in my Monographies, that the numbers returning +bear no manner of proportion to the numbers retiring. + + + +LETTER XL. + + +SELBORNE, _June_ 2_nd_, 1778. + +Dear Sir,--The standing objection to botany has always been, that it is a +pursuit that amuses the fancy and exercises the memory, without improving +the mind or advancing any real knowledge; and, where the science is +carried no farther than a mere systematic classification, the charge is +but too true. But the botanist that is desirous of wiping off this +aspersion should be by no means content with a list of names; he should +study plants philosophically, should 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 elegances of life. To plants we owe timber, bread, beer, +honey, wine, oil, linen, cotton, etc., 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, ginsing, betel, +paper, etc. As every climate has its peculiar produce our natural wants +bring on a mutual intercourse; so that by means of trade each distinct +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 sward of the +district where he lived would be a 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, etc. + + + +LETTER XLI. + + +SELBORNE, _July_ 3_rd_, 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 foetidus_, stinking hellebore, bear's foot, or +setterworth,--all over the High Wood and Coneycroft 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 the ground. + +_Vaccinium oxycoccos_, creeping bilberries, or cranberries,--in the bogs +of Bin's Pond. + +_Vaccinium myrtillus_, whortle, or bleaberries--on the dry hillocks of +Wolmer Forest. + +_Drosera rotundifolia_, round-leaved sundew--in the bogs of Bin's Pond. + +_Drosera longifolia_, long-leaved sundew--in the bogs of Bin's Pond. + +_Comarum palustre_, purple comarum, or marsh cinquefoil--in the bogs of +Bin's Pond. + +_Hypericum androsoemum_, Tutsan, St. John's Wort--in the stony, hollow +lanes. + +_Vinca minor_, less periwinkle--in Selborne Hanger and Shrub Wood. + +_Monotropa hypopithys_, yellow monotropa, or birds' nest--in Selborne +Hanger under the shady beeches, to whose roots it seems to be +parasitical, at the north-west end of the Hanger. + +_Chlora perfoliata_, _Blackstonia perfoliata_, _Hudsoni_, perfoliated +yellow-wort--on the banks in the King's Field. + +_Paris quadrifolia_, herb of Paris, true-love, or oneberry--in the Church +Litten Coppice. + +_Chrysosplenium oppositifolium_, opposite golden saxifrage--in the dark +and rocky hollow lanes. + +_Gentiana amarella_, autumnal gentian or fellwort--on the Zigzag and +Hanger. + +_Lathraea 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 pilosus_, small teasel--in the Short and Long Lith. + +_Lathyrus sylvestris_, narrow-leaved, or wild lathyrus--in the bushes at +the foot of the Short Lith, near the path. + +_Ophrys spiralis_, ladies' traces--in the Long Lith, and towards the +south corner of the common. + +_Ophrys nidus avis_, birds' nest ophrys--in the Long Lith under the shady +beeches among the dead leaves; in Great Dorton among the bushes, and on +the Hanger plentifully. + +_Serapias 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. + +_Sambucus ebulus_, dwarf elder, walwort, or danewort--among the rubbish +and ruined foundations of the Priory. + +Of all the propensities of plants, none seem more strange than their +different periods of blossoming. Some produce their flowers in the +winter, or very first dawnings of spring, many when the spring is +established, some at midsummer, and some not till autumn. When we see +the _helleborus foetidus_ and _helleborus niger_ blowing at Christmas, +the _helleborus hyemalis_ in January, and the _helleborus viridis_ as +soon as ever it emerges out of the ground, we do not wonder, because they +are kindred plants that we expect should keep pace the one with the +other; but other 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 familiar, since it would be as +difficult to be explained as the most stupendous phenomenon in nature. + + "Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow + Congeal'd, the crocus, flamy bud to glow? + Say, what retards, amidst the summer's blaze, + Th' autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days? + The GOD OF SEASONS; whose pervading power + Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower: + He bids each flower His quickening word obey, + Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay." + + + +LETTER XLII. + + + "Omnibus animalibus reliquis certus et uniusmodi, et in suo cuique + genere incessus est: aves solae vario meatu feruntur, et in terra, et + in aere." + +SELBORNE, _Aug._ 7_th_, 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 the Saxon verb glidan, to +glide. The kestrel, or wind-hover, has a peculiar mode of hanging in the +air in one place, his wings all the while being briskly agitated. Hen- +harriers fly low over heaths or fields of corn, and beat the ground +regularly like a pointer or setting-dog. Owls move in a buoyant manner, +as if lighter than the air; they seem to want ballast. There is a +peculiarity belonging to ravens that must draw the attention even of the +most incurious; they spend all their leisure time in striking and cuffing +each other on the wing in a kind of playful skirmish, and, when they move +from one place to another, frequently turn on their backs with a loud +croak, and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd gesture +betides them, they are scratching themselves with one foot, and thus lose +the centre of gravity. Rooks sometimes dive and tumble in a frolicsome +manner; crows and daws swagger in their walk; 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 _gallinoe_ 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 despatch; +herons seem encumbered with too much sail for their light bodies, but +these vast hollow wings are necessary in carrying burdens, such as large +fishes and the like; pigeons, and particularly the sort called smiters, +have a way of clashing their wings the one against the other over their +backs with a loud snap; another variety, called tumblers, turn themselves +over in the air. Some birds have movements peculiar to the season of +love. Thus ringdoves, though strong and rapid at other times, yet in the +spring hang about on the wing in a toying and playful manner; thus the +cock-snipe while breeding, forgetting his former flight, fans the air +like the wind-hover; and the green-finch in particular, exhibits such +languishing and faltering gestures as to appear like a wounded and dying +bird; the king-fisher darts along like an arrow; fern-owls, or +goat-suckers, glance in the dusk over the tops of trees like a meteor; +starlings, as it were, swim along, while missel-thrushes use a wild and +desultory flight; swallows sweep over the surface of the ground and +water, and distinguish themselves by rapid turns and quick evolutions; +swifts dash round in circles; and the bank-martin moves with frequent +vacillations like a 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 +perpendicularly as they sing; woodlarks hang poised in the air; and +titlarks rise and fall in large curves, singing in their descent. The +white-throat uses odd jerks and 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, a hooked appearance. Dabchicks, moorhens, and +coots, fly erect, with their legs hanging down, and hardly make any +despatch. The reason is plain, their wings are placed too forward out of +the true centre of gravity, as the legs of auks and divers are situated +too backward. + + + +LETTER XLIII. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 9_th_, 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 of the +_Spectator_, who, by recital of a conversation which passed between two +owls, reclaimed a sultan, before delighting in conquest and +devastation; but I would be thought only to mean that many of the +winged tribes have various sounds and voices adapted to express their +various passions, wants and feelings; such as anger, fear, love, +hatred, hunger and the like. All species are not equally eloquent; +some are copious and fluent as it were in their utterance while others +are confined to a few important sounds: no bird, like the fish kind, is +quite mute, though some are rather silent. The language of birds is +very ancient and, like other ancient modes of speech, very 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 a 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 daybreak, serenades his mate with the clattering of +castanets. All the tuneful _passeres_ express their complacency by sweet +modulations and a variety of melody. The swallow, as has been observed +in a former letter, by a shrill alarm bespeaks the attention of the other +hirundines, and bids them be aware the hawk is at hand. Aquatic and +gregarious birds, especially the nocturnal, that shift their quarters in +the dark, are very noisy and loquacious; as cranes, wild-geese, +wild-ducks, and the like; their perpetual clamour prevents them from +dispersing and losing their companions. + +In so extensive a subject, sketches and outlines are as much as can be +expected; for it would be endless to instance in all the infinite variety +of the feathered nation. We shall therefore confine the remainder of +this letter to the few domestic fowls of our yards, which are most known, +and therefore best understood. And first the peacock, with his gorgeous +train, demands our attention; but, like most of the gaudy birds, his +notes are grating and shocking to the ear: the yelling of cats, and the +braying of an ass, are not more disgustful. The voice of the goose is +trumpet-like and clanking; and once saved the Capitol at Rome, as grave +historians assert; the hiss, also, of the gander, is formidable and full +of menace, and "protective of his young." Among ducks the sexual +distinction of voice is remarkable; for, while the quack of the female is +loud and sonorous, the voice of the drake is inward and harsh, and +feeble, and scarce discernible. The cock turkey struts and gobbles to +his mistress in a most uncouth manner; he hath also a pert and petulant +note when he attacks his adversary. When a hen turkey leads forth her +young brood she keeps a watchful eye; and if a bird of prey appear, +though ever so high in the air, the careful mother announces the enemy +with a little inward moan, and watches him with a steady and attentive +look; but if he approach, her note becomes earnest and alarming, and her +outcries are redoubled. + +No inhabitants of a yard seem possessed of such a variety of expression +and so copious a language as common poultry. Take a chicken of four or +five days old, and hold it up to a window where there are flies, and it +will immediately seize its prey, with little twitterings of complacency; +but if you tender it a wasp or a bee, at once its note becomes harsh, and +expressive of disapprobation and a sense of danger. When a pullet is +ready to lay she intimates the event by a joyous and easy soft note. Of +all the 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 clucking and screaming about, and seems agitated as if +possessed. The father of the flock has also a considerable vocabulary; +if he finds food, he calls a favourite concubine to partake; and if a +bird of prey passes over, with a warning voice he bids his family beware. +The 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." + +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 off his talons, and, fixing a cork on his bill, threw +him down among the brood-hens. Imagination cannot paint the scene that +ensued; the expressions that fear, rage, and revenge inspired, were new, +or at least such as had been unnoticed before: the exasperated matrons +upbraided, they execrated, they insulted, they triumphed. In a word, +they never desisted from buffeting their adversary till they had torn him +in a hundred pieces. + + + +LETTER XLIV. + + + " . . . Monstrent + * * * * * + Quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles + Hyberni; 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 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. + + + +LETTER XLV. + + + " . . . Mugire videbis + Sub bedibus terram, 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 Marcely Hill; the apple nowhere finds + A kinder mould; yet 'tis unsafe to trust + Deceitful ground; who knows but that once more + This mount may journey, and his present site + Forsaken, to thy neighbour's bounds transfer + Thy goodly plants, affording matter strange + For law debates?" + +But, when I came to consider better, I began to suspect that though our +hills may never have journeyed far, yet that the ends of many of them +have slipped and fallen away at distant periods, leaving the cliffs bare +and abrupt. This seems to have been the case with Nore and Whetham +Hills; and especially with the ridge between Harteley Park and Ward-le- +Ham, where the ground has slid into vast swellings and furrows; and lies +still in such romantic confusion as cannot be accounted for from any +other cause. A strange event, that happened not long since, justifies +our suspicions; which, though it befell 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 8th and +9th of that month, a considerable part of the great woody hanger at +Hawkley was torn from its place, and fell down, leaving a high freestone +cliff naked and bare, and resembling the steep side of a chalk-pit. It +appears that this huge fragment, being perhaps sapped and undermined by +waters, foundered, and was 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 post for thirty or forty feet, remained in so true +and upright a position as to open and shut with great exactness, just as +in its first situation. Several oaks also are still standing, and in a +state of 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 a hundred yards from the foot +of this hanging coppice stood a cottage by the side of a lane; and two +hundred yards lower, on the other side of the lane, was a farm-house, in +which lived a labourer and his family; and, just by, a stout new barn. +The cottage was inhabited by an old woman and her son, and his wife. +These people 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 edge, 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 +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 nor safe for pasturage, till considerable labour and +expense had been bestowed in levelling the surface and filling in the +gaping fissures. + + + +LETTER XLVI. + + + " . . . 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 +spot 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 may +gratify his curiosity without injuring the object of it. It is +remarkable, that though these insects are furnished with long legs +behind, and brawny thighs for leaping, like grasshoppers; yet when driven +from their holes they show no activity, but crawl along in a shiftless +manner, so as easily to be taken; and again, though provided with a +curious apparatus of wings, yet they never 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 found by some which I put into the +crevices of a dry stone wall, where I should have been glad to have made +them settle. For though they seemed distressed by being taken out of +their knowledge, yet the first that got possession of the chinks would +seize on any other that were intruded upon them with a vast row of +serrated fangs. With their strong jaws, toothed like the shears of a +lobster's claws, they perforate and round their curious regular cells, +having no fore-claws to dig, like the mole-cricket. When taken in hand I +could not but wonder that they never offered to defend themselves, though +armed with such formidable weapons. Of such herbs as grow before the +mouths of their burrows they eat indiscriminately, and on a little +platform which they make just by, they drop their dung; and never, in the +day time, seem to stir more than two or three inches from home. Sitting +in the entrance of their caverns they chirp all night as well as day from +the middle of the month of May to the middle of July; and in hot weather, +when they are most vigorous, they make the hills echo, and in the stiller +hours of darkness may be heard to a considerable distance. In the +beginning of the season their notes are more faint and inward; but become +louder as the summer advances, and so die away again by degrees. + +Sounds do not always give us pleasure according to their sweetness and +melody, nor do harsh sounds always displease. We are more apt to be +captivated or disgusted with the associations which they promote than +with the notes themselves. Thus the shrilling of the field-cricket, +though sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously delights some hearers, +filling their minds with a train of summer ideas of everything that is +rural, verdurous, and joyous. + +About the 10th March the crickets appear at the mouths of their cells, +which they then open and bore, and shape very elegantly. All that ever I +have seen at that season were in their pupa state, and had only the +rudiments of wings, lying under a skin or coat, which must be cast before +the insect can arrive at its perfect state, from whence I should suppose +that the old ones of last year do not always survive the winter. In +August their holes begin to be obliterated, and the insects are seen no +more till spring. + +Not many summers ago I endeavoured to transplant a colony to the terrace +in my garden, by boring deep holes in the sloping turf. The new +inhabitants stayed some time, and fed and sung, but wandered away by +degrees, and were heard at a farther distance every morning, so that it +appears that on this emergency they made use of their wings in attempting +to return to the spot from which they were taken. + +One of these crickets, when confined in a paper cage and set in the sun, +and supplied with plants moistened with water, will feed and thrive, and +become so merry and loud as to be irksome in the same room where a person +is sitting; if the plants are not wetted it will die. + + + +LETTER XLVII. + + + "Far from all resort of mirth + Save the cricket on the hearth." + + MILTON'S _Il Penseroso_. + +SELBORNE. + +Dear Sir,--While many other insects must be sought after in fields, and +woods, and waters, the _gryllus domesticus_, or house-cricket, resides +altogether within our dwellings, intruding itself upon our notice whether +we will or no. This species delights in new-built houses, being, like +the spider, pleased with the moisture of the walls; and besides, the +softness of the mortar enables them to burrow and mine between the joints +of the bricks or stones, and to open communications from one room to +another. They are particularly fond of kitchens and bakers' ovens, on +account of their perpetual warmth. + +Tender insects that live abroad either enjoy only the short period of one +summer, or else doze away the cold uncomfortable months in profound +slumbers; but these, residing as it were in a torrid zone, are always +alert and merry--a good Christmas fire is to them like the heats of the +dog-days. Though they are frequently heard by day, yet is their natural +time of motion only in the night. As soon as it grows dusk, the chirping +increases, and they come running forth, and are from the size of a flea +to that of their full stature. As one should suppose, from the burning +atmosphere which they inhabit, they are a thrifty race, and show a great +propensity for liquids, being found frequently drowned in pans of water, +milk, broth, or the like. Whatever is moist they affect; and therefore +often gnaw holes in wet woollen stockings and aprons that are hung to the +fire. They are the housewife's barometer, foretelling her when it will +rain, and are prognostic sometimes she thinks of ill or good luck, of the +death of a near relation, or the approach of an absent lover. By being +the constant companions of her solitary hours they naturally become the +objects of her superstition. These crickets are not only very thrifty, +but very voracious; for they will eat the scummings of pots, and yeast, +salt, and crumbs of bread, and any kitchen offal or sweepings. In the +summer we have observed them to fly when it became dusk out of the +windows and over the neighbouring roofs. This feat of activity accounts +for the sudden manner in which they often leave their haunts, as it does +for the method by which they come to houses where they were not known +before. It is remarkable that many sorts of insects seem never to use +their wings but when they have a mind to shift their quarters and settle +new colonies. When in the air they move "_volatu undoso_," in waves or +curves, like wood-peckers, opening and shutting their wings at every +stroke, and so are always rising or sinking. + +When they increase to a great degree, as they did once in the house where +I am now writing, they become noisome pests, flying into the candles, and +dashing into people's faces; but may be blasted and destroyed by +gunpowder discharged into their crevices and crannies. In families at +such times they are like Pharaoh's plague of frogs--"in their +bedchambers, and upon their beds, and in their ovens, and in their +kneading troughs." Their shrilling noise is occasioned by a brisk +attrition of their wings. Cats catch hearth-crickets, and, playing with +them as they do with mice, devour them. Crickets may be destroyed, like +wasps, by phials half filled with beer, or any liquid, and set in their +haunts; for being always eager to drink, they will crowd in till the +bottles are full. + + + +LETTER XLVIII. + + +SELBORNE. + +How diversified are the modes of life, not only of incongruous, but even +of congenerous animals; and yet their specific distinctions are not more +various than their propensities. Thus, while the field-cricket delights +in sunny dry banks, and the house-cricket rejoices amidst the glowing +heat of the kitchen hearth or oven, the _gryllus gryllo talpa_ (the mole- +cricket), haunts moist meadows, and frequents the sides of ponds and +banks of streams, performing all its functions in a swampy wet soil. With +a pair of fore-feet, curiously adapted to the purpose, it burrows and +works under ground like the mole, raising a ridge as it proceeds, but +seldom throwing up hillocks. + +As mole-crickets often infest gardens by the sides of canals, they are +unwelcome guests to the gardener, raising up ridges in their +subterraneous progress, and rendering the walks unsightly. If they take +to the kitchen quarters they occasion great damage among the plants and +roots, by destroying whole beds of cabbages, young legumes, and flowers. +When dug out they seem very slow and helpless, and make no use of their +wings by day, but at night they come abroad, and make long excursions, as +I have been convinced by finding stragglers in a morning, in improbable +places. In fine weather, about the middle of April, and just at the +close of day, they begin to solace themselves with a low, dull, jarring +note, continued for a long time without interruption, and not unlike the +chattering of the fern-owl, or goat-sucker, but more inward. + +About the beginning of May they lay their eggs, as I was once an +eye-witness; for a gardener at a house where I was on a visit, happening +to be mowing, on the 6th of that month, by the side of a canal, his +scythe struck too deep, pared off a large piece of turf, and laid open to +view a curious scene of domestic economy:-- + + " . . . 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 a 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, astonish +me with their accounts; for they say that, from the structure, position, +and number of their stomachs, or maws, there seems to be good reason to +suppose that this and the two former species ruminate or chew the cud +like many quadrupeds! + + + +LETTER XLIX. + + +SELBORNE, _May_ 7_th_, 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 _charadrius himantopus_, +were shot upon the verge of Frinsham pond, a large lake belonging to the +Bishop of Winchester, and lying between Wolmer forest and the town of +Farnham, in the county of Surrey. The pond-keeper says there were three +brace in the flock: but that, after he had satisfied his curiosity, he +suffered the sixth to remain unmolested. One of these specimens I +procured, and found the length of the legs to be so extraordinary, that, +at first sight, one might have supposed the shanks had been fastened on +to impose on the credulity of the beholder: they were legs in +_caricatura_, and had we seen such proportions on a Chinese or Japan +screen, we should have made large allowances for the fancy of the +draughtsman. These birds are of the plover family, and might with +propriety be called the stilt plovers. Brisson, under that idea, gives +them the apposite name of _l'echasse_. My specimen, when drawn and +stuffed with pepper, weighed only four ounces and a quarter, though the +naked part of the thigh measured three inches and a half, and the legs +four inches and a half. Hence we may safely assert that these birds +exhibit, weight for inches, incomparably the greatest length of legs of +any known bird. The flamingo, for instance, is one of the most +long-legged birds, and yet it bears no manner of proportion to the +_himantopus_; for a cock flamingo weighs, at an average, about four +pounds avoirdupois, and his legs and thighs measure usually about twenty +inches. But four pounds are fifteen times and a fraction more than four +ounces and one quarter; and if four ounces and a quarter have eight +inches of legs, four pounds must have one hundred and twenty inches and a +fraction of legs--viz., somewhat more than ten feet; such a monstrous +proportion as the world never saw! If you should try the experiment in +still larger birds, the disparity would still increase. It must be +matter of great curiosity to see the stilt plover move--to observe how it +can wield such a length of lever with such feeble muscles as the thighs +seem to be furnished with. At best one should expect it to be but a bad +walker: but what adds to the wonder is, that it has no back toe. Now +without that steady prop to support its steps it must be liable, in +speculation, to perpetual vacillations, and seldom able to preserve the +true centre of gravity. + +The old name of _himantopus_ is taken from Pliny, and, by an awkward +metaphor, implies that the legs are as slender and pliant as if cut out +of a thong of leather. Neither Willughby nor Ray, in all their curious +researches, either at home or abroad, ever saw this bird. Mr. Pennant +never met with it in all Great Britain, but observed it often in the +cabinets of the curious at Paris. Hasselquist says that it migrates to +Egypt in the autumn, and a most accurate observer of Nature has assured +me that he has found it on the banks of the streams in Andalusia. + +Our writers record it to have been found only twice in Great Britain. +From all these relations it plainly appears that these long-legged +plovers are birds of South Europe, and rarely visit our island, and when +they do, are wanderers and stragglers, and impelled to make so distant +and northern an excursion from motives or accidents for which we are not +able to account. One thing may fairly be deduced, that these birds come +over to us from the 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. + + + +LETTER L. + + +SELBORNE, _April_ 21_st_, 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 degrees, 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 φερέοικοι! for so the Greeks called both the shell-snail and +the tortoise. + +Summer birds are, this cold and backward spring, unusually late: I have +seen but one swallow yet. This conformity with the weather convinces me +more and more that they sleep in the winter. + + + +LETTER LI. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 3_rd_, 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 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 April, and then only a pair. Martins in +general were remarkably late this year. + + + +LETTER LII. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 9_th_, 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 of +motives, that of an attachment to her young, could alone occasion so late +a stay. I watched therefore till the 24th 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 27th, 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 31st I caused +the eaves to be searched, but we found in the nest only two callow dead, +stinking swifts, on which a second nest had been formed. This double +nest was full of the black shining cases of the _hippoboscae 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 occurrence +above could neither be new nor rare. + +P.S.--One swift was seen at Lyndon, in the county of Rutland, in 1782, so +late as the 3rd September. + + + +LETTER LIII. + + +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 affected 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 sides proceeded a cotton-like substance, surrounding a multitude of +eggs. This curious and uncommon production put me upon recollecting what +I have heard and read concerning the _coccus vitis viniferae_ of Linnaeus, +which, in the south of Europe, infests many vines, and is a horrid and +loathsome pest. As soon as I had turned to the accounts given of this +insect, I saw at once that it swarmed on my vine; and did not appear to +have been at all checked by the preceding winter, which had been +uncommonly severe. + +Not being then at all aware that it had 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 immediately 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 seaport town to +which the coccus might be conveyed by shipping. + +As many of my readers may possibly never have heard of this strange and +unusual insect, I shall here transcribe a passage from a natural history +of Gibraltar, written by the Reverend John White, late vicar of Blackburn +in Lancashire, but not yet 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 + suddenly overspread on all the woody branches with large lumps of a + white fibrous substance resembling spiders' webs, or rather raw + cotton. It was of a very clammy quality, sticking fast to 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. Nothing was to be seen connected with it but many brown oval + husky shells, which by no means looked like insects, but rather + resembled bits of the dry bark of the vine. The tree had a plentiful + crop of grapes set, when this pest appeared upon it; but the fruit was + manifestly injured by this foul encumbrance. It remained all the + summer, still increasing, and loaded the woody and bearing branches to + a vast degree. I often pulled off great quantities by handfuls; but + it was so slimy and tenacious that it could by no means be cleared. + The grapes never filled to their natural perfection, but turned watery + and vapid. Upon 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 1st, 1785. + +About three o'clock in the afternoon of that day, which was very hot, the +people of this village were surprised by a shower of aphides, or smother- +flies, which fell in these parts. Those that were walking in the street +at that juncture found themselves covered with these insects, which +settled also on the hedges and gardens, blackening all the vegetables +where they alighted. My annuals were discoloured with them, and the +stalks of a bed of onions were quite coated over for six days after. +These armies were then, no doubt, in a state of emigration, and shifting +their quarters; and might have come, as far as we know, from the great +hop plantations of Kent or Sussex, the wind being all that day in the +easterly quarter. They were observed at the same time in great clouds +about Farnham, and all along the vale from Farnham to Alton. + + + +LETTER LIV. + + +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 +propensities of those beings with whom we can be little acquainted in +their natural state. Not long since I spent a fortnight at the house of +a friend where there was such a vivary, to which I paid no small +attention, taking every occasion to remark what passed within its narrow +limits. It was here that I first observed the manner in which fishes +die. As soon as the creature sickens, the head sinks lower and lower, +and it stands as it were on its head; till, getting weaker, and losing +all poise, the tail turns over, and at last it floats on the surface of +the water with its belly uppermost. The reason why fishes, when dead, +swim in that manner is very obvious; because, when the body is no longer +balanced by the fins of the belly, the broad 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 +contribute to render it buoyant. Some that delight in gold and silver +fishes have adopted a notion that they need no aliment. True it is that +they will subsist for a long time without any apparent food but what they +can collect from pure water frequently changed; yet they must draw some +support from animalcula, and other nourishment 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 _pinnae 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 immovable; but +these 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 eyelids, it is not easy to discern when they are sleeping +or not, because their eyes are always open. + +Nothing can be more amusing than a glass bowl containing such fishes; the +double refractions of the glass and water represent them, when moving, in +a shifting and changeable variety of dimensions, shades, and colours; +while the two mediums, assisted by the concavo-convex shape of the +vessel, magnify and distort them vastly; not to mention that the +introduction of another element and its inhabitants into our parlours +engages the fancy in a very agreeable manner. + +Gold and silver fishes, though originally natives 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 +occasionally; so that you may see a goldfinch or a linnet hopping as it +were in the midst of the water, and the fishes swimming in a circle round +it. The simple exhibition of the fishes is agreeable and pleasant: but +in so complicated a way becomes whimsical and unnatural, and liable to +the objection due to him. + + "Qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam." + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER LV. + + +_October_ 10_th_, 1781. + +Dear Sir,--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 +convinced, linger on till towards the middle of that month; and that at +times, once perhaps in two or three years, a flight, for one day only, +has shown itself in the first week in November. + +Having taken notice, in October, 1780, that the 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 which love to haunt a spot so +secure from ruffling winds. As my principal object was to discover the +place of their roosting, I took care to wait on them before they retired +to rest, and was much pleased to find that for several evenings together, +just at a quarter past five in the afternoon, they all scudded away in +great haste towards the south-east, and darted down among the low shrubs +above the cottages at the end of the hill. This spot, in many respects, +seemed to be well calculated for their winter residence; for in many +parts it is as steep as the roof of any house, and therefore secure from +the annoyances of water; and it is moreover clothed with beechen shrubs, +which, being stunted and bitten by sheep, make the thickest covert +imaginable, and are so entangled as to be impervious to the smallest +spaniel; besides, it is the nature of underwood beech never to cast its +leaf all the winter, so that, with the leaves on the ground and those on +the twigs, no shelter can be more complete. I watched them on the 13th +and 14th October, and found their evening retreat was exact and uniform; +but after this they made no regular appearance. Now and then a straggler +was seen, and on the 22nd October, I observed two in the morning over the +village, and with them my remarks for the season ended. + +From all these circumstances put together, it is more than probable that +this lingering flight, at so late a season of the year, never departed +from the island. Had they indulged me that autumn with a November visit, +as I much desired, I presume that, with proper assistants, I should have +settled the matter past all doubt; but though the 3rd November was a +sweet day, and in appearance exactly suited to my wishes, yet not a +martin was to be seen; and so I was forced, reluctantly, to give up the +pursuit. + +I have only to add that were the bushes, which cover some acres, and are +not my own property, to be grubbed and carefully examined, probably those +late broods, and perhaps the whole aggregate body of the house-martins of +this district, might be found there, in different secret dormitories; and +that, so far from withdrawing into warmer climes, it would appear that +they never depart three hundred yards from the village. + + + +LETTER LVI. + + +They who write on natural history cannot too frequently advert to +instinct, that wonderful limited faculty, which in some instances raises +the brute creation, as it were, above reason, and in others leaves them +so far below it. Philosophers have defined instinct to be that secret +influence by which every species is compelled naturally to pursue, at all +times, the same way or track, without any teaching or example; whereas +reason, without instruction, would often vary and do that by many methods +which instinct effects by one alone. Now this maxim must be taken in a +qualified sense; for there are instances in which instinct does vary and +conform to the circumstances of place and convenience. + +It has been remarked that every species of bird has a mode of +nidification peculiar to itself, so that a schoolboy would at once +pronounce on the sort of nest before him. This is the case among fields +and woods, and wilds, but, in the villages round London, where mosses and +gossamer, and cotton from 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 consistent. +There are three creatures, the squirrel, the field-mouse, and the bird +called the nut-hatch (_sitta Europaea_), which live much on hazelnut; 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 could 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 gatepost 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:-- + + "Praehabebat porro vocibus humanis, instrumentisque harmonicis musicam + illam avium: non quod alia quoque non delectaretur: sed quod ex musica + 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 recollection at +seasons, and even when I am desirous of thinking of more serious matters. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER LVII. + + +A rare, and I think a new, little bird frequents my garden, which I have +great reason to think is the pettichaps: it is common in some parts of +the kingdom; and I have received formerly several dead specimens from +Gibraltar. This bird much resembles the white-throat, but has a more +white or rather silvery breast and belly; is restless and active, like +the willow-wrens, and hops from bough to bough, examining every part for +food; it also runs up the stems of the crown-imperials, and, putting its +head into the bells of those flowers, sips the liquor which stands in the +nectarium of each petal. 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 Wolmer Forest sent me a peregrine-falcon, which he +shot on the verge of that district as it was devouring a wood-pigeon. The +_falco peregrinus_, or haggard-falcon, is a noble species of hawk seldom +seen in the southern counties. In winter 1767, one was killed in the +neighbouring parish of Farringdon, and sent by me to Mr. Pennant into +North Wales. Since that time I have met with none till now. The +specimen mentioned above was in fine preservation, and not injured by the +shot: it measured forty-two inches from wing to wing, and twenty-one from +beak to tail, and weighed two pounds and a half standing weight. This +species is very robust, and wonderfully formed for rapine; its breast was +plump and muscular; its thighs long, thick, and brawny; and its legs +remarkably short and well set: the 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 undistinguishing vehemence +swallow bones and feathers, and all matters indiscriminately. This +falcon was probably driven from the mountains of North Wales or Scotland, +where they are known to breed, by rigorous weather and deep snows that +had lately fallen. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER LVIII. + + +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 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 upon vegetables, +and would not eat flesh when offered them by our circumnavigators. + +We believe that all dogs, in a state of nature, have sharp, upright, fox- +like ears, and that hanging ears, which are esteemed so graceful, are the +effect of choice breeding and cultivation. Thus, in the "Travels of +Ysbrandt Ides from Muscovy to China," the dogs which draw the Tartars on +snow-sledges, near the river Oby, are engraved with prick-ears, like +those from Canton. The Kamschatdales also train the same sort of sharp- +eared, peak-nosed dogs to draw their sledges, as may be seen in an +elegant print engraved for Captain Cook's last voyage round the world. + +Now we are upon the subject of dogs, it may not be impertinent to add +that spaniels, as all sportsmen know, though they hunt partridges and +pheasants as it were by instinct, and with much delight and alacrity, yet +will hardly touch their bones when offered as food; nor will a mongrel +dog of my own, though he is 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, etc., were intended to be messmates with dogs 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, etc. + + + +LETTER LIX. + + +The fossil wood buried in the bogs of Wolmer Forest is not yet all +exhausted, for the peat-cutters now and then stumble upon a log. I have +just seen a piece which was sent by a labourer of Oak Hanger to a +carpenter of this village; this was the butt-end of a small oak, about +five feet long, and about five inches in diameter. It had apparently +been severed 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, etc. + + + +LETTER LX. + + +In reading Dr. Huxam's "Observationes de Aere," etc., written at +Plymouth, I find by those curious and accurate remarks, which contain an +account of the weather from the year 1727 to the year 1748, inclusive, +that though there is frequent rain in that district of Devonshire, yet +the quantity falling is not great; and that some years it has been very +small: for in 1731 the rain measured only 17.266 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 in.; and again once, viz., 1734, 37.114 +in.--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 Comb Wood ponds; and after a pause +seemed to take up the crash again, and to extend round Hartley Hangers, +and to die away at last among the coppices and coverts of Ward-le-Ham. It +has been remarked before that this district is an Anathoth, a place of +responses or echoes, and therefore proper for such experiments: we may +farther add that the pauses in echoes, when they cease and yet are taken +up again, like the pauses in music, surprise the hearers, and have a fine +effect on the imagination. + +The gentleman above mentioned has just fixed a barometer in his parlour +at Newton Valence. The tube was first filled here (at Selborne) twice +with care, when the mercury agreed and stood exactly with my own; but, +being filled 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. + +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 a hundred +miles. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER LXI. + + +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 remarkably +injurious to evergreens, some account of its rigour, and reason of its +ravages, may be useful, and not unacceptable to persons that delight in +planting and ornamenting; and may particularly become a work that +professes never to lose sight of utility. + +For the last two or three days of the former year there were considerable +falls of snow, which lay deep and uniform on the ground without any +drifting, wrapping up the more humble vegetation in perfect security. +From the first day to the fifth of the new year more snow succeeded; but +from that day the air became entirely clear; and the heat of the sun +about noon had a considerable influence in sheltered situations. + +It was in such an aspect that the snow on the author's evergreens was +melted every day, and frozen intensely every night; so that the +laurustines, bays, laurels, and arbutuses looked, in three or four days, +as if they had been burnt in the fire; while a neighbour's plantation of +the same kind, in a high cold situation, where the snow was never melted +at all, remained uninjured. + +From hence I would infer that it is the repeated melting and freezing of +the snow that is so fatal to vegetation, rather than the severity of the +cold. Therefore it highly behoves every planter, who wishes to escape +the cruel mortification of losing in a few days the labour and hopes of +years, to bestir himself on such emergencies; and if his plantations are +small, to avail himself of mats, cloths, pease-haulm, straw, reeds, or +any such covering, for a short time; or, if his shrubberies are +extensive, to see that his people go about with prongs and forks, and +carefully dislodge the snow from the boughs: since the naked foliage will +shift much better for itself, than where the snow is partly melted and +frozen again. + +It may perhaps appear at first like a paradox; but doubtless the more +tender trees and shrubs should never be planted in hot aspects; not only +for the reason assigned above, but also because, thus circumstanced, they +are disposed to shoot earlier in the spring, and to grow on later in the +autumn than they would otherwise do, and so are sufferers by lagging or +early frosts. For this reason also plants from Siberia will hardly +endure our climate; because, on the very first advances of spring, they +shoot away, and so are cut off by the severe nights 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 +inconveniences when rigorous weather returns. + +The coincidents attending this short but intense frost were, that the +horses fell sick with an epidemic distemper, which injured the winds of +many, and killed some; that colds and coughs were general among the human +species; that it froze under people's beds for several nights; that meat +was so hard frozen that it could not be spitted, and could not be secured +but in cellars; that several 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 January, Benjamin Martin's thermometer within doors, in a +close parlour where there was no fire, fell in the night to 20 degrees, +and on the 4th, to 18 degrees, and on the 7th, to 17.5 degrees, 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 subterraneous animals receive such early intimations of their +approach? Moreover, we have often observed that cold seems to descend +from above; for, when a thermometer hangs abroad in a frosty night, the +intervention of a cloud shall immediately raise the mercury 10 degrees; +and a clear sky shall again compel it to descend to its former gauge. + +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. + +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 befall them once perhaps in ten years, yet +may hardly be recovered through the whole course of their lives. + +As it appeared afterwards, the ilexes were much injured, the cypresses +were half destroyed, the arbutuses lingered on, but never recovered; and +the bays, laurustines, and laurels, were killed to the ground; and the +very wild hollies, in hot aspects, were so much affected that they cast +all their leaves. + +By the 14th 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. + + + +LETTER LXII. + + +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 12th, when a prodigious mass overwhelmed +all the works of men, drifting over the tops of the gates, and filling +the hollow lanes. + +On the 14th the writer was obliged to be much abroad; and thinks he never +before or since has encountered such rugged Siberian weather. Many of +the narrow roads were now filled above the tops of the hedges, through +which the snow was driven into most romantic and grotesque shapes, so +striking to the imagination as not to be seen without wonder and +pleasure. The poultry dared not to stir out of their roosting places; +for cocks and hens are so dazzled and confounded by the glare of snow +that they would soon perish without assistance. The hares also lay +sullenly in their seats, and would not move till compelled by hunger, +being conscious--poor 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 +waggons, and coaches, which could no longer keep on their regular stages; +and especially on the western roads, where the fall appears to have been +deeper than in the south. The company at Bath, that wanted to attend the +Queen's birthday, were strangely incommoded: many carriages of persons +who got in their way to town from Bath as far as Marlborough, after +strange embarrassments, here met with a _ne plus ultra_. The ladies +fretted, and offered large rewards to labourers if they would shovel them +a track to London; but the relentless heaps of snow were too bulky to be +removed; and so the 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 thermometer stood at +29 degrees, 28 degrees, 25 degrees, and thereabout; but on the 21st it +descended to 20 degrees. 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 horse's 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 degrees, 7 degrees, 6 degrees, 6 degrees; and at +Selborne to 7 degrees, 6 degrees, 10 degrees; and on the 31st January, +just before sunrise, with rime on the trees and on the tube of the glass, +the quicksilver sank exactly to zero, being 32 degrees below the freezing +point; but by eleven in the morning, though in the shade, it sprang up to +16.5 degrees,--a most unusual degree of cold this for the south of +England! During these four nights the cold was so penetrating that it +occasioned ice in warm chambers and under beds; and in the day the wind +was so keen that persons of robust 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 +February a thaw took place, and some rain followed before night, making +good the observation above, that frosts often go off as it were at once, +without any gradual declension of cold. On the 2nd February the thaw +persisted; and on the 3rd swarms of little insects were frisking and +sporting in a courtyard 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 degrees; at +Blackburn, in Lancashire, at 19 degrees; and at Manchester, at 21 +degrees, 20 degrees, and 18 degrees. 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. + + + +LETTER LXIII. + + +As the frost in December 1784 was very extraordinary, you, I trust, will +not be displeased to hear the particulars, and especially when I promise +to say no more about the severities of winter after I have finished this +letter. + +The first week in December was very wet, with the barometer very low. On +the 7th, with the barometer at 28.5 degrees--came on a vast snow, which +continued all that day and the next, and most part of the following +night; so that by the morning of the 9th the works of men were quite +overwhelmed, the lanes filled so as to be impassable, and the ground +covered 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 degrees, and +at eleven to 4 degrees, 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, sank 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 entreated 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 degrees, and the next +morning at 22 degrees, when mine was at 10 degrees! 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 +degrees less than at Selborne; and, through the whole frost, 10 degrees +or 12 degrees; and, indeed, when we came to observe consequences, we +could readily credit this; for all my laurustines, bays, ilexes, +arbutuses, cypresses, and even my Portugal laurels, and (which occasions +more regret) my fine sloping laurel-hedge, were scorched up; while, at +Newton, the same trees have not lost a leaf. + +We had steady frost on the 25th, when the thermometer in the morning was +down to 10 degrees with us, and at Newton only to 21 degrees. Strong +frost continued till the 31st, when some tendency to thaw was observed; +and, by January 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 10th, being bright sunshine, the air was full of icy +_spiculae_, floating in all directions, like atoms in a sunbeam let into +a dark room. We thought them at first particles of the rime falling from +my tall hedges; but were soon convinced to the contrary, by making our +observations in open places where no rime could reach us. Were they +watery particles of the air frozen as they floated, or were they +evaporations from the snow frozen as they mounted? + +We were much obliged to the thermometers for the early information they +gave us; and hurried our apples, pears, onions, potatoes, etc., 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 affected 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 +effects to have exceeded any since 1730-40. + + + +LETTER LXIV. + + +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 suffered from some late rigorous +winters. + +The summers of 1781 and 1783 were unusually hot and dry; to them +therefore I shall turn back in my journals, without recurring to any more +distant period. In the former of these years my peach and nectarine +trees suffered so much from the heat that the rind on the bodies was +scalded and came off; since which the trees have been in a decaying +state. This may prove a hint to assiduous gardeners to fence and shelter +their wall-trees with mats or boards, as they may easily do, because such +annoyance is seldom of long continuance. During that summer also, I +observed that my apples were coddled, as it were, on the trees; so that +they had no quickness of flavour, and would not keep in the winter. This +circumstance put me in mind of what I have heard travellers assert, that +they never ate a good apple or apricot in the south of Europe, where the +heats were so great as to render the juices vapid and insipid. + +The great pests of a garden are wasps, which 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 degrees or 84 +degrees; but with us, in this hilly and woody district, I have hardly +ever seen it exceed 80 degrees, 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. + + + +LETTER LXV. + + +The summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one, and full +of horrible phenomena; for, besides the alarming meteors and tremendous +thunderstorms 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 anything known within +the memory of man. By my journal I find that I had noticed this strange +occurrence from June 23rd to July 20th inclusive, during which period the +wind varied to every quarter without making any alteration in the air. +The sun, at noon, looked as blank as a clouded moon, and shed a +rust-coloured 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 most +enlightened person to be apprehensive; for, all the while Calabria and +part of the isle of Sicily were torn and convulsed with earthquakes; and +about that juncture a volcano sprang out of the sea on the coast of +Norway. On this occasion Milton's noble simile of the sun, in his first +book of "Paradise Lost," frequently occurred to my mind; and it is indeed +particularly applicable because, towards the end, it alludes to a +superstitious kind of dread, with which the minds of men are always +impressed by such strange and unusual phenomena. + + "--As when the _sun_, new risen, + Looks through the horizontal, _misty_ air, + _Shorn_ of his _beams_; or from behind the moon, + In _dim_ eclipse, _disastrous twilight sheds_ + On half the nations, and with _fear_ of _change_ + _Perplexes_ monarchs--." + + + +LETTER LXVI. + + +We are very seldom annoyed with thunderstorms: 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 thunderstorm from the south, I do not +mean that we never have suffered from thunderstorms at all; for on June +5th, 1784, the thermometer in the morning being at 64 degrees, and at +noon at 70 degrees the barometer at 29.6.5 degrees and the wind north, I +observed a blue mist, smelling strongly of sulphur, hanging along our +sloping woods, and seeming to indicate that thunder was at hand. I was +called in about two in the afternoon, and so missed seeing the gathering +of the clouds in the north; which they who were abroad assured me had +something uncommon in its appearance. At about a quarter after two the +storm began in the parish of Hartley, moving slowly from north to south: +and from thence it came over Norton-farm, and so to Grange-farm, both in +this parish. It began with vast drops of rain, which were soon succeeded +by round hail, and then by convex pieces of ice, which measured three +inches in girth. Had it been as extensive as it was violent, and of any +continuance (for it was very short), it must have ravaged all the +neighbourhood. In the parish of Hartley it did some damage to one farm; +but Norton, which lay in the centre of the storm, was greatly injured; as +was Grange, which lay next to it. It did but just reach to the middle of +the village, where the hail broke my north windows, and all my garden- +lights and hand-glasses, and many of my neighbours' windows. The extent +of the storm was about two miles in length and one in breadth. We were +just sitting down to dinner; but were soon diverted from our repast by +the clattering of tiles and the jingling of glass. There fell at the +same time prodigious torrents of rain on the farms above mentioned, which +occasioned a flood as violent as it was sudden; doing great 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 +"_Annus Historico-naturalis_, or The Natural History of the Twelve Months +of the Year;" which would have comprised many incidents and occurrences +that have not fallen in my way to be mentioned in my series of letters; +but, as Mr. Aikin of Warrington has lately published somewhat of this +sort, and as the length of my correspondence has sufficiently put your +patience to the test, I shall here take a respectful leave of you and +natural history together, and am, + +With all due deference and regard, +Your most obliged and most humble servant, + +GIL. WHITE. + +THE END. + +Printed by Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C. + + + + +Footnotes. + + +{83} Letter XXIV. + +{86} Farmer Young, of Norton Farm, says that this spring (1777) about +four acres of his wheat in one field were entirely destroyed by slugs, +which swarmed on the blades of corn, and devoured it as fast as it +sprang. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, VOL. 2 *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Gilbert White</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Henry Morley</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March 29, 2007 [eBook #20934]<br /> +[Most recently updated: October 24, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Les Bowler</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, VOL. 2 ***</div> + +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">cassell’s +national library</span>.</p> +<h1><span class="smcap">the</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Natural History</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">of</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Selborne</span>.</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +THE REV. GILBERT WHITE, A.M.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Vol.</span> +II.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">CASSELL & COMPANY, <span +class="smcap">Limited</span>:<br /> +<span class="smcap"><i>london</i></span>, <span +class="smcap"><i>paris</i></span>, <span class="smcap"><i>new +york & melbourne</i></span>.<br /> +1887.</p> + +<h2><!-- page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +5</span>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<p>Gilbert White’s home in the quiet Hampshire village of +Selborne is an old family house that has grown by additions, and +has roofs of nature’s colouring, and creeping plants on +walls that have not been driven by scarcity of ground to mount +into the air. The house is larger, by a wing, now than when +White lived in it. A little wooded park, that belongs to +it, extends to a steep hill, “The Hanger,” clothed +with a hanging wood of beech. The Hanger and the slope of +Nore Hill place the village in a pleasant shelter. A visit +to Selborne can be made by a walk of a few miles from Alton on +the South Western Railway. It is a country walk worth +taking on its own account.</p> + +<p>The name, perhaps, implies that the place is wholesome. +It was a village in Anglo-Saxon times. Its borne or burn is +a brook that has its spring at the head of the village, and +“sæl” meant prosperity or health of the +best. It is the “sel” in the German +“Selig” and the “sil” in our +“silly,” which once represented in the best sense +well-being of the innocent. <!-- page 6--><a +name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>So our old +poets talk of “seely sheep;” but as the guileless are +apt prey to the guileful, silliness came to mean what +“blessed innocence” itself now stands for in the +language of men who, poor fellows, are very much more +foolish. So Selborne has a happy old pastoral name. +The fresh, full spring, called the “Well Head,” which +gives its name to Selborne, doubtless brought the village to its +side by the constant water supply that it furnished. The +rivulet becomes at Oakhanger a considerable stream.</p> + +<p>The Plestor, mentioned in the second letter as having once had +a great oak in it which was blown down in the great storm of +1703—a storm of which Defoe collected the chief records +into a book—bears witness also to the cheerful village life +of old. The name is a corruption of Play-stow; it was the +playground for the village children. That oak blown down in +1703, which the vicar of the time vainly endeavoured to root +again, was said to have lived 432 years before the time of its +overthrow. The old yew in the churchyard has escaped all +storms.</p> + +<p>Gilbert White wrote three or four pieces of verse. Of +one of them, “An Invitation to Selborne,” these are +the closing lines:—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>“Nor be that Parsonage by the Muse forgot;<br /> +The partial bard admires his native spot;<br /> +<!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +7</span>Smit with its beauties, loved, as yet a child,<br /> + (Unconscious why) its scapes grotesque and wild.<br /> +High on a mound th’ exalted garden stands,<br /> +Beneath, deep valleys, scooped by Nature’s hand.<br /> +A Cobham here, exulting in his art,<br /> +Might blend the General’s with the Gardener’s part;<br /> +Might fortify with all the martial trade<br /> +Of rampart, bastion, fosse, and palisade;<br /> +Might plant the mortar with wide threatening bore,<br /> +Or bid the mimic cannon seem to roar.<br /> +Now climb the steep, drop now your eye below,<br /> +Where round the blooming village orchards grow;<br /> +There, like a picture, lies my lowly seat,<br /> +A rural, sheltered, unobserved retreat.<br /> +Me, far above the rest, Selbornian scenes,<br /> +The pendent forests, and the mountain greens,<br /> +Strike with delight; there spreads the distant view,<br /> +That gradual fades till sunk in misty blue;<br /> +Here Nature hangs her slopy woods to sight,<br /> +Rills purl between, and dart a quivering light.” +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: right">H. M.</p> + +<h2><!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +9</span>LETTERS TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON.</h2> + +<h3>LETTER XV.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>July</i> 8<i>th</i>, 1773.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—<!-- +page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +10</span>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 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<!-- page 11--><a name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +11</span>intimidating; for I have known a whole village up in +arms on such an occasion, imagining the churchyard to be full of +goblins and spectres. White owls also often scream horribly +as they fly along; from this screaming probably arose the common +people’s imaginary species of screech-owl, which they +superstitiously think attends the windows of dying persons. +The plumage of the remiges of the wings of every species of owl +that I have yet examined is remarkably soft and pliant. +Perhaps it may be necessary that the wings of these birds should +not make much resistance or rushing, that they may be enabled to +steal through the air unheard upon a nimble and watchful +quarry.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><!-- page 12--><a name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +12</span>When brown owls hoot their throats swell as big as a +hen’s egg. I have known an owl of this species live a +full year without any water. Perhaps the case may be the +same with all birds of prey. When owls fly they stretch out +their legs behind them as a balance to their large heavy heads, +for as most nocturnal birds have large eyes and ears they must +have large heads to contain them. Large eyes, I presume, +are necessary to collect every ray of light, and large concave +ears to command the smallest degree of sound or noise.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> + +<p>[It will be proper to premise here that the sixteenth, +eighteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first letters have been +published already in the “Philosophical +Transactions;” but as nicer observation has furnished +several corrections and additions, it is hoped that the +republication of them will not give offence; especially as these +sheets would be very imperfect without them, and as they will be +new to many readers who had no opportunity of seeing them when +they made their first appearance.]</p> + +<p>“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 <!-- page 13--><a +name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>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 sunbeams 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.</p> + +<p>“Many species of birds have their peculiar lice; but the +hirundines alone seem to be annoyed with dipterous insects, which +infest every species, and are so large, in proportion to +themselves, that they must be extremely irksome and injurious to +them. These are the <i>hippoboscœ hirundinis</i>, +with narrow subulated wings, abounding in every nest; and are +hatched by the warmth of the bird’s own body during +incubation, and crawl about under its feathers.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“The curious Reaumur discovered the large eggs, <!-- +page 14--><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +14</span>or rather <i>pupœ</i>, of these flies as big as +the flies themselves, which he hatched in his own bosom. +Any person that will take the trouble to examine the old nests of +either species of swallows may find in them the black shining +cases or skins of the <i>pupœ</i> of these insects; but for +other particulars, too long for this place, we refer the reader +to ‘L’Histoire d’Insectes’ of that +admirable entomologist. Tom. iv., pl. ii.”</p> +<h3>LETTER XVI.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Nov.</i> 20<i>th</i>, 1773.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A few house-martins begin to appear about the 16th April; +usually some few days later than the swallow. For some time +after they appear the hirundines in general pay no attention to +the business of nidification, but play and sport about, either to +recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate at +all, or <!-- page 15--><a name="page15"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 15</span>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 forbearance enough not to +advance her work too fast; but by building only in the morning, +and by dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, +gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About half an +inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus careful +workmen, when they build mud-walls (informed at first, perhaps, +by this little bird), raise but a moderate <!-- page 16--><a +name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>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 a 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.</p> + +<p>After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as +Nature seldom works in vain, martins will breed on for several +years together in the same nest, where it happens to be well +sheltered and secure from the injuries of weather. The +shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic work, full of +knobs and protuberances on the outside; nor is the inside of +those that I have examined smoothed with any exactness at all; +but is rendered soft and warm, and fit for incubation, by a +lining of small straws, grasses, and feathers, and sometimes by a +bed of 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 17--><a +name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>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 provision, that the dung of nestlings is enveloped in +a tough kind of jelly, and therefore is the easier conveyed off +without soiling or daubing. Yet, as nature is cleanly in +all her ways, the young perform this office for themselves in a +little time by thrusting their tails out at the aperture of their +nest. As the young of small birds presently arrive at their +ἡλικία, or full growth, they +soon become impatient of confinement, and sit all day with their +heads out at the orifice, where the dams, by clinging to the +nest, supply them with food from morning to night. For a +time the young are fed on the wing by their parents; but the feat +is done by so quick and almost imperceptible a flight that a +person must have attended very exactly to their motions before he +would be able to perceive it. As soon as the young are able +to shift for themselves, the dams immediately turn their thoughts +to the business of a second brood; while the first flight, shaken +off and rejected by their nurses, congregate in great flocks, and +are the birds that are seen clustering <!-- page 18--><a +name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>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 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 <!-- +page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +19</span>in a hot stifled inn-yard against a wall facing to the +south.</p> + +<p>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 a 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 . . . +“<i>generis lapsi sarcire ruinas</i>.” 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 <!-- page 20--><a +name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>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.</p> + +<p>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 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 districts where they are bred, they must undergo vast +devastations somehow and somewhere; for the birds <!-- page +21--><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>that +return yearly bear no manner of proportion to the birds that +retire.</p> + +<p>House-martins are distinguished from their congeners by having +their legs covered with soft downy feathers down to their +toes. They are no songsters, but twitter in a pretty inward +soft manner in their nests. During the time of breeding +they are often greatly molested with fleas.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XVII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Ringmer</span>, +near <span class="smcap">Lewes</span>, <i>Dec.</i> 9<i>th</i>, +1773.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 a humble attempt to +promote a more minute inquiry into natural history, into the life +and <!-- page 22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +22</span>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.</p> + +<p>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. Ray used to visit a family +just at the foot of these hills, and was so ravished with the +prospect from Plumpton Plain, near Lewes, that he mentions those +scapes in his “Wisdom of God in the Works of the +Creation” with the utmost satisfaction, and thinks them +equal to anything he had seen in the finest parts of Europe.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Perhaps I may be singular in my opinion, and not so happy as +to convey to you the same idea; but I never <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>contemplate +these mountains without thinking I perceive somewhat analogous to +growth in their gentle swellings and smooth fungus-like +protuberances, their fluted sides, and regular hollows and +slopes, that carry at once the air of vegetative dilation and +expansion . . .</p> + +<p>. . . 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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>One thing is very remarkable as to the sheep: from the +westward till you get to the river Adur all the flocks have +horns, and smooth white faces, and white legs, and a hornless +sheep is rarely to be seen; but as soon as you pass that river +eastward, and mount Beeding Hill, all the flocks at once become +hornless, or as they call them, poll-sheep; and have, moreover, +black faces with a white tuft of wool on their foreheads, and +speckled and spotted legs, so that you would think that the +flocks of Laban were pasturing on one side of <!-- page 24--><a +name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>entre nous</i>, 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, <!-- page 25--><a +name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>nightingales, +white-throats, black-caps, etc., are very ill provided for long +flights; have never been once found, as I ever heard of, in a +torpid state, and yet can never be supposed, in such troops, from +year to year to dodge and elude the eyes of the curious and +inquisitive, which from day to day discern the other small birds +that are known to abide our winters. But, notwithstanding +all my care, I saw nothing like a summer bird of passage; and +what is more strange not one wheat-ear, though they abound so in +the autumn as to be a considerable perquisite to the shepherds +that take them; and though many are to be seen to my knowledge +all the winter through in many 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 Brightelmstone 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 the 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 <!-- page +26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +26</span>downs, they abound much more. One thing is very +remarkable, that though in the height of the season so many +hundreds of dozens are taken, yet they never are seen to flock; +and it is a rare thing to see more than three or four at a time; +so that there must be a perpetual flitting and constant +progressive succession. It does not appear that any +wheat-ears are taken to the westward of Houghton Bridge, which +stands on the river Arun.</p> + +<p>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 whin-chats, some rooks, and several kites and +buzzards.</p> + +<p>About Midsummer a flight of cross-bills comes to the +pine-groves about this house, but never makes any long stay.</p> + +<p>The old tortoise, that I have mentioned in a former letter, +still continues in this garden; and retired under ground about +the 20th November, and came out again for one day on the 30th: it +lies now buried in a wet swampy border under a wall facing to the +south, and is enveloped at present in mud and mire!</p> + +<p><!-- page 27--><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +27</span>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.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XVIII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Jan.</i> 29<i>th</i>, 1774.</p> + +<p>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 13th April, as I have remarked +from many years’ observation. Not but now and then a +straggler is seen much earlier; and, in particular, when I was a +boy I observed a swallow for a whole day together on a sunny warm +Shrove Tuesday; which day could not fall out later than the +middle of March, and often happened early in February.</p> + +<p>It is worth remarking that these birds are seen first <!-- +page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +28</span>about lakes and mill-ponds; and it is also very +particular, that if these early visitors happen to find frost and +snow, as was the case of the two dreadful springs of 1770 and +1771, they immediately withdraw for a time. A circumstance +this much more in favour of hiding than migration; since it is +much more probable that a bird should retire to its hybernaculum +just at hand, than return for a week or two to warmer +latitudes.</p> + +<p>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 Virgil’s +time:</p> +<blockquote><p>. . . “Antè<br /> +Garrula quâm tignis nidos suspendat hirundo.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called <i>ladu +swala</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>hirundo</i> breeds in +chimneys, and <!-- page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 29</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Wonderful is the address which this adroit bird shows all day +long in ascending and descending with security through so narrow +a pass. When hovering over the mouth of the funnel, the +vibrations of her wings acting on the confined air occasion a +rumbling like thunder. It is not improbable that the dam +submits to this inconvenient situation so low in the shaft, in +order to secure her broods from rapacious birds, and particularly +from owls, which frequently fall down chimneys, perhaps in +attempting to get at these nestlings.</p> + +<p><!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +30</span>The swallow lays from four to six white eggs, dotted +with red specks; and brings out her first brood about the last +week in June, or the first week in July. The progressive +method by which the young are introduced into life is very +amusing: first, they emerge from the shaft with difficulty +enough, and often fall down into the rooms below: for a day or so +they are fed on the chimney-top, and then are conducted to the +dead leafless bough of some tree, where, sitting in a row, they +are attended with great assiduity, and may then be called +<i>perchers</i>. In a day or two more they become +<i>flyers</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The dam betakes herself immediately to the business of a +second brood as soon as she is disengaged from her first; which +at once associates with the first broods of house-martins; and +with them congregates, clustering on sunny roofs, towers, and +trees. This hirundo brings out her second brood towards the +middle and end of August.</p> + +<p><!-- page 31--><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +31</span>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 executing the most +sudden turns and quick evolutions. Avenues, and long walks, +under hedges, and pasture-fields, and mown meadows where cattle +graze, are her delight, especially if there are trees +interspersed; because in such spots insects most abound. +When a fly is taken a smart snap from her bill is heard, +resembling the noise at the shutting of a watch-case: but the +motion of the mandibles is too quick for the eye.</p> + +<p>The swallow, probably the male bird, is the <i>excubitor</i> +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 <!-- page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 32</span>together: in very hot weather +house-martins and bank-martins dip and wash a little.</p> + +<p>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 seaport +towns, and making little excursions over the salt water. +Horsemen on wide downs are often closely attended by a little +party of swallows for miles together, which 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.</p> + +<p>This species feeds much on little <i>Coleoptera</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><!-- page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +33</span>Both male and female are distinguished from their +congeners by the length and forkedness of their tails. They +are undoubtedly the most nimble of all the species: and when the +male pursues the female in amorous chase they then go beyond +their usual speed, and exert a rapidity almost too quick for the +eye to follow.</p> + +<p>After this circumstantial detail of the life and discerning +στοργὴ of the swallow, I shall +add, for your farther amusement, an anecdote or two not much in +favour of her sagacity:—</p> + +<p>A certain swallow built for two years together on the handles +of a pair of garden-shears, that were stuck up against the boards +in an out-house, and therefore must have her nest spoiled +whenever that implement was wanted: and, what is stranger still, +another bird of the same species built its nest on the 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.</p> + +<p>The owl and the conch make a strange grotesque <!-- page +34--><a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +34</span>appearance, and are not the least curious specimens in +that wonderful collection of art and nature.</p> + +<p>Thus is instinct in animals, taken the least out of its way, +an undistinguishing, limited faculty; and blind to every +circumstance that does not immediately respect self-preservation, +or lead at once to the propagation or support of their +species.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, with all respect, etc., +etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XIX.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Feb.</i> 14<i>th</i>, 1774.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—I received your favour of the 8th, 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.</p> + +<p>As to the quotations, it is difficult to say precisely which +species of hirundo Virgil might intend in the lines in question, +since the ancients did not attend to specific differences like +modern naturalists; yet somewhat may be gathered, enough to +incline me to suppose that in the two passages quoted the poet +had his eye on the swallow.</p> + +<p>In the first place the epithet <i>garrula</i> suits the <!-- +page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +35</span>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 <i>tignum</i> in +that place signifies a rafter rather than a beam, as it seems to +me to do, then I think it must be the swallow that is alluded to, +and not the martin, since the former does frequently build within +the roof against the rafters, while the latter always, as far as +I have been able to observe, builds without the roof against +eaves and cornices.</p> + +<p>As to the simile, too much stress must not be laid on it, yet +the epithet <i>nigra</i> speaks plainly in favour of the swallow, +whose back and wings are very black, while the rump of the martin +is milk-white, its back and wings blue, and all its under part +white as snow. Nor can the clumsy motions (comparatively +clumsy) of the martin well represent the sudden and artful +evolutions and quick turns which Juturna gave to her +brother’s chariot, so as to elude the eager pursuit of the +enraged Æneas. The verb <i>sonat</i> also seems to +imply a bird that is somewhat loquacious.</p> + +<p>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 +remarkable 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 <!-- page 36--><a name="page36"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 36</span><i>lavants</i> rise corn will always +be dear; meaning that when the earth is so glutted with water as +to send forth springs on the downs and uplands, that the +corn-vales must be drowned; and so it has proved for these ten or +eleven years past. For land-springs have never obtained +more since the memory of man than during that period; nor has +there been known a greater scarcity of all sorts of grain, +considering the great improvements of modern husbandry. +Such a run of wet seasons a century or two ago would, I am +persuaded, have occasioned a famine. Therefore pamphlets +and newspaper letters, that talk of combinations, tend to inflame +and mislead; since we must not expect plenty till Providence +sends us more favourable seasons.</p> + +<p>The wheat of last year, all round this district, and in the +county of Rutland, and elsewhere, yields remarkably bad, and our +wheat on the ground, by the continual late sudden vicissitudes +from fierce frost to pouring rains, looks poorly, and the turnips +rot very fast.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3><!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +37</span>LETTER XX.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Feb.</i> 26<i>th</i>, 1774.</p> + +<p>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 <i>hirundo +esculenta</i>.</p> + +<p>But it is much to be regretted that it is scarce possible for +any observer to be so full and exact as he could wish in reciting +the circumstances attending the life and conversation of this +little bird, since it is <i>fera naturâ</i>, at least in +this part of the kingdom, disclaiming all domestic attachments, +and haunting wild heaths and commons where there are large lakes; +while the other species, especially the swallow and house-martin, +are remarkably gentle and domesticated, and never seem to think +themselves safe but under the protection of man.</p> + +<p>Here are in this parish, in the sand-pits and banks of the +lakes of Wolmer forest, several colonies of these birds, and yet +they are never 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 <!-- page 38--><a +name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 39--><a +name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>entirely +disabling herself; yet with these feeble instruments have I seen +a pair of them make great despatch, 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.</p> + +<p>In what space of time these little artists are able to mine +and finish these cavities I have not 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 +intentionally made in order to be in the greater forwardness for +next spring, is allowing perhaps too much foresight and <i>rerum +prudentia</i> to a simple bird. May not the cause of these +<i>latebrœ</i> being left unfinished arise from their +meeting in those places with strata too harsh, hard, and solid, +for their purpose, which they relinquish, and go to a fresh spot +that works more freely? Or may they not in other places +fall in with a soil as much too loose and mouldering, liable to +flounder, and threatening to overwhelm them and their +labours?</p> + +<p>One thing is remarkable—that, after some years, the old +holes are forsaken and new ones bored; perhaps because the old +habitations grow foul and fetid from <!-- page 40--><a +name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>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 +(<i>pulex irritans</i>), swarming at the mouths of these holes, +like bees on the stools of their hives.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The sand-martin arrives much about the same time with the +swallow, and lays, as she does, from four to six white +eggs. But as this species is cryptogame, carrying on the +business of nidification, incubation, and the support of its +young in the dark, it would not be so easy to ascertain the time +of breeding, were it not for the coming forth of the broods, +which 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 <i>libellulœ</i> +(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 <!-- page 41--><a name="page41"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 41</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>These hirundines are no songsters, but rather mute, making +only a little harsh noise when a person approaches their +nest. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>These birds have a peculiar manner of flying; flitting about +with odd jerks, and vacillations, not unlike the <!-- page +42--><a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +42</span>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 affords +the principal food of each respective species of swallow.</p> + +<p>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 scaffold holes of some old or new deserted +building. They dip and wash as they fly sometimes, like the +house-martin and swallow.</p> + +<p>Sand-martins differ from their congeners in the diminutiveness +of their size, and in their colour, which is what is usually +called a mouse-colour. Near Valencia, 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, <i>Papilion de Montagna</i>.</p> +<h3><!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +43</span>LETTER XXI.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Sept.</i> 28<i>th</i>, 1774.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—As the swift or black-martin is the largest of +the British <i>hirundines</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>The swift, like the sand-martin, is very defective in +architecture, making no crust, or shell, for its nest; but +forming it of dry grasses and feathers, very rudely and +inartificially put together. With all my attention to these +birds, I have never been able once to discover one in the act of +collecting or carrying in materials; so that I have suspected +(since their nests are exactly the same) that they sometimes +usurp upon the house-sparrows, and expel them, as sparrows do the +house and sand-martin; well remembering that I have seen them +squabbling together at the entrance of their holes; and the +sparrows up in arms, and much disconcerted at these +intruders. And yet I am assured, by a nice observer in such +matters, that they do collect feathers for their nests in +Andalusia, and that he has shot them with such materials in their +mouths.</p> + +<p><!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +44</span>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 9th +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 Odiham, in this county, where we +have seen many pairs entering the crevices, and skimming and +squeaking round the precipices.</p> + +<p>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 propagate, 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 <!-- page 45--><a name="page45"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 45</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- +page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +46</span>in the air, and squeak, and shoot about with wonderful +rapidity. But this bird is never so much alive as in sultry +thundery weather, when it expresses great alacrity, and calls +forth all its powers. In hot mornings several, getting +together 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.</p> + +<p>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 +proportion than those of almost any other bird. When <!-- +page 47--><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +47</span>they mute, or ease themselves in flight, they raise +their wings, and make them meet over their backs.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>phryganeæ</i>, <i>ephemeræ</i>, and +<i>libellulæ</i> (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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>pulli</i>; on the 8th 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, <!-- page 48--><a +name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>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 nest for +hours together.</p> + +<p>Sometimes they pursue and strike at hawks that come in their +way, but not with that vehemence and fury that swallows express +on the same occasion. They are out all 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.</p> + +<p>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? Do they not rather perhaps retire +to rest for a season, and <!-- page 49--><a +name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>at that +juncture moult and change their feathers, since all other birds +are known to moult soon after the season of breeding?</p> + +<p>Swifts are very anomalous in many particulars, dissenting from +all their congeners not only in the number of their young, but in +breeding but once in a summer, whereas all the other British +hirundines breed invariably twice. It is past all doubt +that swifts can breed but once, since they withdraw in a short +time after the flight of their young, and some time before their +congeners bring out their second broods. We may here remark +that, as swifts breed 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.</p> + +<p>But in nothing are swifts more singular than in their early +retreat. They retire, as to the main body of them, by the +10th 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 occasionally to the beginning of +November. This early retreat is mysterious and wonderful, +since that time is often the sweetest season in the year. +But what is more extraordinary, they begin to retire still +earlier in the most southerly parts of Andalusia, where they can +be <!-- page 50--><a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +50</span>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? This is one of those incidents in natural history +that not only baffles our searches, but almost eludes our +guesses!</p> + +<p>These hirundines never perch on trees or roofs, and so never +congregate with their congeners. They are fearless while +haunting their nesting-places, and are not to be scared with a +gun, and are often beaten down with poles and cudgels as they +stoop to go under the eaves. Swifts are much infested with +those pests to the genus called <i>hippoboscœ +hirundinis</i>; and often wriggle and scratch themselves in their +flight to get rid of that clinging annoyance.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<!-- page 51--><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +51</span>enter a very narrow crevice; and where they cannot pass +on their bellies they will turn up edgewise.</p> + +<p>The particular formation of the foot discriminates the swift +from all the British hirundines; and, indeed from all other known +birds, the <i>hirundo melba</i>, or great white-bellied swift of +Gibraltar, excepted; for it is so disposed as to carry +“<i>omnes quatuor digitos anticos</i>”—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 <i>per +se</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Swifts feed on <i>coleoptera</i>, or small beetles with hard +cases over their wings, as well as on the softer insects, <!-- +page 52--><a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +52</span>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 <i>hippoboscœ</i>, +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.</p> + +<p>On July 5th, 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 +στοργὴ for her brood, +which she supposed to be in danger, that, regardless of her own +safety, she would not stir, but lay sullenly by them, permitting +herself to be taken in hand. The squab young we brought +down and placed on the grass-plot, where they tumbled about, and +were as helpless as a new-born child. While we contemplated +their naked bodies, their unwieldy disproportioned abdomina, and +their heads, too heavy for their necks to support, we could not +but wonder when we reflected that these shiftless beings in a +little more than a fortnight would be able to dash through the +air almost with the inconceivable swiftness of a meteor, <!-- +page 53--><a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +53</span>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 +ἡλικία, or state of +perfection, while the progressive growth of men and large +quadrupeds is slow and tedious!</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Sept.</i> 13<i>th</i>, 1774.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—By means of a straight cottage chimney I had +an opportunity this summer of remarking, at my leisure, how +swallows ascend and descend through the shaft; but my pleasure in +contemplating the 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.</p> + +<p>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 4th, the swift on April 24th, the +bank-martin on April 12th, and the house-martin not till April +30th. At South Zele, Devonshire, swallows did not arrive +till April 25th, swifts in plenty on May 1st, and <!-- page +54--><a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +54</span>house-martins not till the middle of May. At +Blackburn, in Lancashire, swifts were seen April 28th, swallows +April 29th, house-martins May 1st. Do these different +dates, in such distant districts, prove anything for or against +migration?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Linnæus says that hawks “<i>paciscuntur inducia +scum avibus</i>, <i>quamdiu cuculus cuculat</i>;” 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.</p> + +<p>The missel-thrush is, while breeding, fierce and pugnacious, +driving such birds as approach its nest with great fury to a +distance. The Welsh call it “pen y llwyn,” the +head or master of the coppice. He suffers no magpie, jay, +or blackbird, to enter the garden where he haunts, and is, for +the time, a good guard to the new-sown legumens. In general +he is very successful in the defence of his family; but once I +observed in my garden that several magpies came determined to +storm the nest of a missel-thrush: the <!-- page 55--><a +name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>dams defended +their mansion with great vigour, and fought resolutely <i>pro +aris et focis</i>; but numbers at last prevailed, they tore the +nest to pieces, and swallowed the young alive.</p> + +<p>In the season of nidification the wildest birds are +comparatively tame. Thus the ring-dove breeds in my fields, +though they are continually frequented; and the missel-thrush, +though most shy and wild in the autumn and winter, builds in my +garden close to a walk where people are passing all day long.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Frequent returns of deafness incommode me sadly, and half +disqualify me for a naturalist; for, when those fits are upon me, +I lose all the pleasing notices and little intimations arising +from rural sounds; and May is to me as silent and mute with +respect to the notes of birds, etc., as August. My eyesight +is, thank God, quick and good; but with respect to the other +sense, I am, at times, disabled:</p> +<blockquote><p>“And Wisdom at one entrance quite shut +out.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h3><!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +56</span>LETTER XXIII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>June</i> 8<i>th</i>, 1775.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—On September 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>About nine an appearance very unusual began to demand our +attention, a shower of cobwebs falling from very elevated +regions, and continuing, without any interruption, till the close +of the day. These webs were not single filmy threads, +floating in the air in all <!-- page 57--><a +name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>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.</p> + +<p>On every side as the observer turned his eyes might he behold +a continual succession of fresh flakes falling into his sight, +and twinkling like stars as they turned their sides towards the +sun.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 thistledown, 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.</p> + +<p><!-- page 58--><a name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +58</span>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.</p> + +<p>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. Ray], then, when +they were become heavier than the air, they must fall.</p> + +<p>Every day in fine weather, in autumn chiefly, do I <!-- page +59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>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.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXIV.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Aug.</i> 15<i>th</i>, 1775.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 60--><a +name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>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 sheep, which constantly flock together.</p> + +<p>But this propensity seems not to be confined to animals of the +same species; for we know a doe, still alive, that was brought up +from a little fawn with a dairy of cows; with them it goes +a-field, and with them it returns to the yard. The dogs of +the house take no notice of this deer, being used to her; but, if +strange dogs come by, a chase ensues; while the master smiles to +see his favourite securely leading her pursuers over hedge, or +gate, or stile, till she returns to the cows, who, with fierce +lowings and menacing horns, drive the assailants quite out of the +pasture.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 61--><a name="page61"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 61</span>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 +companion. Thus, by mutual good offices, each seemed to +console the vacant hours of the other: so that Milton, when he +puts the following sentiment in the mouth of Adam, seems to be +somewhat mistaken:</p> +<blockquote><p>“Much less can <i>bird</i> with +<i>beast</i>, or fish with fowl,<br /> +So well converse, nor with the ox the ape.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXV.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Oct.</i> 2<i>nd</i>, 1775.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 62</span>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, +etc. It is possible that amidst their cant and corrupted +dialect many mutilated remains of their native language might +still be discovered.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>sub dio</i> the whole year round. Last September was as +wet a month as ever was known; and yet during those deluges did a +young gipsy girl lie in the midst of one of our hop-gardens, on +the cold ground, with nothing over her but a piece of a blanket +extended on a few hazel-rods bent hoop-fashion, and stuck into +the earth <!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 63</span>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.</p> + +<p>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 those people on the confines of Tartary, who were +endeavouring to penetrate those deserts, and try their fortune in +China.</p> + +<p>Gypsies are called in French, Bohemians; in Italian and modern +Greek, Zingari.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXVI.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Nov.</i> 1<i>st</i>, 1775.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Hic . . . tædæ pingues, hic +plurimus ignis<br /> +Semper, et assiduâ postes fuligine nigri.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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 <!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 64</span>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.</p> + +<p>The proper species of rush for this purpose seems to be the +<i>juncus effusus</i>, 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 despatch, and seldom +failing to strip them with the nicest regularity. When +these <i>junci</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Some address is required in dipping these rushes in the +scalding fat or grease; but this knack also is to <!-- page +65--><a name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>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 seaside, the coarser +animal-oils will come very cheap. A pound of common grease +may be procured for fourpence, and about six pounds of grease +will dip a pound of rushes, and one pound of rushes may be bought +for one shilling; so that a pound of rushes medicated and ready +for use, will cost three shillings. If men that keep bees +will mix a little wax with the grease, it will give it a +consistency, and render it more cleanly, and make the rushes burn +longer; mutton-suet would have the same effect.</p> + +<p>A good rush, which measured in length two feet four inches and +a half, being minuted, burnt only three minutes short of an hour; +and a rush of still greater length has been known to burn one +hour and a quarter.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page +66--><a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>ribs +are intended to impede the progress of the flame and make the +candle last.</p> + +<p>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 1/33 of a farthing, and 1/11 +afterwards. Thus a poor family will enjoy five and a half +hours of comfortable light for farthing. An experienced old +housekeeper assures me that one pound and a half of rushes +completely supplies his family the year round, since working +people burn no candles in the long days, because they rise and go +to bed by daylight.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>While on the subject of rural economy, it may not be improper +to mention a pretty implement of <!-- page 67--><a +name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>housewifery +that we have seen nowhere else; that is, little neat besoms which +our foresters make from the stalks of the <i>polytricum +commune</i>, or great golden maidenhair, 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-chestnut colour; and, being soft +and pliant, is very proper for the dusting of beds, curtains, +carpets, hangings, etc. If these besoms were known to the +brushmakers in town, it is probable they might come much in use +for the purpose above mentioned.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXVII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Dec.</i> 12<i>th</i>, 1775.</p> + +<p>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 fireside, in a +<!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +68</span>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 +<i>nudis manibus</i>, 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 <i>merops apiaster</i>, 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 +<!-- page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +69</span>the feats of a more modern exhibitor of bees; and we may +justly say of him now,—</p> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . Thou,<br /> +Had thy presiding star propitious shone,<br /> +Shouldst Wildman be . . . ”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>When a tall youth he was removed from hence to a distant +village, where he died, as I understand, before he arrived at +manhood.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXVIII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Jan.</i> 8<i>th</i>, 1776.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—It is the hardest thing in the world to shake +off superstitious prejudices: they are sucked in, as it were, +with our mother’s milk; and growing up with us at a time +when they take the fastest hold and make the most lasting +impressions, 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.</p> + +<p>Such a preamble seems to be necessary before we <!-- page +70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>enter +on the superstitions of this district, lest we should be +suspected of exaggeration in a recital of practices too gross for +this enlightened age.</p> + +<p>But the people of Tring, in Hertfordshire, would do well to +remember that no longer ago than the year 1751, and within twenty +miles of the capital, they seized on two superannuated wretches, +crazed with age, and overwhelmed with infirmities, on a suspicion +of witchcraft; and, by trying experiments, drowned them in a +horse-pond.</p> + +<p>In a farm-yard near the middle of this village stands at this +day, a row of pollard-ashes, which by the seams and long +cicatrices down their sides, manifestly show that, in former +times, they have been cleft asunder. These trees when young +and flexible, were severed and held open by wedges, while +ruptured children, stripped naked, were pushed through the +apertures, under a persuasion that, by such a process, the poor +babes would be cured of their infirmity. As soon as the +operation was over, the tree, in the suffering part, was +plastered with loam, and carefully swathed up. If the parts +coalesced and soldered together, as usually fell out, where the +feat was performed with any adroitness at all, the party was +cured; but, where the cleft continued to gape, the operation it +was supposed, would prove ineffectual. Having occasion to +enlarge my garden not long since, I cut <!-- page 71--><a +name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>down two or +three such trees, one of which did not grow together.</p> + +<p>We have several persons now living in the village who, in +their childhood, were supposed to be healed by this superstitious +ceremony, derived down perhaps from our Saxon ancestors, who +practised it before their conversion to Christianity.</p> + +<p>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 +nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, +or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, +and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb. +Against this accident, to which they were continually liable, our +provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which when +once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A +shrew-ash was made thus:—Into the body of the tree a deep +hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was +thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt, with several quaint +incantations <!-- page 72--><a name="page72"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 72</span>long since forgotten. As the +ceremonies necessary for such a consecration are no longer +understood, all succession is at an end, and no such tree is +known to subsist in the manor, or hundred.</p> + +<p>As to that on the Plestor</p> +<blockquote><p>“The late Vicar stubb’d and burnt +it,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>when he was way-warden, regardless of the remonstrances of the +bystanders, who interceded in vain for its preservation, urging +its power and efficacy, and alleging that it had been</p> +<blockquote><p>“Religione patrum multos servata per +annos.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXIX.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Feb.</i> 7<i>th</i>, 1776.</p> + +<p>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 condensing the vapour, which +trickles down the twigs and boughs, so as to make the ground +below quite in a float. In Newton Lane, in October, 1775, +on a misty day, a particular oak in leaf dropped so fast that the +cart-way <!-- page 73--><a name="page73"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 73</span>stood in puddles and the ruts ran +with water, though the ground in general was dusty.</p> + +<p>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 teak 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.</p> + +<p>Trees in leaf have such a vast proportion more of surface than +those that are naked, that, in theory, their condensations should +greatly exceed those that are stripped of their leaves; but, as +the former imbibe also a great quantity of moisture, it is +difficult to say which drip most: but this I know, that deciduous +trees that are entwined with much ivy seem to distil the greatest +quantity. Ivy-leaves are smooth, and thick, and cold, and +therefore condense very fast; and besides, evergreens imbibe very +little. These facts may furnish the intelligent with hints +concerning what sorts of trees they should plant round small +ponds that they would wish to be perennial; and show them how +advantageous some trees are in preference to others.</p> + +<p>Trees perspire profusely, condense largely, and check +evaporation so much, that woods are always moist; no <!-- page +74--><a name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +74</span>wonder, therefore, that they contribute much to pools +and streams.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 chalk +districts will allow that they ever saw springs in such a soil +but in valleys and bottoms, since the waters of so pervious a +stratum as chalk all lie on one dead level, as well-diggers have +assured me again and again.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- +page 75--><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +75</span>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 counterbalance 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 Vegetable Statics, advances, from +experiment, that “the moister the earth is the more dew +falls on it in a night: and more than a double quantity of dew +falls on 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 <!-- page 76--><a name="page76"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 76</span>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, etc., 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.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXX.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>April</i> 3<i>rd</i>, 1776.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—Monsieur Herissant, a French anatomist, seems +persuaded that he has discovered the reason why cuckoos do not +hatch their own eggs; the impediment, he supposes, arises from +the internal structure of their parts, which 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 <i>gallinæ</i>, +<i>columbæ</i>, etc., but immediately behind it, on and +over the bowels, so as to make a large protuberance in the +belly.</p> + +<p><!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +77</span>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-flies; the last of which we have seen cuckoos catching on +the wing as they were just emerging out of the aurelia +state. Among this farrago also were to be seen maggots, and +many seeds, which belonged either to gooseberries, currants, +cranberries, or some such fruit; so that these birds apparently +subsist on insects and fruits; nor was there the least appearance +of bones, feathers, or fur, to support the idle notion of their +being birds of prey.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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-fowl, or <!-- +page 78--><a name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +78</span>goat-sucker, as soon as opportunity offered: because, if +their formation proves the same, the reason for incapacity in the +cuckoo will be allowed to have been taken up somewhat +hastily.</p> + +<p>Not long after a fern-owl was procured, which, from its habit +and shape, we suspected might resemble the cuckoo in its internal +construction. 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 +<i>phalænæ</i>, moths of several sorts, and their +eggs, which no doubt had been forced out of those insects by the +action of swallowing.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>cuculus canorus</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3><!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +79</span>LETTER XXXI.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>April</i> 29<i>th</i>, 1776.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—On August 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 80--><a +name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 80</span>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.</p> + +<p>There was little room to suppose that this brood had ever been +in the open air before; and that they were taken in for refuge, +at the mouth of the dam, when she perceived that danger was +approaching; because then probably we should have found them +somewhere in the neck, and not in the abdomen.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXXII.</h3> +<p>Castration has a strange effect: it emasculates both man, +beast, and bird, and brings them to a near resemblance of the +other sex. Thus eunuchs have smooth, unmuscular arms, +thighs, and legs; and broad hips, and beardless chins, and +squeaking voices. Gelt stags and bucks have hornless heads, +like hinds and does. Thus wethers have small horns, like +ewes; and oxen large bent horns, and hoarse voices when they low, +like cows: for bulls have short straight horns; and though they +mutter and grumble in a deep, tremendous tone, yet they low in a +shrill high key. Capons have small combs and gills, and +look pallid about the head, <!-- page 81--><a +name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 81</span>like pullets; +they also walk without any parade, and hover chickens like +hens. Barrow-hogs have also small tusks like sows.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXXIII.</h3> +<p>The natural term of a 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 a +half-bred bantam-sow, who was as thick as she was long, and whose +belly <!-- page 82--><a name="page82"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 82</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3><!-- page 83--><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +83</span>LETTER XXXIV.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>May</i> 9<i>th</i>, 1776.</p> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . admôrunt ubera +tigres.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Dear Sir,—We have remarked in a former letter <a +name="citation83"></a><a href="#footnote83" +class="citation">[83]</a> how much incongruous animals, in a +lonely state, may be attached to each other from a spirit of +sociality; in this it may not be amiss to recount a different +motive which has been known to create as strange a +fondness. My friend had a little helpless leveret brought +to him, which the servants fed with milk in a spoon, and about +the same time his cat kittened and the young were dispatched and +buried. The hare was soon lost, and supposed to be gone the +way of most foundlings, to be killed by some dog or cat. +However, in about a fortnight, as the master was sitting in his +garden in the dusk of the evening, he observed his cat, with tail +erect, trotting towards him, and calling with little short inward +notes of complacency, such as they use towards their kittens, and +something gamboling after, which proved to be the leveret that +the cat had supported with her milk, and continued to support +with great affection.</p> + +<p>Thus was a graminivorous animal nurtured by a carnivorous and +predaceous one!</p> + +<p><!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +84</span>Why so cruel and sanguinary a beast as a cat, of the +ferocious genus of <i>Felis</i>, the <i>murium leo</i>, as +Linnæus calls it, should be affected with any tenderness +towards an animal which is its natural prey, is not so easy to +determine.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . viridi fœtam Mavortis in +antro<br /> +Procubuisse lupam: geminos huic ubera circum<br /> +Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem<br /> +Impavidos: illam tereti cervice reflexam<br /> +Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere linguâ.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h3><!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +85</span>LETTER XXXV.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>May</i> 20<i>th</i>, 1777.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—Lands that are subject to frequent inundations +are always poor; and probably the reason may be because the worms +are drowned. The most insignificant insects and reptiles +are of much more consequence, and have much more influence in the +economy of Nature than the incurious are aware of, and are mighty +in their effect, from their minuteness, which renders them less +an object of attention, and from their numbers and +fecundity. Earth-worms, though in appearance a small and +despicable link in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost, would make +a lamentable chasm. For, to say nothing of half the birds, +and some quadrupeds, which are almost entirely supported by them, +worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would +proceed but lamely without them, by boring, perforating, and +loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains and the +fibres of plants, by drawing straws and stalks of leaves 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 <!-- page 86--><a name="page86"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 86</span>away; and they affect slopes, +probably to avoid being flooded. Gardeners and farmers +express their detestation of worms; the former because they +render their walks unsightly, and make them much work; and the +latter because, as they think, worms eat their green corn. +But these men would find that the earth without worms would soon +become cold, hard-bound, and void of fermentation, and +consequently sterile; and besides, in favour of worms, it should +be hinted that green corn, plants, and flowers, are not so much +injured by them as by many species of <i>coleoptera</i> +(scarabs), and <i>tipulœ</i> (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. <a name="citation86"></a><a +href="#footnote86" class="citation">[86]</a></p> + +<p>These hints we think proper to throw out in order to set the +inquisitive and discerning to work.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- +page 87--><a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +87</span>will take the pains to examine his grass-plots with a +candle; are hermaphrodites, and very prolific.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXXVI.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Nov.</i> 22<i>nd</i>, 1777.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>This sudden summer-like heat was attended by many summer +coincidences; for on those two days the thermometer rose to +66° 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.</p> + +<p>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, <!-- page 88--><a name="page88"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 88</span>and the swallows were seen no more +until the 10th April, when, the rigour of the spring abating, a +softer season began to prevail.</p> + +<p>Again, it appears by my journals for many years past that +house-martins retire, to a bird, about the beginning of October, +so that a person not very observant of such matters would +conclude that they had taken their last farewell; but then it may +be seen in my diaries also that considerable flocks have +discovered themselves again in the first week of November, and +often on the fourth day of that month, only for one day, and that +not as if they were in actual migration, but playing about at +their leisure and feeding calmly, as if no enterprise of moment +at all agitated their spirits. And this was the case in the +beginning of this very month; for on the 4th November more than +twenty house-martins, which, in appearance, had all departed +about the 7th 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 +58½°, 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.</p> + +<p><!-- page 89--><a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +89</span>From all these circumstances laid together, it is +obvious that torpid insects, reptiles, and quadrupeds, are +awakened from their profoundest slumbers by a little untimely +warmth, and therefore that nothing so much promotes its +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 Asia to enjoy in March the transient summer of a +couple of days.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XXXVII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Jan.</i> 8<i>th</i>, 1778.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 90--><a name="page90"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 90</span>fall; and, by peeling away, left the +skin so thin and tender that neither his hands nor feet were able +to perform their functions; so that the poor object was half his +time on crutches, incapable of employ, and languishing in a +tiresome state of 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Some centuries ago this horrible distemper prevailed <!-- page +91--><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>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 a 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, bequeathed large legacies to such poor +people as languished under this hopeless infirmity.</p> + +<p>It must, therefore, in these days be to a humane and thinking +person a matter of equal wonder and satisfaction, when he +contemplates how nearly this pest is eradicated, and observes +that a leper 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 <!-- page 92--><a +name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 92</span>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 +May. It was from magazines like these that 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The use of linen changes, shirts or shifts, in the room of +sordid and filthy woollen, long worn next the skin, is a matter +of neatness comparatively modern, but must prove a great means of +preventing cutaneous ails. At this very time woollen, +instead of linen, prevails among the poorer Welsh, who are +subject to foul eruptions.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 93--><a +name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>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.</p> + +<p>As to the produce of a garden, every middle-aged person of +observation may perceive, within his own memory, both in town and +country, how vastly the consumption of vegetables is +increased. Green-stalls in cities now support multitudes in +a comfortable state, while gardeners get fortunes. Every +decent labourer also has his garden, which is half his support, +as well as his delight; and common farmers provide plenty of +beans, peas, and greens, for 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.</p> + +<p>Our Saxon ancestors certainly had some sort of cabbage, +because 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 <!-- page 94--><a +name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 94</span>within the +wall of their abbeys and priories. The barons neglected +every pursuit that did not lead to war or tend to the pleasure of +the chase.</p> + +<p>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. Waller, of +Beaconsfield, were some of the first people of rank that promoted +the elegant science of ornamenting without despising the +superintendence of the kitchen quarters and fruit walls.</p> + +<p>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., <i>selleri</i> (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 excell +lettuce itself.” Now this journey was undertaken no +longer ago than in the year 1663.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3><!-- page 95--><a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +95</span>LETTER XXXVIII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Feb.</i> 12<i>th</i>, 1778.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Fortè puer, comitum seductus ab +agmine fido,<br /> +Dixerat, ecquis adest? et, adest, responderat echo,<br /> +Hic stupet; utque aciem partes divisit in omnes;<br /> +Voce, veni, clamat magnâ. Vocat illa +vocantem.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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 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.</p> + +<p>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</p> +<blockquote><p>“Tityre, tu patulæ recubans . . . +”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +96</span>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.</p> + +<p>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,</p> +<blockquote><p>“Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens . . . +”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>we could perceive a return but of four or five.</p> + +<p>All echoes have some one place to which they are returned +stronger and more distinct than to any other; and that is always +the place that lies at right angles with the object of +repercussion, and is not too near, nor too far off. +Buildings, or naked rocks, re-echo much more articulately than +hanging woods or vales; because in the latter the voice is as it +were entangled, and embarrassed in the covert, and weakened in +the rebound.</p> + +<p>The true object of this echo, as we found by various +experiments, is the stone-built, tiled hop-kiln in Gally Lane, +which measures in front forty feet, and from the ground to the +eaves twelve feet. The true <i>centrum phonicum</i>, 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 <!-- page 97--><a +name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When experiments of this sort are making, it should always be +remembered that weather and the time of day have a vast influence +on an echo; for a dull, heavy, moist air deadens and clogs the +sound; and hot sunshine renders the air thin and weak, and +deprives it of all its springiness, and a ruffling wind quite +defeats the <!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 98</span>whole. In a still, clear, dewy +evening the air is most elastic; and perhaps the later the hour +the more so.</p> + +<p>Echo has always been so amusing to the imagination that the +poets have personified her; and in their hand 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.</p> + +<p>One should have imagined that echoes, if not entertaining, +must at least have been harmless and inoffensive; yet, Virgil +advances a strange notion, that they are injurious to bees. +After enumerating some probable and reasonable annoyances, such +as prudent owners would wish far removed from their bee gardens, +he adds—</p> + +<blockquote> +<p> +. . . “aut ubi concava pulsu<br /> +Saxa sonant, vocisque offensa resultat imago.” +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>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, <!-- page 99--><a +name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span>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 hailed a ship at the distance of +a mile, and still these insects pursued their various employments +undisturbed, and without showing the least sensibility or +resentment.</p> + +<p>Some time since its discovery this echo is become totally +silent, though the object, or hop-kiln, remains; nor is there any +mystery in this defect; for the field between is planted as a +hop-garden, and the voice of the speaker is totally absorbed and +lost among the poles and entangled foliage of the hops. And +when the poles are removed in autumn the disappointment is the +same; because a tall quick-set hedge, nurtured up for the purpose +of shelter to the hop ground, entirely interrupts the impulse and +repercussion of the voice; so that till those obstructions are +removed no more of its garrulity can be expected.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 100--><a name="page100"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 100</span>building on the gentle declivity of +a hill, with a like rising opposite to it, at a few hundred yards +distance; and perhaps success might be the easier ensured could +some canal, lake, or stream intervene. From a seat at the +<i>centrum phonicum</i> 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 +. . .</p> + +<blockquote> +<p> +“ . . . quæ nec reticere loquenti,<br /> +Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit resonabilis echo.” +</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Quæ benè quom videas, rationem +reddere possis<br /> +Tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loca sola<br /> +Saxa paries formas verborum ex ordine reddant,<br /> +Palanteis comites quom monteis inter opacos<br /> +Quærimus, et magna dispersos voce ciemus.<br /> +Sex etiam, aut septem loca vidi reddere voces<br /> +Unam quom jaceres: ita colles collibus ipsis<br /> +Verba repulsantes iterabant dicta referre.<br /> +Hæc loca capripedes Satyros, Nymphasque tenere<br /> +Finitimi fingunt, et Faunos esse loquuntur;<br /> +Quorum noctivago strepitu, ludoque jocanti<br /> +<!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +101</span>Adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rumpi,<br /> +Chordarumque sonos fieri, dulceisque querelas,<br /> +Tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum:<br /> +Et genus agricolûm latè sentiscere, quom Pan<br /> +Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans,<br /> +Unco sæpe labro calamos percurrit hianteis,<br /> +Fistula silvestrem ne cesset fundere musam.”</p> + +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Lucretius</span>, Lib. iv. l. 576.</p> +</blockquote> + +<h3>LETTER XXXIX.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>May</i> 13<i>th</i>, 1778.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- +page 102--><a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +102</span>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?</p> + +<p>Ever since I have attended to the subject of ornithology, I +have always supposed that that sudden reverse of affection, that +strange ἀντιστοργὴ, +which immediately succeeds in the feathered kind to the most +passionate fondness, is the occasion of an equal dispersion of +birds over the face of the earth. Without this provision +one favourite district would be crowded with inhabitants, while +others would be destitute and forsaken. But the parent +birds seem to maintain a jealous superiority, and to oblige the +young to seek for new abodes; and the rivalry of the males in +many kinds, prevents their crowding the one on the other. +Whether the swallows and house-martins return in the same exact +number annually is not easy to say, for reasons given above; but +it is apparent, as I have remarked before in my Monographies, +that the numbers returning bear no manner of proportion to the +numbers retiring.</p> +<h3><!-- page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 103</span>LETTER XL.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>June</i> 2<i>nd</i>, 1778.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—The standing objection to botany has always +been, that it is a pursuit that amuses the fancy and exercises +the memory, without improving the mind or advancing any real +knowledge; and, where the science is carried no farther than a +mere systematic classification, the charge is but too true. +But the botanist that is desirous of wiping off this aspersion +should be by no means content with a list of names; he should +study plants philosophically, should 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.</p> + +<p>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 elegances of life. To plants we +owe timber, bread, beer, honey, wine, oil, linen, cotton, etc., +what not only strengthens our hearts, and exhilarates our +spirits, but <!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 104</span>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.</p> + +<p>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, ginsing, betel, paper, etc. As every +climate has its peculiar produce our natural wants bring on a +mutual intercourse; so that by means of trade each distinct 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 105--><a name="page105"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 105</span>know wheat from barley, or at least +one sort of wheat or barley from another.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The study of grasses would be of great consequence to a +northerly and grazing kingdom. The botanist that could +improve the sward of the district where he lived would be a +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.”</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER XLI.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>July</i> 3<i>rd</i>, 1778.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 106--><a +name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 106</span>furnish an +ample Flora. The deep rocky lanes abound with +<i>filices</i>, and the pastures and moist woods with +<i>fungi</i>. 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:—</p> + +<p><i>Helleborus fœtidus</i>, stinking hellebore, +bear’s foot, or setterworth,—all over the High Wood +and Coneycroft 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.</p> + +<p><i>Helleborus viridis</i>, 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 the +ground.</p> + +<p><i>Vaccinium oxycoccos</i>, creeping bilberries, or +cranberries,—in the bogs of Bin’s Pond.</p> + +<p><!-- page 107--><a name="page107"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +107</span><i>Vaccinium myrtillus</i>, whortle, or +bleaberries—on the dry hillocks of Wolmer Forest.</p> + +<p><i>Drosera rotundifolia</i>, round-leaved sundew—in the +bogs of Bin’s Pond.</p> + +<p><i>Drosera longifolia</i>, long-leaved sundew—in the +bogs of Bin’s Pond.</p> + +<p><i>Comarum palustre</i>, purple comarum, or marsh +cinquefoil—in the bogs of Bin’s Pond.</p> + +<p><i>Hypericum androsœmum</i>, Tutsan, St. John’s +Wort—in the stony, hollow lanes.</p> + +<p><i>Vinca minor</i>, less periwinkle—in Selborne Hanger +and Shrub Wood.</p> + +<p><i>Monotropa hypopithys</i>, yellow monotropa, or birds’ +nest—in Selborne Hanger under the shady beeches, to whose +roots it seems to be parasitical, at the north-west end of the +Hanger.</p> + +<p><i>Chlora perfoliata</i>, <i>Blackstonia perfoliata</i>, +<i>Hudsoni</i>, perfoliated yellow-wort—on the banks in the +King’s Field.</p> + +<p><i>Paris quadrifolia</i>, herb of Paris, true-love, or +oneberry—in the Church Litten Coppice.</p> + +<p><i>Chrysosplenium oppositifolium</i>, opposite golden +saxifrage—in the dark and rocky hollow lanes.</p> + +<p><i>Gentiana amarella</i>, autumnal gentian or +fellwort—on the Zigzag and Hanger.</p> + +<p><i>Lathræa squamaria</i>, tooth-wort—in the Church +Litten Coppice under some hazels near the foot-bridge, <!-- page +108--><a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>in +Trimming’s garden hedge, and on the dry wall opposite +Grange Yard.</p> + +<p><i>Dipsacus pilosus</i>, small teasel—in the Short and +Long Lith.</p> + +<p><i>Lathyrus sylvestris</i>, narrow-leaved, or wild +lathyrus—in the bushes at the foot of the Short Lith, near +the path.</p> + +<p><i>Ophrys spiralis</i>, ladies’ traces—in the Long +Lith, and towards the south corner of the common.</p> + +<p><i>Ophrys nidus avis</i>, birds’ nest ophrys—in +the Long Lith under the shady beeches among the dead leaves; in +Great Dorton among the bushes, and on the Hanger plentifully.</p> + +<p><i>Serapias latifolia</i>, helleborine—in the High Wood +under the shady beeches.</p> + +<p><i>Daphne laureola</i>, spurge laurel—in Selborne Hanger +and the High Wood.</p> + +<p><i>Daphne mezereum</i>, the mezereon—in Selborne Hanger +among the shrubs, at the south-east end above the cottages.</p> + +<p><i>Lycoperdon tuber</i>, truffles—in the Hanger and High +Wood.</p> + +<p><i>Sambucus ebulus</i>, dwarf elder, walwort, or +danewort—among the rubbish and ruined foundations of the +Priory.</p> + +<p>Of all the propensities of plants, none seem more strange than +their different periods of blossoming. <!-- page 109--><a +name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 109</span>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 <i>helleborus +fœtidus</i> and <i>helleborus niger</i> blowing at +Christmas, the <i>helleborus hyemalis</i> in January, and the +<i>helleborus viridis</i> 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 <i>crocus sativus</i>, 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 familiar, since it would be as +difficult to <!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 110</span>be explained as the most stupendous +phenomenon in nature.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Say, what impels, amidst surrounding +snow<br /> +Congeal’d, the crocus, flamy bud to glow?<br /> +Say, what retards, amidst the summer’s blaze,<br /> +Th’ autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days?<br /> +The <span class="smcap">God of Seasons</span>; whose pervading +power<br /> +Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower:<br /> +He bids each flower His quickening word obey,<br /> +Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h3>LETTER XLII.</h3> +<blockquote><p>“Omnibus animalibus reliquis certus et +uniusmodi, et in suo cuique genere incessus est: aves solae vario +meatu feruntur, et in terrâ, et in äere.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Aug.</i> 7<i>th</i>, 1778.</p> + +<p>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 <i>genera</i> 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</p> +<blockquote><p>“—Et verâ incessu +patuit—”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 111--><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +111</span>Thus kites and buzzards sail round in circles with +wings expanded and motionless; and it is from their gliding +manner that the former are still called in the north of England +gleads, from the Saxon verb glidan, to glide. The kestrel, +or wind-hover, has a peculiar mode of hanging in the air in one +place, his wings all the while being briskly agitated. +Hen-harriers fly low over heaths or fields of corn, and beat the +ground regularly like a pointer or setting-dog. Owls move +in a buoyant manner, as if lighter than the air; they seem to +want ballast. There is a peculiarity belonging to ravens +that must draw the attention even of the most incurious; they +spend all their leisure time in striking and cuffing each other +on the wing in a kind of playful skirmish, and, when they move +from one place to another, frequently turn on their backs with a +loud croak, and seem to be falling to the ground. When this +odd gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with one +foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity. Rooks sometimes +dive and tumble in a frolicsome manner; crows and daws swagger in +their walk; wood-peckers fly <i>volatu undoso</i>, 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 <!-- page 112--><a +name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>third foot, +climbing and descending with ridiculous caution. All the +<i>gallinœ</i> 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 despatch; herons seem encumbered with too much +sail for their light bodies, but these vast hollow wings are +necessary in carrying burdens, such as large fishes and the like; +pigeons, and particularly the sort called smiters, have a way of +clashing their wings the one against the other over their backs +with a loud snap; another variety, called tumblers, turn +themselves over in the air. Some birds have movements +peculiar to the season of love. Thus ringdoves, though +strong and rapid at other times, yet in the spring hang about on +the wing in a toying and playful manner; thus the cock-snipe +while breeding, forgetting his former flight, fans the air like +the wind-hover; and the green-finch in particular, exhibits such +languishing and faltering gestures as to appear like a wounded +and dying bird; the king-fisher darts along like an arrow; +fern-owls, or goat-suckers, glance in the dusk over the tops of +trees like a meteor; starlings, as it were, swim along, while +missel-thrushes use a wild and desultory flight; swallows sweep +over the surface of the ground and water, and distinguish +themselves by rapid turns and quick evolutions; swifts dash round +in circles; and <!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 113</span>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 perpendicularly as they +sing; woodlarks hang poised in the air; and titlarks rise and +fall in large curves, singing in their descent. The +white-throat uses odd jerks and 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 <i>compedes</i> of Linnæus. Geese and cranes, +and most wild fowls, move in figured flights, often changing +their position. The secondary <i>remiges</i> of +Tringæ, wild-ducks, and some others, are very long, and +give their wings, when in motion, a hooked appearance. +Dabchicks, moorhens, and coots, fly erect, with their legs +hanging down, and hardly make any despatch. The reason is +plain, their wings are placed too forward out of the true centre +of gravity, as the legs of auks and divers are situated too +backward.</p> +<h3><!-- page 114--><a name="page114"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 114</span>LETTER XLIII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Sept.</i> 9<i>th</i>, 1778.</p> + +<p> +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 of the +<i>Spectator</i>, who, by recital of a conversation which passed between two +owls, reclaimed a sultan, before delighting in conquest and devastation; but I +would be thought only to mean that many of the winged tribes have various +sounds and voices adapted to express their various passions, wants and +feelings; such as anger, fear, love, hatred, hunger and the like. All +species are not equally eloquent; some are copious and fluent as it were in +their utterance while others are confined to a few important sounds: no bird, +like the fish kind, is quite mute, though some are rather silent. The +language of birds is very ancient and, like other ancient modes of speech, very +elliptical; little is said, but much is meant and understood. +</p> + +<p>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; <!-- page 115--><a name="page115"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 115</span>they hoot in a fine vocal sound, +much resembling the <i>vox humana</i>, 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 a 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 +daybreak, serenades his mate with the clattering of +castanets. All the tuneful <i>passeres</i> express their +complacency by sweet modulations and a variety of melody. +The swallow, as has been observed in a former letter, by a shrill +alarm bespeaks the attention of the other hirundines, and bids +them be aware the hawk is at hand. Aquatic and gregarious +birds, especially the nocturnal, that shift their quarters in the +dark, are very noisy and loquacious; as cranes, wild-geese, +wild-ducks, and the like; their perpetual clamour prevents them +from dispersing and losing their companions.</p> + +<p><!-- page 116--><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +116</span>In so extensive a subject, sketches and outlines are as +much as can be expected; for it would be endless to instance in +all the infinite variety of the feathered nation. We shall +therefore confine the remainder of this letter to the few +domestic fowls of our yards, which are most known, and therefore +best understood. And first the peacock, with his gorgeous +train, demands our attention; but, like most of the gaudy birds, +his notes are grating and shocking to the ear: the yelling of +cats, and the braying of an ass, are not more disgustful. +The voice of the goose is trumpet-like and clanking; and once +saved the Capitol at Rome, as grave historians assert; the hiss, +also, of the gander, is formidable and full of menace, and +“protective of his young.” Among ducks the +sexual distinction of voice is remarkable; for, while the quack +of the female is loud and sonorous, the voice of the drake is +inward and harsh, and feeble, and scarce discernible. The +cock turkey struts and gobbles to his mistress in a most uncouth +manner; he hath also a pert and petulant note when he attacks his +adversary. When a hen turkey leads forth her young brood +she keeps a watchful eye; and if a bird of prey appear, though +ever so high in the air, the careful mother announces the enemy +with a little inward moan, and watches him with a steady and +attentive look; but if he approach, her note becomes earnest and +alarming, and her outcries are redoubled.</p> + +<p><!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +117</span>No inhabitants of a yard seem possessed of such a +variety of expression and so copious a language as common +poultry. Take a chicken of four or five days old, and hold +it up to a window where there are flies, and it will immediately +seize its prey, with little twitterings of complacency; but if +you tender it a wasp or a bee, at once its note becomes harsh, +and expressive of disapprobation and a sense of danger. +When a pullet is ready to lay she intimates the event by a joyous +and easy soft note. Of all the occurrences of 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 clucking and screaming +about, and seems agitated as if possessed. The father of +the flock has also a considerable vocabulary; if he finds food, +he calls a favourite concubine to partake; and if a bird of prey +passes over, with a warning voice he bids his family +beware. The gallant chanticleer has at command his amorous +phrases and his terms of defiance. But the sound by which +he is best known is his <!-- page 118--><a +name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>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:</p> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . the crested cock, whose clarion +sounds<br /> +The silent hours.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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 off his talons, and, fixing a cork on +his bill, threw him down among the brood-hens. Imagination +cannot paint the scene that ensued; the expressions that fear, +rage, and revenge inspired, were new, or at least such as had +been unnoticed before: the exasperated matrons upbraided, they +execrated, they insulted, they triumphed. In a word, they +never desisted from buffeting their adversary till they had torn +him in a hundred pieces.</p> +<h3><!-- page 119--><a name="page119"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 119</span>LETTER XLIV.</h3> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . Monstrent<br /> +* * * * *<br /> +Quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles<br /> +Hyberni; vel quæ tardis mora noctibus obstet.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Selborne</span>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 120--><a name="page120"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 120</span>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.</p> + +<p>By this simple expedient it would soon appear that there is no +such thing, strictly speaking, as a solstice; for, from the +shortest day, the owner would, every clear evening, see the disc +advancing at its setting, to the westward of the object; and, +from the longest day, observe the sun retiring backwards every +evening at its setting, towards the object westward, till, in a +few nights, it would set quite behind it, and so by degrees, to +the west of it; for when the sun comes near the summer solstice, +the whole disc of it would at first set behind the object; after +a time the northern limb would first appear, and so every night +gradually more, till at length the whole diameter would set +northward of it for about three nights; but on the middle night +of the three, sensibly more remote than the former or +following. When beginning its recess from the summer +tropic, it would continue more and more to be <!-- page 121--><a +name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>hidden +every night, till at length it would descend quite behind the +object again; and so nightly more and more to the westward.</p> +<h3>LETTER XLV.</h3> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . Mugire videbis<br /> +Sub bedibus terram, et descendere montibus ornos.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Selborne</span>.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> +<blockquote><p>“I nor advise, nor reprehend the choice<br +/> +Of Marcely Hill; the apple nowhere finds<br /> +A kinder mould; yet ’tis unsafe to trust<br /> +Deceitful ground; who knows but that once more<br /> +This mount may journey, and his present site<br /> +Forsaken, to thy neighbour’s bounds transfer<br /> +Thy goodly plants, affording matter strange<br /> +For law debates?”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But, when I came to consider better, I began to <!-- page +122--><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +122</span>suspect that though our hills may never have journeyed +far, yet that the ends of many of them have slipped and fallen +away at distant periods, leaving the cliffs bare and +abrupt. This seems to have been the case with Nore and +Whetham Hills; and especially with the ridge between Harteley +Park and Ward-le-Ham, where the ground has slid into vast +swellings and furrows; and lies still in such romantic confusion +as cannot be accounted for from any other cause. A strange +event, that happened not long since, justifies our suspicions; +which, though it befell 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.</p> + +<p>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 8th and 9th of that +month, a considerable part of the great woody hanger at Hawkley +was torn from its place, and fell down, leaving a high freestone +cliff naked and bare, and resembling the steep side of a +chalk-pit. It appears that this huge fragment, being +perhaps sapped and undermined by waters, foundered, and was <!-- +page 123--><a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +123</span>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 post for thirty or forty feet, remained in so +true and upright a position as to open and shut with great +exactness, just as in its first situation. Several oaks +also are still standing, and in a state of 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 +a hundred yards from the foot of this hanging coppice stood a +cottage by the side of a lane; and two hundred yards lower, on +the other side of the lane, was a farm-house, in which lived a +labourer and his family; and, just by, a stout new barn. +The cottage was inhabited by an old woman and her son, and his +wife. These people 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 <!-- page 124--><a +name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 124</span>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 edge, 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 <!-- +page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +125</span>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.</p> + +<p>The perpendicular height of the precipice in general is +twenty-three yards; the length of the lapse or slip as seen from +the fields below, one hundred and eighty-one; and a partial fall, +concealed in the coppice, extends seventy yards more; so that the +total length of this fragment that fell was two hundred and +fifty-one yards. About fifty acres of land suffered from +this violent convulsion; 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 nor safe for pasturage, till +considerable labour and expense had been bestowed in levelling +the surface and filling in the gaping fissures.</p> +<h3><!-- page 126--><a name="page126"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 126</span>LETTER XLVI.</h3> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . resonant arbusta . . . ”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Selborne</span>.</p> + +<p>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 spot abounds with the <i>gryllus +campestris</i>, or field-cricket; which, though frequent in these +parts, is by no means a common insect in many other counties.</p> + +<p>As their cheerful summer cry cannot but draw the attention of +a naturalist, I have often gone down to examine the economy of +these <i>grylli</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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, <!-- page 127--><a name="page127"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 127</span>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.</p> + +<p>Where violent methods will not avail, more gentle means will +often succeed, and so it proved in the present case; for, though +a spade be too boisterous and rough an implement, a pliant stalk +of grass, gently insinuated into the caverns, will probe their +windings to the bottom, and quickly bring out the inhabitant; and +thus the humane inquirer may gratify his curiosity without +injuring the object of it. It is remarkable, that though +these insects are furnished with long legs behind, and brawny +thighs for leaping, like grasshoppers; yet when driven from their +holes they show no activity, but crawl along in a shiftless +manner, so as easily to be taken; and again, though provided with +a curious apparatus of wings, yet they never exert them when +there seems to be the greatest occasion. The males only +make that shrilling noise, perhaps, out of rivalry and emulation, +as is the case with many animals which exert some sprightly note +during their <!-- page 128--><a name="page128"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 128</span>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 found by some which I put into the crevices of a +dry stone wall, where I should have been glad to have made them +settle. For though they seemed distressed by being taken +out of their knowledge, yet the first that got possession of the +chinks would seize on any other that were intruded upon them with +a vast row of serrated fangs. With their strong jaws, +toothed like the shears of a lobster’s claws, they +perforate and round their curious regular cells, having no +fore-claws to dig, like the mole-cricket. When taken in +hand I could not but wonder that they never offered to defend +themselves, though armed with such formidable weapons. Of +such herbs as grow before the mouths of their burrows they eat +indiscriminately, and on a little platform which they make just +by, they drop their dung; and never, in the day time, seem to +stir more than two or three inches from home. Sitting in +the entrance of their caverns they chirp all night as well as day +from the middle of the month of May to the middle of July; and in +hot weather, when they are most vigorous, they make the <!-- page +129--><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +129</span>hills echo, and in the stiller hours of darkness may be +heard to a considerable distance. In the beginning of the +season their notes are more faint and inward; but become louder +as the summer advances, and so die away again by degrees.</p> + +<p>Sounds do not always give us pleasure according to their +sweetness and melody, nor do harsh sounds always displease. +We are more apt to be captivated or disgusted with the +associations which they promote than with the notes +themselves. Thus the shrilling of the field-cricket, though +sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously delights some hearers, +filling their minds with a train of summer ideas of everything +that is rural, verdurous, and joyous.</p> + +<p>About the 10th March the crickets appear at the mouths of +their cells, which they then open and bore, and shape very +elegantly. All that ever I have seen at that season were in +their pupa state, and had only the rudiments of wings, lying +under a skin or coat, which must be cast before the insect can +arrive at its perfect state, from whence I should suppose that +the old ones of last year do not always survive the winter. +In August their holes begin to be obliterated, and the insects +are seen no more till spring.</p> + +<p>Not many summers ago I endeavoured to transplant a colony to +the terrace in my garden, by boring deep <!-- page 130--><a +name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 130</span>holes in +the sloping turf. The new inhabitants stayed some time, and +fed and sung, but wandered away by degrees, and were heard at a +farther distance every morning, so that it appears that on this +emergency they made use of their wings in attempting to return to +the spot from which they were taken.</p> + +<p>One of these crickets, when confined in a paper cage and set +in the sun, and supplied with plants moistened with water, will +feed and thrive, and become so merry and loud as to be irksome in +the same room where a person is sitting; if the plants are not +wetted it will die.</p> +<h3>LETTER XLVII.</h3> +<blockquote><p>“Far from all resort of mirth<br /> +Save the cricket on the hearth.”</p> + +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Milton’s</span> <i>Il Penseroso</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Selborne</span>.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—While many other insects must be sought after +in fields, and woods, and waters, the <i>gryllus domesticus</i>, +or house-cricket, resides altogether within our dwellings, +intruding itself upon our notice whether we will or no. +This species delights in new-built houses, being, like the +spider, pleased with the moisture <!-- page 131--><a +name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>of the +walls; and besides, the softness of the mortar enables them to +burrow and mine between the joints of the bricks or stones, and +to open communications from one room to another. They are +particularly fond of kitchens and bakers’ ovens, on account +of their perpetual warmth.</p> + +<p>Tender insects that live abroad either enjoy only the short +period of one summer, or else doze away the cold uncomfortable +months in profound slumbers; but these, residing as it were in a +torrid zone, are always alert and merry—a good Christmas +fire is to them like the heats of the dog-days. Though they +are frequently heard by day, yet is their natural time of motion +only in the night. As soon as it grows dusk, the chirping +increases, and they come running forth, and are from the size of +a flea to that of their full stature. As one should +suppose, from the burning atmosphere which they inhabit, they are +a thrifty race, and show a great propensity for liquids, being +found frequently drowned in pans of water, milk, broth, or the +like. Whatever is moist they affect; and therefore often +gnaw holes in wet woollen stockings and aprons that are hung to +the fire. They are the housewife’s barometer, +foretelling her when it will rain, and are prognostic sometimes +she thinks of ill or good luck, of the death of a near relation, +or the approach of an absent lover. By being <!-- page +132--><a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +132</span>the constant companions of her solitary hours they +naturally become the objects of her superstition. These +crickets are not only very thrifty, but very voracious; for they +will eat the scummings of pots, and yeast, salt, and crumbs of +bread, and any kitchen offal or sweepings. In the summer we +have observed them to fly when it became dusk out of the windows +and over the neighbouring roofs. This feat of activity +accounts for the sudden manner in which they often leave their +haunts, as it does for the method by which they come to houses +where they were not known before. It is remarkable that +many sorts of insects seem never to use their wings but when they +have a mind to shift their quarters and settle new +colonies. When in the air they move “<i>volatu +undoso</i>,” in waves or curves, like wood-peckers, opening +and shutting their wings at every stroke, and so are always +rising or sinking.</p> + +<p>When they increase to a great degree, as they did once in the +house where I am now writing, they become noisome pests, flying +into the candles, and dashing into people’s faces; but may +be blasted and destroyed by gunpowder discharged into their +crevices and crannies. In families at such times they are +like Pharaoh’s plague of frogs—“in their +bedchambers, and upon their beds, and in their ovens, and in +their <!-- page 133--><a name="page133"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 133</span>kneading troughs.” Their +shrilling noise is occasioned by a brisk attrition of their +wings. Cats catch hearth-crickets, and, playing with them +as they do with mice, devour them. Crickets may be +destroyed, like wasps, by phials half filled with beer, or any +liquid, and set in their haunts; for being always eager to drink, +they will crowd in till the bottles are full.</p> +<h3>LETTER XLVIII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Selborne</span>.</p> + +<p>How diversified are the modes of life, not only of +incongruous, but even of congenerous animals; and yet their +specific distinctions are not more various than their +propensities. Thus, while the field-cricket delights in +sunny dry banks, and the house-cricket rejoices amidst the +glowing heat of the kitchen hearth or oven, the <i>gryllus gryllo +talpa</i> (the mole-cricket), haunts moist meadows, and frequents +the sides of ponds and banks of streams, performing all its +functions in a swampy wet soil. With a pair of fore-feet, +curiously adapted to the purpose, it burrows and works under +ground like the mole, raising a ridge as it proceeds, but seldom +throwing up hillocks.</p> + +<p><!-- page 134--><a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +134</span>As mole-crickets often infest gardens by the sides of +canals, they are unwelcome guests to the gardener, raising up +ridges in their subterraneous progress, and rendering the walks +unsightly. If they take to the kitchen quarters they +occasion great damage among the plants and roots, by destroying +whole beds of cabbages, young legumes, and flowers. When +dug out they seem very slow and helpless, and make no use of +their wings by day, but at night they come abroad, and make long +excursions, as I have been convinced by finding stragglers in a +morning, in improbable places. In fine weather, about the +middle of April, and just at the close of day, they begin to +solace themselves with a low, dull, jarring note, continued for a +long time without interruption, and not unlike the chattering of +the fern-owl, or goat-sucker, but more inward.</p> + +<p>About the beginning of May they lay their eggs, as I was once +an eye-witness; for a gardener at a house where I was on a visit, +happening to be mowing, on the 6th of that month, by the side of +a canal, his scythe struck too deep, pared off a large piece of +turf, and laid open to view a curious scene of domestic +economy:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . Ingentem lato dedit ore +fenestram:<br /> +Apparet domus intus, et atria longa patescunt:<br /> +Apparent—penetralia.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 135--><a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +135</span>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 a 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.</p> + +<p>When mole-crickets fly they move “<i>cursu +undoso</i>,” 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.</p> + +<p>Anatomists, who have examined the intestines of these insects, +astonish me with their accounts; for they say that, from the +structure, position, and number of their stomachs, or maws, there +seems to be good reason to suppose that this and the two former +species ruminate or chew the cud like many quadrupeds!</p> +<h3><!-- page 136--><a name="page136"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 136</span>LETTER XLIX.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>May</i> 7<i>th</i>, 1779.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>himantopus</i>, or <i>loripes</i>, +and <i>charadrius himantopus</i>, were shot upon the verge of +Frinsham pond, a large lake belonging to the Bishop of +Winchester, and lying between Wolmer forest and the town of +Farnham, in the county of Surrey. The pond-keeper says +there were three brace in the flock: but that, after he had +satisfied his curiosity, he suffered the sixth to remain +unmolested. One of these specimens I procured, and found +the length of the legs to be so extraordinary, that, at first +sight, one might have supposed the shanks had been fastened on to +impose on the credulity of the beholder: they were legs in +<i>caricatura</i>, and had we seen such proportions on a Chinese +or Japan screen, we should <!-- page 137--><a +name="page137"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span>have made +large allowances for the fancy of the draughtsman. These +birds are of the plover family, and might with propriety be +called the stilt plovers. Brisson, under that idea, gives +them the apposite name of <i>l’echasse</i>. My +specimen, when drawn and stuffed with pepper, weighed only four +ounces and a quarter, though the naked part of the thigh measured +three inches and a half, and the legs four inches and a +half. Hence we may safely assert that these birds exhibit, +weight for inches, incomparably the greatest length of legs of +any known bird. The flamingo, for instance, is one of the +most long-legged birds, and yet it bears no manner of proportion +to the <i>himantopus</i>; for a cock flamingo weighs, at an +average, about four pounds avoirdupois, and his legs and thighs +measure usually about twenty inches. But four pounds are +fifteen times and a fraction more than four ounces and one +quarter; and if four ounces and a quarter have eight inches of +legs, four pounds must have one hundred and twenty inches and a +fraction of legs—viz., somewhat more than ten feet; such a +monstrous proportion as the world never saw! If you should +try the experiment in still larger birds, the disparity would +still increase. It must be matter of great curiosity to see +the stilt plover move—to observe how it can wield such a +length of lever with such feeble muscles as the <!-- page +138--><a name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +138</span>thighs seem to be furnished with. At best one +should expect it to be but a bad walker: but what adds to the +wonder is, that it has no back toe. Now without that steady +prop to support its steps it must be liable, in speculation, to +perpetual vacillations, and seldom able to preserve the true +centre of gravity.</p> + +<p>The old name of <i>himantopus</i> is taken from Pliny, and, by +an awkward metaphor, implies that the legs are as slender and +pliant as if cut out of a thong of leather. Neither +Willughby nor Ray, in all their curious researches, either at +home or abroad, ever saw this bird. Mr. Pennant never met +with it in all Great Britain, but observed it often in the +cabinets of the curious at Paris. Hasselquist says that it +migrates to Egypt in the autumn, and a most accurate observer of +Nature has assured me that he has found it on the banks of the +streams in Andalusia.</p> + +<p>Our writers record it to have been found only twice in Great +Britain. From all these relations it plainly appears that +these long-legged plovers are birds of South Europe, and rarely +visit our island, and when they do, are wanderers and stragglers, +and impelled to make so distant and northern an excursion from +motives or accidents for which we are not able to account. +One thing may fairly be deduced, that these birds come over to us +from the continent, since nobody <!-- page 139--><a +name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>can suppose +that a species not noticed once in an age, and of such a +remarkable make, can constantly breed unobserved in this +kingdom.</p> +<h3>LETTER L.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>April</i> 21<i>st</i>, 1780.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. +<!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +140</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 φερέοικοι! for so the Greeks called both the shell-snail and +the tortoise.</p> + +<p>Summer birds are, this cold and backward spring, <!-- page +141--><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +141</span>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.</p> +<h3>LETTER LI.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Sept.</i> 3<i>rd</i>, 1781.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 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 <!-- page 142--><a name="page142"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 142</span>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 April, and then only a pair. Martins in general +were remarkably late this year.</p> +<h3>LETTER LII.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Selborne</span>, +<i>Sept.</i> 9<i>th</i>, 1781.</p> + +<p>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 of motives, +that of an attachment to her young, could alone occasion so late +a stay. I watched therefore till the 24th August, and then +discovered that, under the eaves of the church, she attended upon +two young, which were fledged, and <!-- page 143--><a +name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 143</span>now put out +their white chins from a crevice. These remained till the +27th, 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 31st I caused the eaves to be +searched, but we found in the nest only two callow dead, stinking +swifts, on which a second nest had been formed. This double +nest was full of the black shining cases of the +<i>hippoboscæ hirundinis</i>.</p> + +<p>The following remarks on this unusual incident are +obvious. The first is, that though it may be disagreeable +to swifts to remain beyond the beginning of August, yet that they +can subsist longer is undeniable. The second is, that this +uncommon event, as it was owing to the loss of the first brood, +so it corroborates my former remark, that swifts breed regularly +but once; since, was the contrary the case, the occurrence above +could neither be new nor rare.</p> + +<p>P.S.—One swift was seen at Lyndon, in the county of +Rutland, in 1782, so late as the 3rd September.</p> +<h3><!-- page 144--><a name="page144"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 144</span>LETTER LIII.</h3> +<p>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 affected 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 sides proceeded a cotton-like +substance, surrounding a multitude of eggs. This curious +and uncommon production put me upon recollecting what I have +heard and read concerning the <i>coccus vitis viniferæ</i> +of Linnæus, which, in the south of Europe, infests many +vines, and is a horrid and loathsome pest. As soon as I had +turned to the accounts given of this insect, I saw at once that +it <!-- page 145--><a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +145</span>swarmed on my vine; and did not appear to have been at +all checked by the preceding winter, which had been uncommonly +severe.</p> + +<p>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 immediately 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 seaport town to which the +coccus might be conveyed by shipping.</p> + +<p>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, <!-- page 146--><a +name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 146</span>written by +the Reverend John White, late vicar of Blackburn in Lancashire, +but not yet published:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“In the year 1770 a vine, which grew on the +east side of my house, and which had produced the finest crops of +grapes for years past, was suddenly overspread on all the woody +branches with large lumps of a white fibrous substance resembling +spiders’ webs, or rather raw cotton. It was of a very +clammy quality, sticking fast to 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. Nothing was to be seen connected with it but many +brown oval husky shells, which by no means looked like insects, +but rather resembled bits of the dry bark of the vine. The +tree had a plentiful crop of grapes set, when this pest appeared +upon it; but the fruit was manifestly injured by this foul +encumbrance. It remained all the summer, still increasing, +and loaded the woody and bearing branches to a vast degree. +I often pulled off great quantities by handfuls; but it was so +slimy and tenacious that it could by no means be cleared. +The grapes never filled to their natural perfection, but turned +watery and vapid. Upon 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 <!-- page 147--><a name="page147"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 147</span>than the female coccus, from whose +side this cotton-like substance exudes, and serves as a covering +and security for their eggs.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 1st, +1785.</p> + +<p>About three o’clock in the afternoon of that day, which +was very hot, the people of this village were surprised by a +shower of aphides, or smother-flies, which fell in these +parts. Those that were walking in the street at that +juncture found themselves covered with these insects, which +settled also on the hedges and gardens, blackening all the +vegetables where they <!-- page 148--><a name="page148"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 148</span>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.</p> +<h3>LETTER LIV.</h3> +<p>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 propensities 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 <!-- page 149--><a name="page149"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 149</span>creature sickens, the head sinks +lower and lower, and it stands as it were on its head; till, +getting weaker, and losing all poise, the tail turns over, and at +last it floats on the surface of the water with its belly +uppermost. The reason why fishes, when dead, swim in that +manner is very obvious; because, when the body is no longer +balanced by the fins of the belly, the broad 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 contribute to render it buoyant. +Some that delight in gold and silver fishes have adopted a notion +that they need no aliment. True it is that they will +subsist for a long time without any apparent food but what they +can collect from pure water frequently changed; yet they must +draw some support from animalcula, and other nourishment 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 <i>jejune</i> 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 <i>lemna</i> +(ducks’ meat), and also on small fry.</p> + +<p><!-- page 150--><a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +150</span>When they want to move a little, they gently protrude +themselves with their <i>pinnæ pectorales</i>; 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 immovable; but these 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 +eyelids, it is not easy to discern when they are sleeping or not, +because their eyes are always open.</p> + +<p>Nothing can be more amusing than a glass bowl containing such +fishes; the double refractions of the glass and water represent +them, when moving, in a shifting and changeable variety of +dimensions, shades, and colours; while the two mediums, assisted +by the concavo-convex shape of the vessel, magnify and distort +them vastly; not to mention that the introduction of another +element and its inhabitants into our parlours engages the fancy +in a very agreeable manner.</p> + +<p>Gold and silver fishes, though originally natives of China and +Japan, yet are become so well reconciled to our climate as to +thrive and multiply very fast in our <!-- page 151--><a +name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 151</span>ponds and +stews. Linnæus ranks this species of fish under the +genus of <i>cyprinus</i>, or carp, and calls it <i>cyprinus +auratus</i>.</p> + +<p>Some people exhibit this sort of fish in a very fanciful way; +for they cause a glass bowl to be blown with a large hollow space +within, that does not communicate with it. In this cavity +they put a bird occasionally; so that you may see a goldfinch or +a linnet hopping as it were in the midst of the water, and the +fishes swimming in a circle round it. The simple exhibition +of the fishes is agreeable and pleasant: but in so complicated a +way becomes whimsical and unnatural, and liable to the objection +due to him.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Qui variare cupit rem prodigialitér +unam.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER LV.</h3> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>October</i> 10<i>th</i>, +1781.</p> + +<p>Dear Sir,—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 <!-- page 152--><a name="page152"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 152</span>convinced, linger on till towards +the middle of that month; and that at times, once perhaps in two +or three years, a flight, for one day only, has shown itself in +the first week in November.</p> + +<p>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 <i>hirundines</i> +is very favourable to such a design, for they spend the whole day +in the sheltered district between me and the Hanger, sailing +about in a placid, easy manner, and feasting on those insects +which love to haunt a spot so secure from ruffling winds. +As my principal object was to discover the place of their +roosting, I took care to wait on them before they retired to +rest, and was much pleased to find that for several evenings +together, just at a quarter past five in the afternoon, they all +scudded away in great haste towards the south-east, and darted +down among the low shrubs above the cottages at the end of the +hill. This spot, in many respects, seemed to be well +calculated for their winter residence; for in many parts it is as +steep as the roof of any house, and therefore secure from the +annoyances of water; and it <!-- page 153--><a +name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 153</span>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 13th +and 14th October, and found their evening retreat was exact and +uniform; but after this they made no regular appearance. +Now and then a straggler was seen, and on the 22nd October, I +observed two in the morning over the village, and with them my +remarks for the season ended.</p> + +<p>From all these circumstances put together, it is more than +probable that this lingering flight, at so late a season of the +year, never departed from the island. Had they indulged me +that autumn with a November visit, as I much desired, I presume +that, with proper assistants, I should have settled the matter +past all doubt; but though the 3rd 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 154--><a +name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 154</span>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.</p> +<h3>LETTER LVI.</h3> +<p>They who write on natural history cannot too frequently advert +to instinct, that wonderful limited faculty, which in some +instances raises the brute creation, as it were, above reason, +and in others leaves them so far below it. Philosophers +have defined instinct to be that secret influence by which every +species is compelled naturally to pursue, at all times, the same +way or track, without any teaching or example; whereas reason, +without instruction, would often vary and do that by many methods +which instinct effects by one alone. Now this maxim must be +taken in a qualified sense; for there are instances in which +instinct does vary and conform to the circumstances of place and +convenience.</p> + +<p>It has been remarked that every species of bird has a mode of +nidification peculiar to itself, so that a <!-- page 155--><a +name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 155</span>schoolboy +would at once pronounce on the sort of nest before him. +This is the case among fields and woods, and wilds, but, in the +villages round London, where mosses and gossamer, and cotton from +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.</p> + +<p>In the following instances instinct is perfectly uniform and +consistent. There are three creatures, the squirrel, the +field-mouse, and the bird called the nut-hatch (<i>sitta +Europæa</i>), which live much on hazelnut; 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 could wonder how the kernel can be +extracted through it; while the last picks an irregular <!-- page +156--><a name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +156</span>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 gatepost 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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Præhabebat porrò vocibus +humanis, instrumentisque harmonicis musicam illam avium: non quod +aliâ quoque non delectaretur: sed quod ex musicâ +humanâ relinqueretur in animo continens quædam, +attentionemque et somnum conturbans agitatio; dum ascensus, +exscensus, tenores, ac mutationes illæ sonorum, et +consonantiarum euntque, redeuntque per phantasiam:—cum +nihil tale relinqui possit ex modulationibus avium quæ, +quod non sunt perinde a nobis imitabiles, non <!-- page 157--><a +name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 157</span>possunt +perinde internam facultatem commovere.”—<i>Gassendus +in Vitâ Peireskii</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This curious quotation strikes me much by so well representing +my own case, and by describing what I have so often felt, but +never could so well express. When I hear fine music I am +haunted with passages therefrom night and day; and especially at +first waking, which, by their importunity, give me more +uneasiness than pleasure; elegant lessons still tease my +imagination, and recur irresistibly to my recollection at +seasons, and even when I am desirous of thinking of more serious +matters.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER LVII.</h3> +<p>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 +<!-- page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +158</span>for food; it also runs up the stems of the +crown-imperials, and, putting its head into the bells of those +flowers, sips the liquor which stands in the nectarium of each +petal. Sometimes it feeds on the ground like the +hedge-sparrow, by hopping about on the grass-plots and +mown-walks.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>One of the keepers of Wolmer Forest sent me a +peregrine-falcon, which he shot on the verge of that district +<!-- page 159--><a name="page159"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +159</span>as it was devouring a wood-pigeon. The <i>falco +peregrinus</i>, or haggard-falcon, is a noble species of hawk +seldom seen in the southern counties. In winter 1767, one +was killed in the neighbouring parish of Farringdon, and sent by +me to Mr. Pennant into North Wales. Since that time I have +met with none till now. The specimen mentioned above was in +fine preservation, and not injured by the shot: it measured +forty-two inches from wing to wing, and twenty-one from beak to +tail, and weighed two pounds and a half standing weight. +This species is very robust, and wonderfully formed for rapine; +its breast was plump and muscular; its thighs long, thick, and +brawny; and its legs remarkably short and well set: the 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 <!-- page 160--><a +name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>came from +the crop of the wood-pigeon, on which it was feeding when shot; +for voracious birds do not eat grain, but, when devouring their +quarry, with undistinguishing vehemence swallow bones and +feathers, and all matters indiscriminately. This falcon was +probably driven from the mountains of North Wales or Scotland, +where they are known to breed, by rigorous weather and deep snows +that had lately fallen.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER LVIII.</h3> +<p>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 <!-- page 161--><a name="page161"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 161</span>outside from the tip midway, that +does not seem to be matter of accident, but somewhat +singular. Their eyes are jet-black, small, and piercing; +the insides of their lips and mouths of the same colour, and +their tongues blue. The bitch has a dew-claw on each hind +leg; the dog has none. When taken out into a field the +bitch showed some disposition for hunting, and dwelt on the scent +of a covey of partridges till she sprung them, giving her tongue +all the time. The dogs in South America are dumb; but these +bark much in a short thick manner like foxes, and have a surly, +savage demeanour like their ancestors, which are not +domesticated, but bred up in sties, where they are fed for the +table with rice-meal and other farinaceous food. These +dogs, having been taken on board as soon as weaned, could not +learn 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 upon vegetables, and would not eat flesh when +offered them by our circumnavigators.</p> + +<p>We believe that all dogs, in a state of nature, have sharp, +upright, fox-like ears, and that hanging ears, which are esteemed +so graceful, are the effect of choice breeding and +cultivation. Thus, in the “Travels of Ysbrandt Ides +from Muscovy to China,” the dogs which draw the Tartars on +snow-sledges, near the <!-- page 162--><a +name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>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.</p> + +<p>Now we are upon the subject of dogs, it may not be impertinent +to add that spaniels, as all sportsmen know, though they hunt +partridges and pheasants as it were by instinct, and with much +delight and alacrity, yet will hardly touch their bones when +offered as food; nor will a mongrel dog of my own, though he is +remarkable for finding that sort of game. But, when we came +to offer the bones of partridges to the two Chinese dogs, they +devoured them with much greediness, and licked the platter +clean.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 163--><a name="page163"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 163</span>rancid water-fowls, nor indeed the +bones of any wild fowls; nor will they touch the fœtid +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, etc., +were intended to be messmates with dogs over their carrion, and +seem to be appointed by Nature as fellow-scavengers to remove all +cadaverous nuisances from the face of the earth.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER LIX.</h3> +<p>The fossil wood buried in the bogs of Wolmer Forest is not yet +all exhausted, for the peat-cutters now and then stumble upon a +log. I have just seen a piece which was sent by a labourer +of Oak Hanger to a carpenter of this village; this was the +butt-end of a small oak, about five feet long, and about five +inches in diameter. It had apparently been severed 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 <!-- page 164--><a +name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 164</span>it in +cabinet-work, by inlaying it along with whiter woods.</p> + +<p>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 +(<i>Charadrius œdicnemus</i>). 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.</p> + +<p>The evening proceedings and manœuvres 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 <!-- page 165--><a +name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 165</span>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.”</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3>LETTER LX.</h3> +<p>In reading Dr. Huxam’s “Observationes de +Aëre,” etc., written at Plymouth, I find by those +curious and accurate remarks, which contain an account of the +weather from the year 1727 to the year 1748, inclusive, that +though there is frequent rain in that district of Devonshire, yet +the quantity falling is not great; and that some years it has +been very small: for in 1731 the rain measured only 17.266 in.; +and in 1741, 20.354 in.; <!-- page 166--><a +name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 166</span>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 in.; and again once, +viz., 1734, 37.114 in.—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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 167--><a +name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 167</span>that the +echoes and repercussions delighted the hearers; not only filling +the Lythe with the roar, as if all the beeches were tearing up by +the roots; but, turning to the left, they pervaded the vale above +Comb Wood ponds; and after a pause seemed to take up the crash +again, and to extend round Hartley Hangers, and to die away at +last among the coppices and coverts of Ward-le-Ham. It has +been 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.</p> + +<p>The gentleman above mentioned has just fixed a barometer in +his parlour at Newton Valence. The tube was first filled +here (at Selborne) twice with care, when the mercury agreed and +stood exactly with my own; but, being filled 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 <!-- page 168--><a name="page168"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 168</span>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.</p> + +<p>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 a hundred miles.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">I am, etc.</p> +<h3><!-- page 169--><a name="page169"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 169</span>LETTER LXI.</h3> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As the frost in January 1768 was, for the small time it +lasted, the most severe that we had then known for many years, +and was remarkably injurious to evergreens, some account of its +rigour, and reason of its ravages, may be useful, and not +unacceptable to persons that delight in planting and ornamenting; +and may particularly become a work that professes never to lose +sight of utility.</p> + +<p>For the last two or three days of the former year there were +considerable falls of snow, which lay deep and uniform on the +ground without any drifting, wrapping up the more humble +vegetation in perfect security. From the first day to the +fifth of the new year more snow succeeded; but from that day the +air became entirely clear; and the heat of the sun about <!-- +page 170--><a name="page170"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +170</span>noon had a considerable influence in sheltered +situations.</p> + +<p>It was in such an aspect that the snow on the author’s +evergreens was melted every day, and frozen intensely every +night; so that the laurustines, bays, laurels, and arbutuses +looked, in three or four days, as if they had been burnt in the +fire; while a neighbour’s plantation of the same kind, in a +high cold situation, where the snow was never melted at all, +remained uninjured.</p> + +<p>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-haulm, straw, reeds, or any such +covering, for a short time; or, if his shrubberies are extensive, +to see that his people go about with prongs and forks, and +carefully dislodge the snow from the boughs: since the naked +foliage will shift much better for itself, than where the snow is +partly melted and frozen again.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 171--><a +name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 171</span>reason +assigned above, but also because, thus circumstanced, they are +disposed to shoot earlier in the spring, and to grow on later in +the autumn than they would otherwise do, and so are sufferers by +lagging or early frosts. For this reason also plants from +Siberia will hardly endure our climate; because, on the very +first advances of spring, they shoot away, and so are cut off by +the severe nights of March or April.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 inconveniences when rigorous weather +returns.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 172--><a +name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 172</span>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.</p> + +<p>On the 3rd 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 +17½°, 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 subterraneous animals receive such early +intimations of their approach? Moreover, we have often +observed that cold seems to descend from above; for, when a +thermometer hangs abroad in a <!-- page 173--><a +name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 173</span>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 gauge.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 befall them once +perhaps in ten years, yet may hardly be recovered through the +whole course of their lives.</p> + +<p>As it appeared afterwards, the ilexes were much injured, the +cypresses were half destroyed, the arbutuses lingered on, but +never recovered; and the bays, laurustines, and laurels, were +killed to the ground; and the very wild hollies, in hot aspects, +were so much affected that they cast all their leaves.</p> + +<p>By the 14th January the snow was entirely gone; the turnips +emerged not damaged at all, save in sunny <!-- page 174--><a +name="page174"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 174</span>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.</p> +<h3>LETTER LXII.</h3> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 175--><a +name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 175</span>perfectly +glutted and chilled with water; and hence dry autumns are seldom +followed by rigorous winters.</p> + +<p>January 7th.—Snow driving all the day, which was +followed by frost, sleet, and some snow, till the 12th, when a +prodigious mass overwhelmed all the works of men, drifting over +the tops of the gates, and filling the hollow lanes.</p> + +<p>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 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.</p> + +<p>From the 14th the snow continued to increase, and began to +stop the road waggons, and coaches, which could no longer keep on +their regular stages; and especially on the western roads, where +the fall appears <!-- page 176--><a name="page176"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 176</span>to have been deeper than in the +south. The company at Bath, that wanted to attend the +Queen’s birthday, were strangely incommoded: many carriages +of persons who got in their way to town from Bath as far as +Marlborough, after strange embarrassments, here met with a <i>ne +plus ultra</i>. The ladies fretted, and offered large +rewards to labourers if they would shovel them a track to London; +but the relentless heaps of snow were too bulky to be removed; +and so the 18th passed over, leaving the company in very +uncomfortable circumstances at the Castle and other inns.</p> + +<p>On the 20th the sun shone out for the first time since the +frost began; a circumstance that has been remarked before much in +favour of vegetation. All this time the cold was not very +intense, for the thermometer stood at 29°, 28°, 25°, +and thereabout; but on the 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.</p> + +<p>On the 22nd the author had occasion to go to <!-- page +177--><a name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +177</span>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 horse’s 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:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“—Ipsa silentia terrent.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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 January, just before sunrise, with rime on the trees +and on the tube of the glass, the quicksilver sank exactly to +zero, being 32° below the freezing point; but by eleven in +the morning, though in the shade, it sprang up to +16½°,—a most unusual degree of cold this for the +south of England! During these four nights the cold was so +penetrating that it occasioned ice in warm chambers and under +beds; and in the day the wind was so keen that persons of robust +constitutions could scarcely endure to face it. The Thames +was at once so frozen over, <!-- page 178--><a +name="page178"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 178</span>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 February a thaw took +place, and some rain followed before night, making good the +observation above, that frosts often go off as it were at once, +without any gradual declension of cold. On the 2nd February +the thaw persisted; and on the 3rd swarms of little insects were +frisking and sporting in a courtyard 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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 179--><a name="page179"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 179</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<h3><!-- page 180--><a name="page180"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 180</span>LETTER LXIII.</h3> +<p>As the frost in December 1784 was very extraordinary, you, I +trust, will not be displeased to hear the particulars, and +especially when I promise to say no more about the severities of +winter after I have finished this letter.</p> + +<p>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 of the following night; so that by +the morning of the 9th the works of men were quite overwhelmed, +the lanes filled so as to be impassable, and the ground covered +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 <!-- page 181--><a name="page181"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 181</span>only to four degrees above zero, +sank 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 entreated 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.</p> + +<p>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, <!-- page 182--><a name="page182"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 182</span>and (which occasions more regret) my +fine sloping laurel-hedge, were scorched up; while, at Newton, +the same trees have not lost a leaf.</p> + +<p>We had steady frost on 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 3rd, 1785, the +thaw was confirmed, and some rain fell.</p> + +<p>A circumstance that I must not omit, because it was new to us, +is, that on Friday, December 10th, being bright sunshine, the air +was full of icy <i>spiculæ</i>, floating in all directions, +like atoms in a sunbeam let into a dark room. We thought +them at first particles of the rime falling from my tall hedges; +but were soon convinced to the contrary, by making our +observations in open places where no rime could reach us. +Were they watery particles of the air frozen as they floated, or +were they evaporations from the snow frozen as they mounted?</p> + +<p>We were much obliged to the thermometers for the early +information they gave us; and hurried our apples, pears, onions, +potatoes, etc., 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.</p> + +<p><!-- page 183--><a name="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +183</span>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.</p> + +<p>I forgot to mention before, that, during the two severe days, +two men, who were tracing hares in the snow, had their feet +frozen, and two men, who were much better employed, had their +fingers so affected by the frost, while they were thrashing in a +barn, that a mortification followed, from which they did not +recover for many weeks.</p> + +<p>This frost killed all the furze and most of the ivy, and in +many places stripped the hollies of all their leaves. It +came at a very early time of the year, before old November ended; +and yet may be allowed from its effects to have exceeded any +since 1730-40.</p> +<h3><!-- page 184--><a name="page184"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 184</span>LETTER LXIV.</h3> +<p>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 suffered from some late rigorous +winters.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 185--><a +name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +185</span>winter. This circumstance put me in mind of what +I have heard travellers assert, that they never ate a good apple +or apricot in the south of Europe, where the heats were so great +as to render the juices vapid and insipid.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <!-- page 186--><a name="page186"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 186</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<h3><!-- page 187--><a name="page187"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 187</span>LETTER LXV.</h3> +<p>The summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one, +and full of horrible phenomena; for, besides the alarming meteors +and tremendous thunderstorms 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 anything known within the memory +of man. By my journal I find that I had noticed this +strange occurrence from June 23rd to July 20th inclusive, during +which period the wind varied to every quarter without making any +alteration in the air. The sun, at noon, looked as blank as +a clouded moon, and shed a rust-coloured 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 <!-- page +188--><a name="page188"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +188</span>the sun; and indeed there was reason for the most +enlightened person to be apprehensive; for, all the while +Calabria and part of the isle of Sicily were torn and convulsed +with earthquakes; and about that juncture a volcano sprang out of +the sea on the coast of Norway. On this occasion +Milton’s noble simile of the sun, in his first book of +“Paradise Lost,” frequently occurred to my mind; and +it is indeed particularly applicable because, towards the end, it +alludes to a superstitious kind of dread, with which the minds of +men are always impressed by such strange and unusual +phenomena.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p> +“—As when the <i>sun</i>, new risen,<br /> +Looks through the horizontal, <i>misty</i> air,<br /> +<i>Shorn</i> of his <i>beams</i>; or from behind the moon,<br /> +In <i>dim</i> eclipse, <i>disastrous twilight sheds</i><br /> +On half the nations, and with <i>fear</i> of <i>change</i><br /> +<i>Perplexes</i> monarchs—.” +</p> +</blockquote> + +<h3><!-- page 189--><a name="page189"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 189</span>LETTER LXVI.</h3> + +<p>We are very seldom annoyed with thunderstorms: 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.</p> + +<p><!-- page 190--><a name="page190"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +190</span>But, when I say I do not remember a thunderstorm from +the south, I do not mean that we never have suffered from +thunderstorms at all; for on June 5th, 1784, the thermometer in +the morning being at 64°, and at noon at 70° the +barometer at 29.6½° and the wind north, I observed a +blue mist, smelling strongly of sulphur, hanging along our +sloping woods, and seeming to indicate that thunder was at +hand. I was called in about two in the afternoon, and so +missed seeing the gathering of the clouds in the north; which +they who were abroad assured me had something uncommon in its +appearance. At about a quarter after two the storm began in +the parish of Hartley, moving slowly from north to south: and +from thence it came over Norton-farm, and so to Grange-farm, both +in this parish. It began with vast drops of rain, which +were soon succeeded by round hail, and then by convex pieces of +ice, which measured three inches in girth. Had it been as +extensive as it was violent, and of any continuance (for it was +very short), it must have ravaged all the neighbourhood. In +the parish of Hartley it did some damage to one farm; but Norton, +which lay in the centre of the storm, was greatly injured; as was +Grange, which lay next to it. It did but just reach to the +middle of the village, where the hail broke my north windows, and +all my garden-lights and hand-glasses, <!-- page 191--><a +name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 191</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When I first took the present work in hand I proposed to have +added an “<i>Annus Historico-naturalis</i>, or The Natural +History of the Twelve Months of the <!-- page 192--><a +name="page192"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +192</span>Year;” which would have comprised many incidents +and occurrences that have not fallen in my way to be mentioned in +my series of letters; but, as Mr. Aikin of Warrington has lately +published somewhat of this sort, and as the length of my +correspondence has sufficiently put your patience to the test, I +shall here take a respectful leave of you and natural history +together, and am,</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">With all due deference and +regard,<br /> +Your most obliged and most humble servant,</p> + +<p style="text-align: right">GIL. WHITE.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">the +end</span>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center">Printed by Cassell & Company, +Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.</p> + +<h2>Footnotes.</h2> + +<p><a name="footnote83"></a><a href="#citation83" +class="footnote">[83]</a> Letter XXIV.</p> + +<p><a name="footnote86"></a><a href="#citation86" +class="footnote">[86]</a> Farmer Young, of Norton Farm, +says that this spring (1777) about four acres of his wheat in one +field were entirely destroyed by slugs, which swarmed on the +blades of corn, and devoured it as fast as it sprang.</p> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, VOL. 2 ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4eea09a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #20934 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20934) diff --git a/old/20934.txt b/old/20934.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4475912 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20934.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4705 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2, by +Gilbert White, Edited by Henry Morley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2 + + +Author: Gilbert White + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: March 29, 2007 [eBook #20934] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, +VOL. 2*** + + + + +This eBook was transcribed by Les Bowler. + + + CASSELL'S NATIONAL LIBRARY. + + + + + + THE + NATURAL HISTORY + OF + SELBORNE. + + + BY + THE REV. GILBERT WHITE, A.M. + + VOL. II. + + CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: + _LONDON_, _PARIS_, _NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_. + 1887. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Gilbert White's home in the quiet Hampshire village of Selborne is an old +family house that has grown by additions, and has roofs of nature's +colouring, and creeping plants on walls that have not been driven by +scarcity of ground to mount into the air. The house is larger, by a +wing, now than when White lived in it. A little wooded park, that +belongs to it, extends to a steep hill, "The Hanger," clothed with a +hanging wood of beech. The Hanger and the slope of Nore Hill place the +village in a pleasant shelter. A visit to Selborne can be made by a walk +of a few miles from Alton on the South Western Railway. It is a country +walk worth taking on its own account. + +The name, perhaps, implies that the place is wholesome. It was a village +in Anglo-Saxon times. Its borne or burn is a brook that has its spring +at the head of the village, and "sael" meant prosperity or health of the +best. It is the "sel" in the German "Selig" and the "sil" in our +"silly," which once represented in the best sense well-being of the +innocent. So our old poets talk of "seely sheep;" but as the guileless +are apt prey to the guileful, silliness came to mean what "blessed +innocence" itself now stands for in the language of men who, poor +fellows, are very much more foolish. So Selborne has a happy old +pastoral name. The fresh, full spring, called the "Well Head," which +gives its name to Selborne, doubtless brought the village to its side by +the constant water supply that it furnished. The rivulet becomes at +Oakhanger a considerable stream. + +The Plestor, mentioned in the second letter as having once had a great +oak in it which was blown down in the great storm of 1703--a storm of +which Defoe collected the chief records into a book--bears witness also +to the cheerful village life of old. The name is a corruption of Play- +stow; it was the playground for the village children. That oak blown +down in 1703, which the vicar of the time vainly endeavoured to root +again, was said to have lived 432 years before the time of its overthrow. +The old yew in the churchyard has escaped all storms. + +Gilbert White wrote three or four pieces of verse. Of one of them, "An +Invitation to Selborne," these are the closing lines:-- + + "Nor be that 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 garden stands, + Beneath, deep valleys, scooped 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; + There, like a picture, lies my lowly seat, + A rural, sheltered, 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, + Rills purl between, and dart a quivering light." + +H. M. + + + + +LETTERS TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. + + +LETTER XV. + + +SELBORNE, _July_ 8_th_, 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 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 churchyard to +be full of goblins and spectres. White owls also often scream horribly +as they fly along; from this screaming probably arose the common people's +imaginary species of screech-owl, which they superstitiously think +attends the windows of dying persons. The plumage of the remiges of the +wings of every species of owl that I have yet examined is remarkably soft +and pliant. Perhaps it may be necessary that the wings of these birds +should not make much resistance or rushing, that they may be enabled to +steal through the air unheard upon a nimble and watchful quarry. + +While I am talking of owls, it may not be 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 a hen's egg. I have +known an owl of this species live a full year without any water. Perhaps +the case may be the same with all birds of prey. When owls fly they +stretch out their legs behind them as a balance to their large heavy +heads, for as most nocturnal birds have large eyes and ears they must +have large heads to contain them. Large eyes, I presume, are necessary +to collect every ray of light, and large concave ears to command the +smallest degree of sound or noise. + +I am, etc. + +* * * * * + +[It will be proper to premise here that the sixteenth, eighteenth, +twentieth, and twenty-first letters have been published already in the +"Philosophical Transactions;" but as nicer observation has furnished +several corrections and additions, it is hoped that the republication of +them will not give offence; especially as these sheets would be very +imperfect without them, and as they will be new to many readers who had +no opportunity of seeing them when they made their first appearance.] + +"The hirundines are a most inoffensive, harmless, entertaining, social, +and useful tribe of birds; they touch no fruit in our gardens; delight, +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 sunbeams 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; 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 _hippoboscoe +hirundinis_, with narrow subulated wings, abounding in every nest; and +are hatched by the warmth of the bird's own body during incubation, and +crawl about under its feathers. + +"A species of them is familiar to horsemen in the south of England under +the name of forest-fly; and to some of side-fly, from its running +sideways like a crab. It creeps under the tails, and about the groins, +of horses, which, at their first coming out of the north, are rendered +half frantic by the tickling sensation; while our own breed little +regards them. + +"The curious Reaumur discovered the large eggs, or rather _pupoe_, of +these flies as big as the flies themselves, which he hatched in his own +bosom. Any person that will take the trouble to examine the old nests of +either species of swallows may find in them the black shining cases or +skins of the _pupoe_ of these insects; but for other particulars, too +long for this place, we refer the reader to 'L'Histoire d'Insectes' of +that admirable entomologist. Tom. iv., pl. ii." + + + +LETTER XVI. + + +SELBORNE, _Nov._ 20_th_, 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 April; usually some +few days later than the swallow. For some time after they appear the +hirundines in general pay no attention to the business of nidification, +but play and sport about, either to recruit from the fatigue of their +journey, if they do migrate at all, or else that their blood may recover +its true tone and texture after it has been so long benumbed by the +severities of winter. About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, +the martin begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion for its +family. The crust or shell of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt +or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought +together with little bits of broken straws to render it tough and +tenacious. As this bird often builds against a perpendicular wall +without any projecting ledge under, it requires its utmost efforts to get +the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it may safely carry the +superstructure. On this occasion the bird not only clings with its +claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against +the wall, making that a fulcrum; and thus steadied, it works and plasters +the materials into the face of the brick or stone. But then, that this +work may not, while it is soft and green, pull itself down by its own +weight, the provident architect has prudence and forbearance enough not +to advance her work too fast; but by building only in the morning, and by +dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, gives it sufficient +time to dry and harden. About half an inch seems to be a sufficient +layer for a day. Thus careful workmen, when they build mud-walls +(informed at first, perhaps, by this little bird), raise but a moderate +layer at a time, and then desist, lest the work should become top-heavy, +and so be ruined by its own weight. By this method in about ten or +twelve days is formed a hemispheric nest with a small aperture towards +the top, strong, compact, and warm; and perfectly fitted for all the +purposes for which it was intended. But then nothing is more common than +for the house-sparrow, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it +as its own, to eject the owner, and to line it after its own manner. + +After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as Nature seldom +works in vain, martins will breed on for several years together in the +same nest, where it happens to be well sheltered and secure from the +injuries of weather. The shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic +work, full of knobs and protuberances on the outside; nor is the inside +of those that I have examined smoothed with any exactness at all; but is +rendered soft and warm, and fit for incubation, by a lining of small +straws, grasses, and feathers, and sometimes by a bed of 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 provision, that the dung of nestlings is +enveloped in a tough kind of jelly, and therefore is the easier conveyed +off without soiling or daubing. Yet, as nature is cleanly in all her +ways, the young perform this office for themselves in a little time by +thrusting their tails out at the aperture of their nest. As the young of +small birds presently arrive at their [Greek text], or full growth, they +soon become impatient of confinement, and sit all day with their heads +out at the orifice, where the dams, by clinging to the nest, supply them +with food from morning to night. For a time the young are fed on the +wing by their parents; but the feat is done by so quick and almost +imperceptible a flight that a person must have attended very exactly to +their motions before he would be able to perceive it. As soon as the +young are able to shift for themselves, the dams immediately turn their +thoughts to the business of a second brood; while the first flight, +shaken off and rejected by their nurses, congregate in great flocks, and +are the birds that are seen clustering and hovering on sunny mornings and +evenings round towers and steeples, and on the roofs of churches and +houses. These congregatings usually begin to take place about the first +week in August, and therefore we may 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 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 a +house without eaves in an exposed district, where some martins build year +by year in the corners of the windows. But, as the corners of these +windows (which face to the south-east and south-west) are too shallow, +the nests are washed down every hard rain; and yet these birds drudge on +to no purpose from summer to summer, without changing their aspect or +house. It is a piteous sight to see them labouring when half their nest +is washed away and bringing dirt . . . "_generis lapsi sarcire ruinas_." +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 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 districts where they are bred, they must undergo +vast devastations somehow and somewhere; for the birds that return yearly +bear no manner of proportion to the birds that retire. + +House-martins are distinguished from their congeners by having their legs +covered with soft downy feathers down to their toes. They are no +songsters, but twitter in a pretty inward soft manner in their nests. +During the time of breeding they are often greatly molested with fleas. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XVII. + + +RINGMER, near LEWES, _Dec._ 9_th_, 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 a 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. Ray used to visit a family just at the +foot of these hills, and was so ravished with the prospect from Plumpton +Plain, near Lewes, that he mentions those scapes in his "Wisdom of God in +the Works of the Creation" with the utmost satisfaction, and thinks them +equal to anything he had seen in the finest parts of Europe. + +For my own part, I think there is somewhat peculiarly sweet and amusing +in the shapely-figured aspect of chalk-hills in 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 +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? + +By what I can guess from the admeasurements of the hills that have been +taken round my house, I should suppose that these hills surmount the wild +at an average at about the rate of five hundred feet. + +One thing is very remarkable as to the sheep: from the westward till you +get to the river Adur all the flocks have horns, and smooth white faces, +and white legs, and a hornless sheep is rarely to be seen; but as soon as +you pass that river eastward, and mount Beeding Hill, all the flocks at +once become hornless, or as they call them, poll-sheep; and have, +moreover, black faces with a white tuft of wool on their foreheads, and +speckled and spotted legs, so that you would think that the flocks of +Laban were pasturing on one side of the stream, and the 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 nous_, the disappearing of the +latter is more marvellous than that of the former, and much more +unaccountable. The hirundines, if they please, are certainly capable of +migration, and yet no doubt are often found in a torpid state; but +redstarts, nightingales, white-throats, black-caps, etc., are very ill +provided for long flights; have never been once found, as I ever heard +of, in a torpid state, and yet can never be supposed, in such troops, +from year to year to dodge and elude the eyes of the curious and +inquisitive, which from day to day discern the other small birds that are +known to abide our winters. But, notwithstanding all my care, I saw +nothing like a summer bird of passage; and what is more strange not one +wheat-ear, though they abound so in the autumn as to be a considerable +perquisite to the shepherds that take them; and though many are to be +seen to my knowledge all the winter through in many 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 Brightelmstone 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 the 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 progressive succession. It does not appear that any wheat-ears +are taken to the westward of Houghton Bridge, which stands on the river +Arun. + +I did not fail to look particularly after my new migration of +ring-ousels, and to take notice whether they continued on the downs 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 whin-chats, some rooks, and +several kites and buzzards. + +About Midsummer a flight of cross-bills comes to the pine-groves about +this house, but never makes any long stay. + +The old tortoise, that I have mentioned in a former letter, still +continues in this garden; and retired under ground about the 20th +November, and came out again for one day on the 30th: it lies now buried +in a wet swampy border under a wall facing to the south, and is enveloped +at present in mud and mire! + +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, etc. + + + +LETTER XVIII. + + +SELBORNE, _Jan._ 29_th_, 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 13th April, as I have remarked from many years' observation. Not +but now and then a straggler is seen much earlier; and, in particular, +when I was a boy I observed a swallow for a whole day together on a sunny +warm Shrove Tuesday; which day could not fall out later than the middle +of March, and often happened early in February. + +It is worth remarking that these birds are seen first about lakes and +mill-ponds; and it is also very particular, that if these early visitors +happen to find frost and snow, as was the case of the two dreadful +springs of 1770 and 1771, they immediately withdraw for a time. A +circumstance this much more in favour of hiding than migration; since it +is much more probable that a bird should retire to its hybernaculum just +at hand, than return for a week or two 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 Virgil's time: + + . . . "Ante + Garrula quam tignis nidos suspendat hirundo." + +In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called _ladu swala_, the barn +swallow. Besides, in the warmer parts of Europe there are no chimneys to +houses, except they are English-built: in these countries she constructs +her nest in porches, and gateways, and galleries, and open halls. + +Here and there a bird may affect some odd, peculiar place; as we have +known a swallow build down the shaft of an old well, through 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, and +particularly from owls, which frequently fall down chimneys, perhaps in +attempting to get at these nestlings. + +The swallow lays from four to six white eggs, dotted with red specks; and +brings out her first brood about the last week in June, or the first week +in July. The progressive method by which the young are introduced into +life is very amusing: first, they emerge from the shaft with difficulty +enough, and often fall down into the rooms below: for a day or so they +are fed on the chimney-top, and then are conducted to the dead leafless +bough of some tree, where, sitting in a row, they are attended with great +assiduity, and may then be called _perchers_. In a day or two more they +become _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 associates 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 executing the most sudden turns and quick evolutions. +Avenues, and long walks, under hedges, and pasture-fields, and mown +meadows where cattle graze, are her delight, especially if there are +trees interspersed; because in such spots insects most abound. When a +fly is taken a smart snap from her bill is heard, resembling the noise at +the shutting of a watch-case: but the motion of the mandibles is too +quick for the eye. + +The swallow, probably the male bird, is the _excubitor_ to house-martins, +and other little birds, announcing the approach of birds of prey. For as +soon as a hawk appears, with a shrill alarming note he calls all the +swallows and martins about him; who pursue in a body, and buffet and +strike their enemy till they have driven him from the village, darting +down from above on his back, and rising in a perpendicular line in +perfect security. This bird also will sound the alarm, and strike at +cats when they climb on the roofs of houses, or otherwise approach the +nests. Each species of hirundo drinks as it flies along, sipping the +surface of the water; but the swallow alone, in general, washes 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 seaport towns, and making little excursions over the +salt water. Horsemen on wide downs are often closely attended by a +little party of swallows for miles together, which 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 _Coleoptera_, as well as on gnats and +flies; and often settles on dug ground, or paths, for gravels to grind +and digest its food. Before they depart, for some weeks, to a bird, they +forsake houses and chimneys, and roost in trees; and usually withdraw +about the beginning of October; though some few stragglers may appear on +at times till the first week in November. + +Some few pairs haunt the new and open streets of London next the fields, +but do not enter, like the house-martin, the close and crowded parts of +the city. + +Both male and female are distinguished from their congeners by the length +and forkedness of their tails. They are undoubtedly the most nimble of +all the species: and when the male pursues the female in amorous chase +they then go beyond their usual speed, and exert a rapidity almost too +quick for the eye to follow. + +After this circumstantial detail of the life and discerning [Greek text] +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 implement 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 +undistinguishing, limited faculty; and blind to every circumstance that +does not immediately respect self-preservation, or lead at once to the +propagation or support of their species. + +I am, with all respect, etc., etc. + + + +LETTER XIX. + + +SELBORNE, _Feb._ 14_th_, 1774. + +Dear Sir,--I received your favour of the 8th, 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 Virgil might intend in the lines in question, since the ancients +did not attend to specific differences like modern naturalists; yet +somewhat may be gathered, enough to incline me to suppose that in the two +passages quoted the poet had his eye on the swallow. + +In the first place the epithet _garrula_ suits the swallow well, who is a +great songster, and not the martin, which is rather a mute bird; and when +it sings is so inward as scarce to be heard. Besides, if _tignum_ in +that place signifies a rafter rather than a beam, as it seems to me to +do, then I think it must be the swallow that is alluded to, and not the +martin, since the former does frequently build within the roof against +the rafters, while the latter always, as far as I have been able to +observe, builds without the roof against eaves and cornices. + +As to the simile, too much stress must not be laid on it, yet the epithet +_nigra_ speaks plainly in favour of the swallow, whose back and wings are +very black, while the rump of the martin is milk-white, its back and +wings blue, and all its under part white as snow. Nor can the clumsy +motions (comparatively clumsy) of the martin well represent the sudden +and artful evolutions and quick turns which Juturna gave to her brother's +chariot, so as to elude the eager pursuit of the enraged AEneas. 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 remarkable year for floods +and high waters. The land-springs which we call lavants, break out much +on the downs of Sussex, Hampshire and Wiltshire. The country people say +when the _lavants_ rise corn will always be dear; meaning that when the +earth is so glutted with water as to send forth springs on the downs and +uplands, that the corn-vales must be drowned; and so it has proved for +these ten or eleven years past. For land-springs have never obtained +more since the memory of man than during that period; nor has there been +known a greater scarcity of all sorts of grain, considering the great +improvements of modern husbandry. Such a run of wet seasons a century or +two ago would, I am persuaded, have occasioned a famine. Therefore +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 +Rutland, and elsewhere, yields remarkably bad, and our wheat on the +ground, by the continual late sudden vicissitudes from fierce frost to +pouring rains, looks poorly, and the turnips rot very fast. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XX. + + +SELBORNE, _Feb._ 26_th_, 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 reciting the +circumstances attending the life and conversation of this little bird, +since it is _fera natura_, at least in this part of the kingdom, +disclaiming all domestic attachments, and haunting wild heaths and +commons where there are large lakes; while the other species, especially +the swallow and house-martin, are remarkably gentle and domesticated, and +never seem to think themselves safe but under the protection of man. + +Here are in this parish, in the sand-pits and banks of the lakes of +Wolmer forest, several colonies of these birds, and yet they are never +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 despatch, 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 not 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 intentionally 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 _latebroe_ being left unfinished arise from their +meeting in those places with strata too harsh, hard, and solid, for their +purpose, which they relinquish, and go to a fresh spot that works more +freely? Or may they not in other places fall in with a soil as much too +loose and mouldering, liable to flounder, and threatening to overwhelm +them and their labours? + +One thing is remarkable--that, after some years, the old holes are +forsaken and new ones bored; perhaps because the old habitations grow +foul and fetid from long use, or because they may so abound with fleas as +to become untenantable. This species of swallow, moreover, is strangely +annoyed with fleas; and we have seen fleas, bed-fleas (_pulex irritans_), +swarming at the mouths of these holes, like bees on the stools of their +hives. + +The following circumstance should by no means be omitted--that these +birds do not make use of their caverns by way of hybernacula, as might be +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 young in the dark, it would not be so easy to ascertain +the time of breeding, were it not for the coming forth of the broods, +which 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 _libelluloe_ (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 nest. 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 affords the +principal food of each respective species of swallow. + +Notwithstanding what has been advanced above, some few sand-martins, I +see, haunt the skirts of London, frequenting the dirty pools in 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 scaffold holes of some old or new deserted +building. They dip and wash as they fly sometimes, like the house-martin +and swallow. + +Sand-martins differ from their congeners in the diminutiveness of their +size, and in their colour, which is what is usually called a +mouse-colour. Near Valencia, 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, _Papilion +de Montagna_. + + + +LETTER XXI. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 28_th_, 1774. + +Dear Sir,--As the swift or black-martin is the largest of the British +_hirundines_, so it is undoubtedly the latest comer. For I remember but +one instance of its 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 the same) that they sometimes usurp upon +the house-sparrows, and expel them, as sparrows do the house and sand- +martin; well remembering that I have seen them squabbling together at the +entrance of their holes; and the sparrows up in arms, and much +disconcerted at these intruders. And yet I am assured, by a nice +observer in such matters, that they do collect feathers for their nests +in Andalusia, and that he has shot them with such materials in their +mouths. + +Swifts, like sand-martins, carry on the business of nidification quite in +the dark, in crannies of castles and towers, and steeples, and upon the +tops of the walls of churches under the roof; and therefore 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 9th 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 Odiham, in this county, +where we have seen many pairs entering the crevices, and skimming and +squeaking round the precipices. + +As I have regarded these amusive birds with no small attention, if I +should advance something new and peculiar with respect to them, and +different from all other birds, I might perhaps be credited; especially +as my assertion is the result of many years' exact observation. The fact +that I would advance is, that swifts tread, or propagate, 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 thundery 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 proportion than those of almost any other +bird. When they mute, or ease themselves in flight, they raise their +wings, and make them meet over their backs. + +At some certain times in the summer I had 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 _phryganeae_, _ephemerae_, and _libellulae_ (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 _pulli_; on the 8th +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 nest for hours together. + +Sometimes they pursue and strike at hawks that come in their way, but not +with that vehemence and fury that swallows express on the same occasion. +They are out all day long in wet days, feeding about, and disregarding +still rain: from whence two things may he 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? 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? + +Swifts are very anomalous in many particulars, dissenting from all their +congeners not only in the number of their young, but in breeding but once +in a summer, whereas all the other British hirundines breed invariably +twice. It is past all doubt that swifts can breed but once, since they +withdraw in a short time after the flight of their young, and some time +before their congeners bring out their second broods. We may here remark +that, as swifts breed 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 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 occasionally to +the beginning of November. This early retreat is mysterious and +wonderful, since that time is often the sweetest season in the year. But +what is more extraordinary, they begin to retire still earlier in the +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? 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 congregate +with their congeners. They are fearless while haunting their nesting- +places, and are not to be scared with a gun, and are often beaten down +with poles and cudgels as they stoop to go under the eaves. Swifts are +much infested with those pests to the genus called _hippoboscoe +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 _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 _hippoboscoe_, 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 July 5th, 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 [Greek text] for her brood, which she supposed to be in danger, +that, regardless of her own safety, she would not stir, but lay sullenly +by them, permitting herself to be taken in hand. The squab young we +brought down and placed on the grass-plot, where they tumbled about, and +were as helpless as a new-born child. While we contemplated their naked +bodies, their unwieldy disproportioned abdomina, and their heads, too +heavy for their necks to support, we could not but wonder when we +reflected that these shiftless beings in a little more than a fortnight +would be able to dash through the air almost with the 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 [Greek text], or state of perfection, while +the progressive growth of men and large quadrupeds is slow and tedious! + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXII. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 13_th_, 1774. + +Dear Sir,--By means of a straight cottage chimney I had an opportunity +this summer of remarking, at my leisure, how swallows ascend and descend +through the shaft; but my pleasure in contemplating the 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 +4th, the swift on April 24th, the bank-martin on April 12th, and the +house-martin not till April 30th. At South Zele, Devonshire, swallows +did not arrive till April 25th, swifts in plenty on May 1st, and house- +martins not till the middle of May. At Blackburn, in Lancashire, swifts +were seen April 28th, swallows April 29th, house-martins May 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 inducia scum avibus_, _quamdiu +cuculus cuculat_;" but it appears to me that during that period many +little birds are taken and destroyed by birds of prey, as may be seen by +their feathers left in lanes and under hedges. + +The missel-thrush is, while breeding, fierce and pugnacious, driving such +birds as approach its nest with great fury to a distance. The Welsh call +it "pen y llwyn," the head or master of the coppice. He suffers no +magpie, jay, or blackbird, to enter the garden where he haunts, and is, +for the time, a good guard to the new-sown legumens. In general he is +very successful in the defence of his family; but once I observed in my +garden that several 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 focis_; but numbers at last prevailed, they tore +the nest to pieces, and swallowed the young alive. + +In the season of nidification the wildest birds are comparatively tame. +Thus the ring-dove breeds in my fields, though they are continually +frequented; and the missel-thrush, though most shy and wild in the autumn +and winter, builds in my garden close to a walk where people are passing +all day long. + +Wall-fruit abounds with me this year; but my grapes, that used to be +forward and good, are at 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 disqualify me +for a naturalist; for, when those fits are upon me, I lose all the +pleasing notices and little intimations arising from rural sounds; and +May is to me as silent and mute with respect to the notes of birds, etc., +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." + + + +LETTER XXIII. + + +SELBORNE, _June_ 8_th_, 1775. + +Dear Sir,--On September 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 attention, a +shower of cobwebs falling from very elevated regions, and continuing, +without any interruption, till the close of the day. These webs were not +single filmy threads, floating in the air in all directions, but perfect +flakes or rags; some near an inch broad, and five or six long, which fell +with a degree of velocity that showed they were considerably heavier than +the atmosphere. + +On every side as the observer turned his eyes might he behold a continual +succession of fresh flakes falling into his sight, and twinkling like +stars as they turned their sides towards the sun. + +How far this wonderful shower extended would be difficult to say; but we +know that it reached 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 +thistledown, 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. Ray], then, when they were +become heavier than the air, they must fall. + +Every day in fine weather, in autumn chiefly, do I see those spiders +shooting out their webs and mounting aloft: they will go off from your +finger if you will take them into your hand. Last summer one alighted on +my book as I was reading in the parlour; and, running to the top of the +page, and shooting out a web, took 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. + + + +LETTER XXIV. + + +SELBORNE, _Aug._ 15_th_, 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 sheep, which constantly flock together. + +But this propensity seems not to be confined to animals of the same +species; for we know a doe, still alive, that was brought up from a +little fawn with a dairy of cows; with them it goes a-field, and with +them it returns to the yard. The dogs of the house take no notice of +this deer, being used to her; but, if strange dogs come by, a chase +ensues; while the master smiles to see his favourite securely leading her +pursuers over hedge, or gate, or stile, till she returns to the cows, +who, with fierce lowings and menacing horns, drive the assailants quite +out of the pasture. + +Even great disparity of kind and size does not always prevent social +advances and mutual fellowship. For a very intelligent and observant +person has assured me that, in the former part of his life, keeping but +one horse, he happened also on a time to have but one solitary hen, These +two incongruous animals spent much of their time together in a lonely +orchard, 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 companion. Thus, +by mutual good offices, each seemed to console the vacant hours of the +other: so that Milton, when he puts the following sentiment in the mouth +of Adam, seems to be somewhat mistaken: + + "Much less can _bird_ with _beast_, or fish with fowl, + So well converse, nor with the ox the ape." + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXV. + + +SELBORNE, _Oct._ 2_nd_, 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, etc. 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 gipsy girl lie in the midst of one of our hop-gardens, on the cold +ground, with nothing over her but a piece of a blanket extended on a few +hazel-rods bent hoop-fashion, and stuck into the earth at each end, in +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 those +people on the confines of Tartary, who were endeavouring to penetrate +those deserts, and try their fortune in China. + +Gypsies are called in French, Bohemians; in Italian and modern Greek, +Zingari. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXVI. + + +SELBORNE, _Nov._ 1_st_, 1775. + + "Hic . . . taedae pingues, hic plurimus ignis + Semper, et assidua postes fuligine nigri." + +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 +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 despatch, 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 seaside, the coarser animal-oils will +come very cheap. A pound of common grease may be procured for fourpence, +and about six pounds of grease will dip a pound of rushes, and one pound +of rushes may be bought for one shilling; so that a pound of rushes +medicated and ready for use, will cost three shillings. If men that keep +bees will mix a little wax with the grease, it will give it a +consistency, and render it more cleanly, and make the rushes burn longer; +mutton-suet would have the same effect. + +A good rush, which measured in length two feet four inches and a half, +being minuted, burnt only three minutes short of an hour; and a rush of +still greater length has been known to burn one hour and a quarter. + +These rushes give a good clear light. Watch-lights (coated with tallow), +it is true, shed a dismal 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 1/33 of a farthing, and 1/11 afterwards. +Thus a poor family will enjoy five and a half hours of comfortable light +for farthing. An experienced old housekeeper assures me that one pound +and a half of rushes completely supplies his family the year round, since +working people burn no 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 maidenhair, 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- +chestnut colour; and, being soft and pliant, is very proper for the +dusting of beds, curtains, carpets, hangings, etc. If these besoms were +known to the brushmakers in town, it is probable they might come much in +use for the purpose above mentioned. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXVII. + + +SELBORNE, _Dec._ 12_th_, 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 fireside, in a +kind of torpid state, seldom departing from the chimney-corner; but in +the summer he was all alert, and in quest of his game in the fields, and +on sunny banks. Honey-bees, humble-bees, and wasps, were his prey +wherever he found them; he had no apprehensions from their stings, but +would seize them _nudis manibus_, and at once disarm them of their +weapons, and suck their bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. +Sometimes he would fill his bosom between his shirt and his skin with a +number of these captives, and sometimes would confine them in bottles. He +was a very _merops 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, + Shouldst Wildman be . . . " + +When a tall youth he was removed from hence to a distant village, where +he died, as I understand, before he arrived at manhood. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + + +SELBORNE, _Jan._ 8_th_, 1776. + +Dear Sir,--It is the hardest thing in the world to shake off +superstitious prejudices: they are sucked in, as it were, with our +mother's milk; and growing up with us at a time when they take the +fastest hold and make the most lasting impressions, 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 +superstitions of this district, lest we should be suspected of +exaggeration in a recital of practices too gross for this enlightened +age. + +But the people of Tring, in Hertfordshire, would do well to remember that +no longer ago than the year 1751, and within twenty miles of the capital, +they seized on two superannuated wretches, crazed with age, and +overwhelmed with infirmities, on a suspicion of witchcraft; and, by +trying experiments, drowned them in a horse-pond. + +In a farm-yard near the middle of this village stands at this day, a row +of pollard-ashes, which by the seams and long cicatrices down their +sides, manifestly show that, in former times, they have been cleft +asunder. These trees when young and flexible, were severed and held open +by wedges, while ruptured children, stripped naked, were pushed through +the apertures, under a persuasion that, by such a process, the poor babes +would be cured of their infirmity. As soon as the operation was over, +the tree, in the suffering part, was plastered with loam, and carefully +swathed up. If the parts coalesced and soldered together, as usually +fell out, where the feat was performed with any adroitness at all, the +party was cured; but, where the cleft continued to gape, the operation it +was supposed, would prove ineffectual. Having occasion to enlarge my +garden not long since, I cut down two or three such trees, one of which +did not grow together. + +We have several persons now living in the village who, in their +childhood, were supposed to be healed by this superstitious ceremony, +derived down perhaps from our Saxon ancestors, who practised it before +their conversion to Christianity. + +At the 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 +nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow, or sheep, +the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with +the loss of the use of the limb. Against this accident, to which they +were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew- +ash at hand, which when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for +ever. A shrew-ash was made thus:--Into the body of the tree a deep hole +was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was thrust in +alive, and plugged in, no doubt, with several quaint incantations long +since forgotten. As the ceremonies necessary for such a consecration are +no longer understood, all succession is at an end, and no such tree is +known to subsist in the manor, or hundred. + +As to that on the Plestor + + "The late Vicar stubb'd and burnt it," + +when he was way-warden, regardless of the remonstrances of the +bystanders, who interceded in vain for its preservation, urging its power +and efficacy, and alleging that it had been + + "Religione patrum multos servata per annos." + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXIX. + + +SELBORNE, _Feb._ 7_th_, 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 +condensing the vapour, which trickles down the twigs and boughs, so as to +make the ground below quite in a float. In Newton Lane, in October, +1775, on a misty day, a particular oak in leaf dropped so fast that the +cart-way stood in puddles and the ruts ran with water, though the ground +in general was dusty. + +In some of our smaller islands in the West Indies, if I mistake not, +there are no springs or rivers; but the people are supplied with that +necessary element, water, merely by the dripping of some large teak +trees, which, standing in the bosom of a mountain, keep their heads +constantly enveloped with fogs and clouds, from which they dispense their +kindly never-ceasing moisture; and so render those districts habitable by +condensation alone. + +Trees in leaf have such a vast proportion more of surface than those that +are naked, that, in theory, their condensations should greatly exceed +those that are stripped of their leaves; but, as the former imbibe also a +great quantity of moisture, it is difficult to say which drip most: but +this I know, that deciduous trees that are entwined with much ivy seem to +distil the greatest quantity. Ivy-leaves are smooth, and thick, and +cold, and therefore condense very fast; and besides, evergreens imbibe +very little. These facts may furnish the intelligent with hints +concerning what sorts of trees they should plant round small ponds that +they would wish to be perennial; and show them how advantageous some +trees are in 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 chalk districts will allow that they ever saw springs in such a soil +but in valleys and bottoms, since the waters of so pervious a stratum as +chalk all lie on one dead level, as well-diggers have assured me again +and again. + +Now we have many such little round ponds in this district; and one in +particular on our sheep-down, three hundred feet above my house; which, +though never above three feet deep in the middle, and not more than +thirty feet in diameter, and containing perhaps not more than two or +three hundred 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 counterbalance 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 Vegetable Statics, advances, from experiment, that "the moister +the earth is the more dew falls on it in a night: and more than a double +quantity of dew falls on 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, etc., 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, etc. + + + +LETTER XXX. + + +SELBORNE, _April_ 3_rd_, 1776. + +Dear Sir,--Monsieur Herissant, a French anatomist, seems persuaded that +he has discovered the reason why cuckoos do not hatch their own eggs; the +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 _gallinae_, _columbae_, etc., 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- +flies; the last of which we have seen cuckoos catching on the wing as +they were just emerging out of the aurelia state. Among this farrago +also were to be seen maggots, and many seeds, which belonged either to +gooseberries, currants, cranberries, or some such fruit; so that these +birds apparently subsist on insects and fruits; nor was there the least +appearance of bones, feathers, or fur, to support the idle notion of +their being birds of prey. + +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-fowl, or goat-sucker, as soon as opportunity offered: because, if +their formation proves the same, the reason for incapacity in the cuckoo +will be allowed to have been taken up somewhat hastily. + +Not long after a fern-owl was procured, which, from its habit and shape, +we suspected might resemble the cuckoo in its internal construction. 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 _phalaenae_, 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, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXI. + + +SELBORNE, _April_ 29_th_, 1776. + +Dear Sir,--On August 4th, 1775, we surprised a large viper, which seemed +very heavy and bloated, as it lay in the grass basking in the sun. When +we came to cut it up, we found that the abdomen was crowded with young, +fifteen in number; the shortest of which measured full seven inches, and +were about the size of full-grown earth-worms. This little fry issued +into the world with the true viper-spirit about them, showing great +alertness as soon as disengaged from the belly of the dam: they twisted +and wriggled about, and set themselves up, and gaped very wide when +touched with a stick, showing manifest tokens of menace and defiance, +though as yet they had no manner of fangs that we could find, even with +the help of our glasses. + +To a thinking mind nothing is more wonderful than that early instinct +which impresses young animals with 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 neck, and not in the +abdomen. + + + +LETTER XXXII. + + +Castration has a strange effect: it emasculates both man, beast, and +bird, and brings them to a near resemblance of the other sex. Thus +eunuchs have smooth, unmuscular arms, thighs, and legs; and broad hips, +and beardless chins, and squeaking voices. Gelt stags and bucks have +hornless heads, like hinds and does. Thus wethers have small horns, like +ewes; and oxen large bent horns, and hoarse voices when they low, like +cows: for bulls have short straight horns; and though they mutter and +grumble in a deep, tremendous tone, yet they low in a shrill high key. +Capons have small combs and gills, and look pallid about the head, like +pullets; they also walk without any parade, and hover 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. + + + +LETTER XXXIII. + + +The natural term of a 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 a half-bred bantam-sow, who was as thick as she was long, +and whose belly swept on the ground till she was advanced to her +seventeenth year, at which period she showed some tokens of age by the +decay of her teeth and the decline of her fertility. + +For about ten years this prolific mother produced two litters in the year +of about ten at a time, and once above twenty at a litter; but, as there +were 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, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXIV. + + +SELBORNE, _May_ 9_th_, 1776. + + " . . . admorunt ubera tigres." + +Dear Sir,--We have remarked in a former letter {83} how much incongruous +animals, in a lonely state, may be attached to each other from a spirit +of sociality; in this it may not be amiss to recount a different motive +which has been known to create as strange a fondness. My friend had a +little helpless leveret brought to him, which the servants fed with milk +in a spoon, and about the same time his cat kittened and the young were +dispatched and buried. The hare was soon lost, and supposed to be gone +the way of most foundlings, to be killed by some dog or cat. However, in +about a fortnight, as the master was sitting in his garden in the dusk of +the evening, he observed his cat, with tail erect, trotting towards him, +and calling with little short inward notes of complacency, such as they +use towards their kittens, and something gamboling after, which proved to +be the leveret that the cat had supported with her milk, and continued to +support with great affection. + +Thus was a graminivorous animal nurtured by a carnivorous and predaceous +one! + +Why so cruel and sanguinary a beast as a cat, of the ferocious genus of +_Felis_, the _murium leo_, as Linnaeus calls it, should be affected with +any tenderness towards an animal which is its natural prey, is not so +easy to determine. + +This strange affection probably was occasioned by that desiderium, those +tender maternal feelings, which the loss of her kittens had awakened in +her breast; and by the complacency and ease she derived to herself from +the procuring her teats to be drawn, which were too much distended with +milk, till, from habit, she became as much delighted with this foundling +as if it had been her real offspring. + +This incident is no bad solution of that strange circumstance which grave +historians as well as the poets assert, of exposed children being +sometimes nurtured by female wild beasts that probably had lost their +young. For it is not one whit more marvellous that Romulus and Remus, in +their infant state, should be nursed by a she-wolf, than that a poor +little sucking leveret should be fostered and cherished by a bloody +grimalkin. + + " . . . viridi foetam Mavortis in antro + Procubuisse lupam: geminos huic ubera circum + Ludere pendentes pueros, et lambere matrem + Impavidos: illam tereti cervice reflexam + Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua." + + + +LETTER XXXV. + + +SELBORNE, _May_ 20_th_, 1777. + +Dear Sir,--Lands that are subject to frequent inundations are always +poor; and probably the reason may be because the worms are drowned. The +most insignificant insects and reptiles are of much more consequence, and +have much more influence in the economy of Nature than the incurious are +aware of, and are mighty in their effect, from their minuteness, which +renders them less an object of attention, and from their numbers and +fecundity. Earth-worms, though in appearance a small and despicable link +in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm. For, +to say nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds, which are almost +entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of +vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them, by boring, +perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains +and the fibres of plants, by drawing straws and stalks of leaves 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 +detestation of worms; the former because they render their walks +unsightly, and make them much work; and the latter because, as they +think, worms eat their green corn. But these men would find that the +earth without worms would soon become cold, hard-bound, and void of +fermentation, and consequently sterile; and 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 +_tipuloe_ (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. {86} + +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 very prolific. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXVI. + + +SELBORNE, _Nov._ 22_nd_, 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 coincidences; +for on those two days the thermometer rose to 66 degrees 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 April, when, the rigour of the +spring abating, a softer season began to prevail. + +Again, it appears by my journals for many years past that house-martins +retire, to a bird, about the beginning of October, so that a person not +very observant of such matters would conclude that they had taken their +last farewell; but then it may be seen in my diaries also that +considerable flocks have discovered themselves again in the first week of +November, and often on the fourth day of that month, only for one day, +and that not as if they were in actual migration, but playing about at +their leisure and feeding calmly, as if no enterprise of moment at all +agitated their spirits. And this was the case in the beginning of this +very month; for on the 4th November more than twenty house-martins, +which, in appearance, had all departed about the 7th 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 58.5 degrees, 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 +degrees, 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 +slumbers by a little untimely warmth, and therefore that nothing so much +promotes its 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 Asia to enjoy in March the +transient summer of a couple of days. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXVII. + + +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 nor feet were able to perform +their functions; so that the poor object was half his time on crutches, +incapable of employ, and languishing in a tiresome state of 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 a +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, bequeathed large legacies to such poor +people as languished under this hopeless infirmity. + +It must, therefore, in these days be to a humane and thinking person a +matter of equal wonder and satisfaction, when he contemplates how nearly +this pest is eradicated, and observes that a leper 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 May. It was +from magazines like these that 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 +comparatively modern, but must prove a great means of preventing +cutaneous ails. At this very time woollen, instead of linen, prevails +among the poorer Welsh, who are subject to foul eruptions. + +The plenty of good wheaten bread that now is found among all ranks of +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 observation +may perceive, within his own memory, both in town and country, how vastly +the consumption of vegetables is increased. Green-stalls in cities now +support multitudes in a comfortable state, while gardeners get fortunes. +Every decent labourer also has his garden, which is half his support, as +well as his delight; and common farmers provide plenty of beans, peas, +and greens, for 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 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 abbeys and priories. The barons neglected every +pursuit that did not lead to war or tend to the pleasure of the chase. + +It was not till gentlemen took up the study of horticulture themselves +that the knowledge of gardening made such hasty advances. Lord Cobham, +Lord Ila, and Mr. Waller, of Beaconsfield, were some of the first people +of rank that promoted the elegant science of ornamenting without +despising the superintendence of the kitchen quarters and fruit walls. + +A remark made by the excellent Mr. Ray, in his "Tour of Europe," at once +surprises us, and corroborates what has been advanced above; for we find +him observing so late as his 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 +excell lettuce itself." Now this journey was undertaken no longer ago +than in the year 1663. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER XXXVIII. + + +SELBORNE, _Feb._ 12_th_, 1778. + + "Forte puer, comitum seductus ab agmine fido, + Dixerat, ecquis adest? et, adest, responderat echo, + Hic stupet; utque aciem partes divisit in omnes; + Voce, veni, clamat magna. Vocat illa vocantem." + +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 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 patulae recubans . . . " + +were as audibly and intelligibly returned as the first; and there is no +doubt, could trial have been made, but that at midnight, when the air is +very elastic, and a dead stillness prevails, one or two syllables more +might have been obtained; but the distance rendered so late an experiment +very inconvenient. + +Quick dactyls, we observed, succeeded best; for when we came to try its +powers in slow, heavy, 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 off. Buildings, or naked rocks, re-echo much more articulately +than hanging woods or vales; because in the latter the voice is as it +were entangled, and embarrassed in the covert, and weakened in the +rebound. + +The true object of this echo, as we found by various experiments, is the +stone-built, tiled hop-kiln in Gally Lane, which measures in front forty +feet, and from the ground to the eaves twelve feet. The true _centrum +phonicum_, or just distance, is one particular spot in the king's field, +in the path to Nore Hill, on the very brink of the steep balk above the +hollow cart-way. In this case there is no choice of distance; but the +path, by mere contingency, happens to be the lucky, the identical spot, +because the ground rises or falls so immediately, if the speaker either +retires or advances, that his mouth would at once be above or below the +object. + +We measured this polysyllabical echo with great exactness, and found the +distance to fall very short of Dr. Plot's rule for distinct articulation; +for the doctor, in his history of Oxfordshire, allows a hundred and +twenty feet for the return of each syllable distinctly; hence this echo, +which gives ten distinct syllables, ought to measure four hundred yards, +or one hundred and twenty feet to each syllable; whereas our distance is +only two hundred and fifty-eight yards, or near seventy-five feet, to +each syllable. Thus our measure falls short of the doctor's, as five to +eight; but then it must be acknowledged that this candid philosopher was +convinced afterwards, that some latitude must be admitted of in the +distance of echoes according to time and place. + +When experiments of this sort are making, it should always be remembered +that weather and the time of day have a vast influence on an echo; for a +dull, heavy, moist air deadens and clogs the sound; and hot sunshine +renders the air thin and weak, and deprives it of all its springiness, +and a ruffling wind quite defeats the whole. In a still, clear, dewy +evening the air is most elastic; and perhaps the later the hour the more +so. + +Echo has always been so amusing to the imagination that the poets have +personified her; and in their hand she has been the occasion of many a +beautiful fiction. Nor need the gravest man be ashamed to appear taken +with such a phenomenon, since it may become the subject of philosophical +or mathematical inquiries. + +One should have imagined that echoes, if not entertaining, must at least +have been harmless and inoffensive; yet, Virgil advances a strange +notion, that they are injurious to bees. After enumerating some probable +and reasonable annoyances, such as prudent owners would wish far removed +from their bee gardens, he adds-- + + . . . "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 hailed a ship at the distance of a mile, +and still these insects pursued their various employments undisturbed, +and without showing the least sensibility or resentment. + +Some time since its discovery this echo is become totally silent, though +the object, or hop-kiln, remains; nor is there any mystery in this +defect; for the field between is planted as a hop-garden, and the voice +of the speaker is totally absorbed and lost among the poles and entangled +foliage of the hops. And when the poles are removed in autumn the +disappointment is the same; because a tall quick-set hedge, nurtured up +for the purpose of shelter to the hop ground, entirely interrupts the +impulse and repercussion of the voice; so that till those obstructions +are 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 a hill, with a like rising opposite to it, at a few hundred +yards distance; and perhaps success might be the easier ensured could +some canal, lake, or stream intervene. From a seat at the _centrum +phonicum_ he and his friends might amuse themselves sometimes of an +evening with the prattle of this loquacious nymph; of whose complacency +and decent reserve more may be said than can with truth of every +individual of her sex; since she is . . . + + " . . . quae nec reticere loquenti, + Nec prior ipsa loqui didicit resonabilis echo." + +I am, etc. + +P.S.--The classic reader will, I trust, pardon the following lovely +quotation, so finely describing echoes, and so poetically accounting for +their causes from popular superstition:-- + + "Quae bene quom videas, rationem reddere possis + Tute tibi atque aliis, quo pacto per loca sola + Saxa paries formas verborum ex ordine reddant, + Palanteis comites quom monteis inter opacos + Quaerimus, et magna dispersos voce ciemus. + Sex etiam, aut septem loca vidi reddere voces + Unam quom jaceres: ita colles collibus ipsis + Verba repulsantes iterabant dicta referre. + Haec loca capripedes Satyros, Nymphasque tenere + Finitimi fingunt, et Faunos esse loquuntur; + Quorum noctivago strepitu, ludoque jocanti + Adfirmant volgo taciturna silentia rumpi, + Chordarumque sonos fieri, dulceisque querelas, + Tibia quas fundit digitis pulsata canentum: + Et genus agricolum late sentiscere, quom Pan + Pinea semiferi capitis velamina quassans, + Unco saepe labro calamos percurrit hianteis, + Fistula silvestrem ne cesset fundere musam." + + LUCRETIUS, Lib. iv. l. 576. + + + +LETTER XXXIX. + + +SELBORNE, _May_ 13_th_, 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 affection, that strange [Greek +text], which immediately succeeds in the feathered kind to the most +passionate fondness, is the occasion of an equal dispersion of birds over +the face of the earth. Without this provision one favourite district +would be crowded with inhabitants, while others would be destitute and +forsaken. But the parent birds seem to maintain a jealous superiority, +and to oblige the young to seek for new abodes; and the rivalry of the +males in many kinds, prevents their crowding the one on the other. +Whether the swallows and house-martins return in the same exact number +annually is not easy to say, for reasons given above; but it is apparent, +as I have remarked before in my Monographies, that the numbers returning +bear no manner of proportion to the numbers retiring. + + + +LETTER XL. + + +SELBORNE, _June_ 2_nd_, 1778. + +Dear Sir,--The standing objection to botany has always been, that it is a +pursuit that amuses the fancy and exercises the memory, without improving +the mind or advancing any real knowledge; and, where the science is +carried no farther than a mere systematic classification, the charge is +but too true. But the botanist that is desirous of wiping off this +aspersion should be by no means content with a list of names; he should +study plants philosophically, should 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 elegances of life. To plants we owe timber, bread, beer, +honey, wine, oil, linen, cotton, etc., 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, ginsing, betel, +paper, etc. As every climate has its peculiar produce our natural wants +bring on a mutual intercourse; so that by means of trade each distinct +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 sward of the +district where he lived would be a 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, etc. + + + +LETTER XLI. + + +SELBORNE, _July_ 3_rd_, 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 foetidus_, stinking hellebore, bear's foot, or +setterworth,--all over the High Wood and Coneycroft 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 the ground. + +_Vaccinium oxycoccos_, creeping bilberries, or cranberries,--in the bogs +of Bin's Pond. + +_Vaccinium myrtillus_, whortle, or bleaberries--on the dry hillocks of +Wolmer Forest. + +_Drosera rotundifolia_, round-leaved sundew--in the bogs of Bin's Pond. + +_Drosera longifolia_, long-leaved sundew--in the bogs of Bin's Pond. + +_Comarum palustre_, purple comarum, or marsh cinquefoil--in the bogs of +Bin's Pond. + +_Hypericum androsoemum_, Tutsan, St. John's Wort--in the stony, hollow +lanes. + +_Vinca minor_, less periwinkle--in Selborne Hanger and Shrub Wood. + +_Monotropa hypopithys_, yellow monotropa, or birds' nest--in Selborne +Hanger under the shady beeches, to whose roots it seems to be +parasitical, at the north-west end of the Hanger. + +_Chlora perfoliata_, _Blackstonia perfoliata_, _Hudsoni_, perfoliated +yellow-wort--on the banks in the King's Field. + +_Paris quadrifolia_, herb of Paris, true-love, or oneberry--in the Church +Litten Coppice. + +_Chrysosplenium oppositifolium_, opposite golden saxifrage--in the dark +and rocky hollow lanes. + +_Gentiana amarella_, autumnal gentian or fellwort--on the Zigzag and +Hanger. + +_Lathraea 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 pilosus_, small teasel--in the Short and Long Lith. + +_Lathyrus sylvestris_, narrow-leaved, or wild lathyrus--in the bushes at +the foot of the Short Lith, near the path. + +_Ophrys spiralis_, ladies' traces--in the Long Lith, and towards the +south corner of the common. + +_Ophrys nidus avis_, birds' nest ophrys--in the Long Lith under the shady +beeches among the dead leaves; in Great Dorton among the bushes, and on +the Hanger plentifully. + +_Serapias 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. + +_Sambucus ebulus_, dwarf elder, walwort, or danewort--among the rubbish +and ruined foundations of the Priory. + +Of all the propensities of plants, none seem more strange than their +different periods of blossoming. Some produce their flowers in the +winter, or very first dawnings of spring, many when the spring is +established, some at midsummer, and some not till autumn. When we see +the _helleborus foetidus_ and _helleborus niger_ blowing at Christmas, +the _helleborus hyemalis_ in January, and the _helleborus viridis_ as +soon as ever it emerges out of the ground, we do not wonder, because they +are kindred plants that we expect should keep pace the one with the +other; but other 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 familiar, since it would be as +difficult to be explained as the most stupendous phenomenon in nature. + + "Say, what impels, amidst surrounding snow + Congeal'd, the crocus, flamy bud to glow? + Say, what retards, amidst the summer's blaze, + Th' autumnal bulb, till pale, declining days? + The GOD OF SEASONS; whose pervading power + Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower: + He bids each flower His quickening word obey, + Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay." + + + +LETTER XLII. + + + "Omnibus animalibus reliquis certus et uniusmodi, et in suo cuique + genere incessus est: aves solae vario meatu feruntur, et in terra, et + in aere." + +SELBORNE, _Aug._ 7_th_, 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 the Saxon verb glidan, to +glide. The kestrel, or wind-hover, has a peculiar mode of hanging in the +air in one place, his wings all the while being briskly agitated. Hen- +harriers fly low over heaths or fields of corn, and beat the ground +regularly like a pointer or setting-dog. Owls move in a buoyant manner, +as if lighter than the air; they seem to want ballast. There is a +peculiarity belonging to ravens that must draw the attention even of the +most incurious; they spend all their leisure time in striking and cuffing +each other on the wing in a kind of playful skirmish, and, when they move +from one place to another, frequently turn on their backs with a loud +croak, and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd gesture +betides them, they are scratching themselves with one foot, and thus lose +the centre of gravity. Rooks sometimes dive and tumble in a frolicsome +manner; crows and daws swagger in their walk; 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 _gallinoe_ 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 despatch; +herons seem encumbered with too much sail for their light bodies, but +these vast hollow wings are necessary in carrying burdens, such as large +fishes and the like; pigeons, and particularly the sort called smiters, +have a way of clashing their wings the one against the other over their +backs with a loud snap; another variety, called tumblers, turn themselves +over in the air. Some birds have movements peculiar to the season of +love. Thus ringdoves, though strong and rapid at other times, yet in the +spring hang about on the wing in a toying and playful manner; thus the +cock-snipe while breeding, forgetting his former flight, fans the air +like the wind-hover; and the green-finch in particular, exhibits such +languishing and faltering gestures as to appear like a wounded and dying +bird; the king-fisher darts along like an arrow; fern-owls, or +goat-suckers, glance in the dusk over the tops of trees like a meteor; +starlings, as it were, swim along, while missel-thrushes use a wild and +desultory flight; swallows sweep over the surface of the ground and +water, and distinguish themselves by rapid turns and quick evolutions; +swifts dash round in circles; and the bank-martin moves with frequent +vacillations like a 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 +perpendicularly as they sing; woodlarks hang poised in the air; and +titlarks rise and fall in large curves, singing in their descent. The +white-throat uses odd jerks and 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, a hooked appearance. Dabchicks, moorhens, and +coots, fly erect, with their legs hanging down, and hardly make any +despatch. The reason is plain, their wings are placed too forward out of +the true centre of gravity, as the legs of auks and divers are situated +too backward. + + + +LETTER XLIII. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 9_th_, 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 +recital of a conversation which passed between two owls, reclaimed a +sultan, before delighting in conquest and devastation; but I would be +thought only to mean that many of the winged tribes have various sounds +and voices adapted to express their various passions, wants and feelings; +such as anger, fear, love, hatred, hunger and the like. All species are +not equally eloquent; some are copious and fluent as it were in their +utterance while others are confined to a few important sounds: no bird, +like the fish kind, is quite mute, though some are rather silent. The +language of birds is very ancient and, like other ancient modes of +speech, very 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 eagle +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 a 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 daybreak, serenades his mate with the clattering of +castanets. All the tuneful _passeres_ express their complacency by sweet +modulations and a variety of melody. The swallow, as has been observed +in a former letter, by a shrill alarm bespeaks the attention of the other +hirundines, and bids them be aware the hawk is at hand. Aquatic and +gregarious birds, especially the nocturnal, that shift their quarters in +the dark, are very noisy and loquacious; as cranes, wild-geese, +wild-ducks, and the like; their perpetual clamour prevents them from +dispersing and losing their companions. + +In so extensive a subject, sketches and outlines are as much as can be +expected; for it would be endless to instance in all the infinite variety +of the feathered nation. We shall therefore confine the remainder of +this letter to the few domestic fowls of our yards, which are most known, +and therefore best understood. And first the peacock, with his gorgeous +train, demands our attention; but, like most of the gaudy birds, his +notes are grating and shocking to the ear: the yelling of cats, and the +braying of an ass, are not more disgustful. The voice of the goose is +trumpet-like and clanking; and once saved the Capitol at Rome, as grave +historians assert; the hiss, also, of the gander, is formidable and full +of menace, and "protective of his young." Among ducks the sexual +distinction of voice is remarkable; for, while the quack of the female is +loud and sonorous, the voice of the drake is inward and harsh, and +feeble, and scarce discernible. The cock turkey struts and gobbles to +his mistress in a most uncouth manner; he hath also a pert and petulant +note when he attacks his adversary. When a hen turkey leads forth her +young brood she keeps a watchful eye; and if a bird of prey appear, +though ever so high in the air, the careful mother announces the enemy +with a little inward moan, and watches him with a steady and attentive +look; but if he approach, her note becomes earnest and alarming, and her +outcries are redoubled. + +No inhabitants of a yard seem possessed of such a variety of expression +and so copious a language as common poultry. Take a chicken of four or +five days old, and hold it up to a window where there are flies, and it +will immediately seize its prey, with little twitterings of complacency; +but if you tender it a wasp or a bee, at once its note becomes harsh, and +expressive of disapprobation and a sense of danger. When a pullet is +ready to lay she intimates the event by a joyous and easy soft note. Of +all the 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 vocabulary; +if he finds food, he calls a favourite concubine to partake; and if a +bird of prey passes over, with a warning voice he bids his family beware. +The 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." + +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 off his talons, and, fixing a cork on his bill, threw +him down among the brood-hens. Imagination cannot paint the scene that +ensued; the expressions that fear, rage, and revenge inspired, were new, +or at least such as had been unnoticed before: the exasperated matrons +upbraided, they execrated, they insulted, they triumphed. In a word, +they never desisted from buffeting their adversary till they had torn him +in a hundred pieces. + + + +LETTER XLIV. + + + " . . . Monstrent + * * * * * + Quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles + Hyberni; 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 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. + + + +LETTER XLV. + + + " . . . Mugire videbis + Sub bedibus terram, 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 Marcely Hill; the apple nowhere finds + A kinder mould; yet 'tis unsafe to trust + Deceitful ground; who knows but that once more + This mount may journey, and his present site + Forsaken, to thy neighbour's bounds transfer + Thy goodly plants, affording matter strange + For law debates?" + +But, when I came to consider better, I began to suspect that though our +hills may never have journeyed far, yet that the ends of many of them +have slipped and fallen away at distant periods, leaving the cliffs bare +and abrupt. This seems to have been the case with Nore and Whetham +Hills; and especially with the ridge between Harteley Park and Ward-le- +Ham, where the ground has slid into vast swellings and furrows; and lies +still in such romantic confusion as cannot be accounted for from any +other cause. A strange event, that happened not long since, justifies +our suspicions; which, though it befell 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 8th and +9th of that month, a considerable part of the great woody hanger at +Hawkley was torn from its place, and fell down, leaving a high freestone +cliff naked and bare, and resembling the steep side of a chalk-pit. It +appears that this huge fragment, being perhaps sapped and undermined by +waters, foundered, and was 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 post for thirty or forty feet, remained in so true +and upright a position as to open and shut with great exactness, just as +in its first situation. Several oaks also are still standing, and in a +state of 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 a hundred yards from the foot +of this hanging coppice stood a cottage by the side of a lane; and two +hundred yards lower, on the other side of the lane, was a farm-house, in +which lived a labourer and his family; and, just by, a stout new barn. +The cottage was inhabited by an old woman and her son, and his wife. +These people 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 edge, 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 +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 nor safe for pasturage, till considerable labour and +expense had been bestowed in levelling the surface and filling in the +gaping fissures. + + + +LETTER XLVI. + + + " . . . 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 +spot 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 may +gratify his curiosity without injuring the object of it. It is +remarkable, that though these insects are furnished with long legs +behind, and brawny thighs for leaping, like grasshoppers; yet when driven +from their holes they show no activity, but crawl along in a shiftless +manner, so as easily to be taken; and again, though provided with a +curious apparatus of wings, yet they never 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 found by some which I put into the +crevices of a dry stone wall, where I should have been glad to have made +them settle. For though they seemed distressed by being taken out of +their knowledge, yet the first that got possession of the chinks would +seize on any other that were intruded upon them with a vast row of +serrated fangs. With their strong jaws, toothed like the shears of a +lobster's claws, they perforate and round their curious regular cells, +having no fore-claws to dig, like the mole-cricket. When taken in hand I +could not but wonder that they never offered to defend themselves, though +armed with such formidable weapons. Of such herbs as grow before the +mouths of their burrows they eat indiscriminately, and on a little +platform which they make just by, they drop their dung; and never, in the +day time, seem to stir more than two or three inches from home. Sitting +in the entrance of their caverns they chirp all night as well as day from +the middle of the month of May to the middle of July; and in hot weather, +when they are most vigorous, they make the hills echo, and in the stiller +hours of darkness may be heard to a considerable distance. In the +beginning of the season their notes are more faint and inward; but become +louder as the summer advances, and so die away again by degrees. + +Sounds do not always give us pleasure according to their sweetness and +melody, nor do harsh sounds always displease. We are more apt to be +captivated or disgusted with the associations which they promote than +with the notes themselves. Thus the shrilling of the field-cricket, +though sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously delights some hearers, +filling their minds with a train of summer ideas of everything that is +rural, verdurous, and joyous. + +About the 10th March the crickets appear at the mouths of their cells, +which they then open and bore, and shape very elegantly. All that ever I +have seen at that season were in their pupa state, and had only the +rudiments of wings, lying under a skin or coat, which must be cast before +the insect can arrive at its perfect state, from whence I should suppose +that the old ones of last year do not always survive the winter. In +August their holes begin to be obliterated, and the insects are seen no +more till spring. + +Not many summers ago I endeavoured to transplant a colony to the terrace +in my garden, by boring deep holes in the sloping turf. The new +inhabitants stayed some time, and fed and sung, but wandered away by +degrees, and were heard at a farther distance every morning, so that it +appears that on this emergency they made use of their wings in attempting +to return to the spot from which they were taken. + +One of these crickets, when confined in a paper cage and set in the sun, +and supplied with plants moistened with water, will feed and thrive, and +become so merry and loud as to be irksome in the same room where a person +is sitting; if the plants are not wetted it will die. + + + +LETTER XLVII. + + + "Far from all resort of mirth + Save the cricket on the hearth." + + MILTON'S _Il Penseroso_. + +SELBORNE. + +Dear Sir,--While many other insects must be sought after in fields, and +woods, and waters, the _gryllus domesticus_, or house-cricket, resides +altogether within our dwellings, intruding itself upon our notice whether +we will or no. This species delights in new-built houses, being, like +the spider, pleased with the moisture of the walls; and besides, the +softness of the mortar enables them to burrow and mine between the joints +of the bricks or stones, and to open communications from one room to +another. They are particularly fond of kitchens and bakers' ovens, on +account of their perpetual warmth. + +Tender insects that live abroad either enjoy only the short period of one +summer, or else doze away the cold uncomfortable months in profound +slumbers; but these, residing as it were in a torrid zone, are always +alert and merry--a good Christmas fire is to them like the heats of the +dog-days. Though they are frequently heard by day, yet is their natural +time of motion only in the night. As soon as it grows dusk, the chirping +increases, and they come running forth, and are from the size of a flea +to that of their full stature. As one should suppose, from the burning +atmosphere which they inhabit, they are a thrifty race, and show a great +propensity for liquids, being found frequently drowned in pans of water, +milk, broth, or the like. Whatever is moist they affect; and therefore +often gnaw holes in wet woollen stockings and aprons that are hung to the +fire. They are the housewife's barometer, foretelling her when it will +rain, and are prognostic sometimes she thinks of ill or good luck, of the +death of a near relation, or the approach of an absent lover. By being +the constant companions of her solitary hours they naturally become the +objects of her superstition. These crickets are not only very thrifty, +but very voracious; for they will eat the scummings of pots, and yeast, +salt, and crumbs of bread, and any kitchen offal or sweepings. In the +summer we have observed them to fly when it became dusk out of the +windows and over the neighbouring roofs. This feat of activity accounts +for the sudden manner in which they often leave their haunts, as it does +for the method by which they come to houses where they were not known +before. It is remarkable that many sorts of insects seem never to use +their wings but when they have a mind to shift their quarters and settle +new colonies. When in the air they move "_volatu undoso_," in waves or +curves, like wood-peckers, opening and shutting their wings at every +stroke, and so are always rising or sinking. + +When they increase to a great degree, as they did once in the house where +I am now writing, they become noisome pests, flying into the candles, and +dashing into people's faces; but may be blasted and destroyed by +gunpowder discharged into their crevices and crannies. In families at +such times they are like Pharaoh's plague of frogs--"in their +bedchambers, and upon their beds, and in their ovens, and in their +kneading troughs." Their shrilling noise is occasioned by a brisk +attrition of their wings. Cats catch hearth-crickets, and, playing with +them as they do with mice, devour them. Crickets may be destroyed, like +wasps, by phials half filled with beer, or any liquid, and set in their +haunts; for being always eager to drink, they will crowd in till the +bottles are full. + + + +LETTER XLVIII. + + +SELBORNE. + +How diversified are the modes of life, not only of incongruous, but even +of congenerous animals; and yet their specific distinctions are not more +various than their propensities. Thus, while the field-cricket delights +in sunny dry banks, and the house-cricket rejoices amidst the glowing +heat of the kitchen hearth or oven, the _gryllus gryllo talpa_ (the mole- +cricket), haunts moist meadows, and frequents the sides of ponds and +banks of streams, performing all its functions in a swampy wet soil. With +a pair of fore-feet, curiously adapted to the purpose, it burrows and +works under ground like the mole, raising a ridge as it proceeds, but +seldom throwing up hillocks. + +As mole-crickets often infest gardens by the sides of canals, they are +unwelcome guests to the gardener, raising up ridges in their +subterraneous progress, and rendering the walks unsightly. If they take +to the kitchen quarters they occasion great damage among the plants and +roots, by destroying whole beds of cabbages, young legumes, and flowers. +When dug out they seem very slow and helpless, and make no use of their +wings by day, but at night they come abroad, and make long excursions, as +I have been convinced by finding stragglers in a morning, in improbable +places. In fine weather, about the middle of April, and just at the +close of day, they begin to solace themselves with a low, dull, jarring +note, continued for a long time without interruption, and not unlike the +chattering of the fern-owl, or goat-sucker, but more inward. + +About the beginning of May they lay their eggs, as I was once an +eye-witness; for a gardener at a house where I was on a visit, happening +to be mowing, on the 6th of that month, by the side of a canal, his +scythe struck too deep, pared off a large piece of turf, and laid open to +view a curious scene of domestic economy:-- + + " . . . 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 a 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, astonish +me with their accounts; for they say that, from the structure, position, +and number of their stomachs, or maws, there seems to be good reason to +suppose that this and the two former species ruminate or chew the cud +like many quadrupeds! + + + +LETTER XLIX. + + +SELBORNE, _May_ 7_th_, 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 _charadrius himantopus_, +were shot upon the verge of Frinsham pond, a large lake belonging to the +Bishop of Winchester, and lying between Wolmer forest and the town of +Farnham, in the county of Surrey. The pond-keeper says there were three +brace in the flock: but that, after he had satisfied his curiosity, he +suffered the sixth to remain unmolested. One of these specimens I +procured, and found the length of the legs to be so extraordinary, that, +at first sight, one might have supposed the shanks had been fastened on +to impose on the credulity of the beholder: they were legs in +_caricatura_, and had we seen such proportions on a Chinese or Japan +screen, we should have made large allowances for the fancy of the +draughtsman. These birds are of the plover family, and might with +propriety be called the stilt plovers. Brisson, under that idea, gives +them the apposite name of _l'echasse_. My specimen, when drawn and +stuffed with pepper, weighed only four ounces and a quarter, though the +naked part of the thigh measured three inches and a half, and the legs +four inches and a half. Hence we may safely assert that these birds +exhibit, weight for inches, incomparably the greatest length of legs of +any known bird. The flamingo, for instance, is one of the most +long-legged birds, and yet it bears no manner of proportion to the +_himantopus_; for a cock flamingo weighs, at an average, about four +pounds avoirdupois, and his legs and thighs measure usually about twenty +inches. But four pounds are fifteen times and a fraction more than four +ounces and one quarter; and if four ounces and a quarter have eight +inches of legs, four pounds must have one hundred and twenty inches and a +fraction of legs--viz., somewhat more than ten feet; such a monstrous +proportion as the world never saw! If you should try the experiment in +still larger birds, the disparity would still increase. It must be +matter of great curiosity to see the stilt plover move--to observe how it +can wield such a length of lever with such feeble muscles as the thighs +seem to be furnished with. At best one should expect it to be but a bad +walker: but what adds to the wonder is, that it has no back toe. Now +without that steady prop to support its steps it must be liable, in +speculation, to perpetual vacillations, and seldom able to preserve the +true centre of gravity. + +The old name of _himantopus_ is taken from Pliny, and, by an awkward +metaphor, implies that the legs are as slender and pliant as if cut out +of a thong of leather. Neither Willughby nor Ray, in all their curious +researches, either at home or abroad, ever saw this bird. Mr. Pennant +never met with it in all Great Britain, but observed it often in the +cabinets of the curious at Paris. Hasselquist says that it migrates to +Egypt in the autumn, and a most accurate observer of Nature has assured +me that he has found it on the banks of the streams in Andalusia. + +Our writers record it to have been found only twice in Great Britain. +From all these relations it plainly appears that these long-legged +plovers are birds of South Europe, and rarely visit our island, and when +they do, are wanderers and stragglers, and impelled to make so distant +and northern an excursion from motives or accidents for which we are not +able to account. One thing may fairly be deduced, that these birds come +over to us from the 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. + + + +LETTER L. + + +SELBORNE, _April_ 21_st_, 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 degrees, 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 [Greek text]! for so the Greeks called both the shell-snail and +the tortoise. + +Summer birds are, this cold and backward spring, unusually late: I have +seen but one swallow yet. This conformity with the weather convinces me +more and more that they sleep in the winter. + + + +LETTER LI. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 3_rd_, 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 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 April, and then only a pair. Martins in +general were remarkably late this year. + + + +LETTER LII. + + +SELBORNE, _Sept._ 9_th_, 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 of +motives, that of an attachment to her young, could alone occasion so late +a stay. I watched therefore till the 24th 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 27th, 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 31st I caused +the eaves to be searched, but we found in the nest only two callow dead, +stinking swifts, on which a second nest had been formed. This double +nest was full of the black shining cases of the _hippoboscae 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 occurrence +above could neither be new nor rare. + +P.S.--One swift was seen at Lyndon, in the county of Rutland, in 1782, so +late as the 3rd September. + + + +LETTER LIII. + + +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 affected 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 sides proceeded a cotton-like substance, surrounding a multitude of +eggs. This curious and uncommon production put me upon recollecting what +I have heard and read concerning the _coccus vitis viniferae_ of Linnaeus, +which, in the south of Europe, infests many vines, and is a horrid and +loathsome pest. As soon as I had turned to the accounts given of this +insect, I saw at once that it swarmed on my vine; and did not appear to +have been at all checked by the preceding winter, which had been +uncommonly severe. + +Not being then at all aware that it had 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 immediately 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 seaport town to +which the coccus might be conveyed by shipping. + +As many of my readers may possibly never have heard of this strange and +unusual insect, I shall here transcribe a passage from a natural history +of Gibraltar, written by the Reverend John White, late vicar of Blackburn +in Lancashire, but not yet 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 + suddenly overspread on all the woody branches with large lumps of a + white fibrous substance resembling spiders' webs, or rather raw + cotton. It was of a very clammy quality, sticking fast to 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. Nothing was to be seen connected with it but many brown oval + husky shells, which by no means looked like insects, but rather + resembled bits of the dry bark of the vine. The tree had a plentiful + crop of grapes set, when this pest appeared upon it; but the fruit was + manifestly injured by this foul encumbrance. It remained all the + summer, still increasing, and loaded the woody and bearing branches to + a vast degree. I often pulled off great quantities by handfuls; but + it was so slimy and tenacious that it could by no means be cleared. + The grapes never filled to their natural perfection, but turned watery + and vapid. Upon 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 1st, 1785. + +About three o'clock in the afternoon of that day, which was very hot, the +people of this village were surprised by a shower of aphides, or smother- +flies, which fell in these parts. Those that were walking in the street +at that juncture found themselves covered with these insects, which +settled also on the hedges and gardens, blackening all the vegetables +where they alighted. My annuals were discoloured with them, and the +stalks of a bed of onions were quite coated over for six days after. +These armies were then, no doubt, in a state of emigration, and shifting +their quarters; and might have come, as far as we know, from the great +hop plantations of Kent or Sussex, the wind being all that day in the +easterly quarter. They were observed at the same time in great clouds +about Farnham, and all along the vale from Farnham to Alton. + + + +LETTER LIV. + + +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 +propensities of those beings with whom we can be little acquainted in +their natural state. Not long since I spent a fortnight at the house of +a friend where there was such a vivary, to which I paid no small +attention, taking every occasion to remark what passed within its narrow +limits. It was here that I first observed the manner in which fishes +die. As soon as the creature sickens, the head sinks lower and lower, +and it stands as it were on its head; till, getting weaker, and losing +all poise, the tail turns over, and at last it floats on the surface of +the water with its belly uppermost. The reason why fishes, when dead, +swim in that manner is very obvious; because, when the body is no longer +balanced by the fins of the belly, the broad 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 +contribute to render it buoyant. Some that delight in gold and silver +fishes have adopted a notion that they need no aliment. True it is that +they will subsist for a long time without any apparent food but what they +can collect from pure water frequently changed; yet they must draw some +support from animalcula, and other nourishment 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 _pinnae 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 immovable; but +these 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 eyelids, it is not easy to discern when they are sleeping +or not, because their eyes are always open. + +Nothing can be more amusing than a glass bowl containing such fishes; the +double refractions of the glass and water represent them, when moving, in +a shifting and changeable variety of dimensions, shades, and colours; +while the two mediums, assisted by the concavo-convex shape of the +vessel, magnify and distort them vastly; not to mention that the +introduction of another element and its inhabitants into our parlours +engages the fancy in a very agreeable manner. + +Gold and silver fishes, though originally natives 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 +occasionally; so that you may see a goldfinch or a linnet hopping as it +were in the midst of the water, and the fishes swimming in a circle round +it. The simple exhibition of the fishes is agreeable and pleasant: but +in so complicated a way becomes whimsical and unnatural, and liable to +the objection due to him. + + "Qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam." + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER LV. + + +_October_ 10_th_, 1781. + +Dear Sir,--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 +convinced, linger on till towards the middle of that month; and that at +times, once perhaps in two or three years, a flight, for one day only, +has shown itself in the first week in November. + +Having taken notice, in October, 1780, that the 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 which love to haunt a spot so +secure from ruffling winds. As my principal object was to discover the +place of their roosting, I took care to wait on them before they retired +to rest, and was much pleased to find that for several evenings together, +just at a quarter past five in the afternoon, they all scudded away in +great haste towards the south-east, and darted down among the low shrubs +above the cottages at the end of the hill. This spot, in many respects, +seemed to be well calculated for their winter residence; for in many +parts it is as steep as the roof of any house, and therefore secure from +the annoyances of water; and it is moreover clothed with beechen shrubs, +which, being stunted and bitten by sheep, make the thickest covert +imaginable, and are so entangled as to be impervious to the smallest +spaniel; besides, it is the nature of underwood beech never to cast its +leaf all the winter, so that, with the leaves on the ground and those on +the twigs, no shelter can be more complete. I watched them on the 13th +and 14th October, and found their evening retreat was exact and uniform; +but after this they made no regular appearance. Now and then a straggler +was seen, and on the 22nd October, I observed two in the morning over the +village, and with them my remarks for the season ended. + +From all these circumstances put together, it is more than probable that +this lingering flight, at so late a season of the year, never departed +from the island. Had they indulged me that autumn with a November visit, +as I much desired, I presume that, with proper assistants, I should have +settled the matter past all doubt; but though the 3rd November was a +sweet day, and in appearance exactly suited to my wishes, yet not a +martin was to be seen; and so I was forced, reluctantly, to give up the +pursuit. + +I have only to add that were the bushes, which cover some acres, and are +not my own property, to be grubbed and carefully examined, probably those +late broods, and perhaps the whole aggregate body of the house-martins of +this district, might be found there, in different secret dormitories; and +that, so far from withdrawing into warmer climes, it would appear that +they never depart three hundred yards from the village. + + + +LETTER LVI. + + +They who write on natural history cannot too frequently advert to +instinct, that wonderful limited faculty, which in some instances raises +the brute creation, as it were, above reason, and in others leaves them +so far below it. Philosophers have defined instinct to be that secret +influence by which every species is compelled naturally to pursue, at all +times, the same way or track, without any teaching or example; whereas +reason, without instruction, would often vary and do that by many methods +which instinct effects by one alone. Now this maxim must be taken in a +qualified sense; for there are instances in which instinct does vary and +conform to the circumstances of place and convenience. + +It has been remarked that every species of bird has a mode of +nidification peculiar to itself, so that a schoolboy would at once +pronounce on the sort of nest before him. This is the case among fields +and woods, and wilds, but, in the villages round London, where mosses and +gossamer, and cotton from 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 consistent. +There are three creatures, the squirrel, the field-mouse, and the bird +called the nut-hatch (_sitta Europaea_), which live much on hazelnut; 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 could 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 gatepost 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:-- + + "Praehabebat porro vocibus humanis, instrumentisque harmonicis musicam + illam avium: non quod alia quoque non delectaretur: sed quod ex musica + 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 recollection at +seasons, and even when I am desirous of thinking of more serious matters. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER LVII. + + +A rare, and I think a new, little bird frequents my garden, which I have +great reason to think is the pettichaps: it is common in some parts of +the kingdom; and I have received formerly several dead specimens from +Gibraltar. This bird much resembles the white-throat, but has a more +white or rather silvery breast and belly; is restless and active, like +the willow-wrens, and hops from bough to bough, examining every part for +food; it also runs up the stems of the crown-imperials, and, putting its +head into the bells of those flowers, sips the liquor which stands in the +nectarium of each petal. 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 Wolmer Forest sent me a peregrine-falcon, which he +shot on the verge of that district as it was devouring a wood-pigeon. The +_falco peregrinus_, or haggard-falcon, is a noble species of hawk seldom +seen in the southern counties. In winter 1767, one was killed in the +neighbouring parish of Farringdon, and sent by me to Mr. Pennant into +North Wales. Since that time I have met with none till now. The +specimen mentioned above was in fine preservation, and not injured by the +shot: it measured forty-two inches from wing to wing, and twenty-one from +beak to tail, and weighed two pounds and a half standing weight. This +species is very robust, and wonderfully formed for rapine; its breast was +plump and muscular; its thighs long, thick, and brawny; and its legs +remarkably short and well set: the 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 undistinguishing vehemence +swallow bones and feathers, and all matters indiscriminately. This +falcon was probably driven from the mountains of North Wales or Scotland, +where they are known to breed, by rigorous weather and deep snows that +had lately fallen. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER LVIII. + + +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 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 upon vegetables, +and would not eat flesh when offered them by our circumnavigators. + +We believe that all dogs, in a state of nature, have sharp, upright, fox- +like ears, and that hanging ears, which are esteemed so graceful, are the +effect of choice breeding and cultivation. Thus, in the "Travels of +Ysbrandt Ides from Muscovy to China," the dogs which draw the Tartars on +snow-sledges, near the river Oby, are engraved with prick-ears, like +those from Canton. The Kamschatdales also train the same sort of sharp- +eared, peak-nosed dogs to draw their sledges, as may be seen in an +elegant print engraved for Captain Cook's last voyage round the world. + +Now we are upon the subject of dogs, it may not be impertinent to add +that spaniels, as all sportsmen know, though they hunt partridges and +pheasants as it were by instinct, and with much delight and alacrity, yet +will hardly touch their bones when offered as food; nor will a mongrel +dog of my own, though he is 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, etc., were intended to be messmates with dogs 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, etc. + + + +LETTER LIX. + + +The fossil wood buried in the bogs of Wolmer Forest is not yet all +exhausted, for the peat-cutters now and then stumble upon a log. I have +just seen a piece which was sent by a labourer of Oak Hanger to a +carpenter of this village; this was the butt-end of a small oak, about +five feet long, and about five inches in diameter. It had apparently +been severed 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, etc. + + + +LETTER LX. + + +In reading Dr. Huxam's "Observationes de Aere," etc., written at +Plymouth, I find by those curious and accurate remarks, which contain an +account of the weather from the year 1727 to the year 1748, inclusive, +that though there is frequent rain in that district of Devonshire, yet +the quantity falling is not great; and that some years it has been very +small: for in 1731 the rain measured only 17.266 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 in.; and again once, viz., 1734, 37.114 +in.--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 Comb Wood ponds; and after a pause +seemed to take up the crash again, and to extend round Hartley Hangers, +and to die away at last among the coppices and coverts of Ward-le-Ham. It +has been remarked before that this district is an Anathoth, a place of +responses or echoes, and therefore proper for such experiments: we may +farther add that the pauses in echoes, when they cease and yet are taken +up again, like the pauses in music, surprise the hearers, and have a fine +effect on the imagination. + +The gentleman above mentioned has just fixed a barometer in his parlour +at Newton Valence. The tube was first filled here (at Selborne) twice +with care, when the mercury agreed and stood exactly with my own; but, +being filled 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. + +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 a hundred +miles. + +I am, etc. + + + +LETTER LXI. + + +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 remarkably +injurious to evergreens, some account of its rigour, and reason of its +ravages, may be useful, and not unacceptable to persons that delight in +planting and ornamenting; and may particularly become a work that +professes never to lose sight of utility. + +For the last two or three days of the former year there were considerable +falls of snow, which lay deep and uniform on the ground without any +drifting, wrapping up the more humble vegetation in perfect security. +From the first day to the fifth of the new year more snow succeeded; but +from that day the air became entirely clear; and the heat of the sun +about noon had a considerable influence in sheltered situations. + +It was in such an aspect that the snow on the author's evergreens was +melted every day, and frozen intensely every night; so that the +laurustines, bays, laurels, and arbutuses looked, in three or four days, +as if they had been burnt in the fire; while a neighbour's plantation of +the same kind, in a high cold situation, where the snow was never melted +at all, remained uninjured. + +From hence I would infer that it is the repeated melting and freezing of +the snow that is so fatal to vegetation, rather than the severity of the +cold. Therefore it highly behoves every planter, who wishes to escape +the cruel mortification of losing in a few days the labour and hopes of +years, to bestir himself on such emergencies; and if his plantations are +small, to avail himself of mats, cloths, pease-haulm, straw, reeds, or +any such covering, for a short time; or, if his shrubberies are +extensive, to see that his people go about with prongs and forks, and +carefully dislodge the snow from the boughs: since the naked foliage will +shift much better for itself, than where the snow is partly melted and +frozen again. + +It may perhaps appear at first like a paradox; but doubtless the more +tender trees and shrubs should never be planted in hot aspects; not only +for the reason assigned above, but also because, thus circumstanced, they +are disposed to shoot earlier in the spring, and to grow on later in the +autumn than they would otherwise do, and so are sufferers by lagging or +early frosts. For this reason also plants from Siberia will hardly +endure our climate; because, on the very first advances of spring, they +shoot away, and so are cut off by the severe nights 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 +inconveniences when rigorous weather returns. + +The coincidents attending this short but intense frost were, that the +horses fell sick with an epidemic distemper, which injured the winds of +many, and killed some; that colds and coughs were general among the human +species; that it froze under people's beds for several nights; that meat +was so hard frozen that it could not be spitted, and could not be secured +but in cellars; that several 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 January, Benjamin Martin's thermometer within doors, in a +close parlour where there was no fire, fell in the night to 20 degrees, +and on the 4th, to 18 degrees, and on the 7th, to 17.5 degrees, 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 subterraneous animals receive such early intimations of their +approach? Moreover, we have often observed that cold seems to descend +from above; for, when a thermometer hangs abroad in a frosty night, the +intervention of a cloud shall immediately raise the mercury 10 degrees; +and a clear sky shall again compel it to descend to its former gauge. + +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. + +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 befall them once perhaps in ten years, yet +may hardly be recovered through the whole course of their lives. + +As it appeared afterwards, the ilexes were much injured, the cypresses +were half destroyed, the arbutuses lingered on, but never recovered; and +the bays, laurustines, and laurels, were killed to the ground; and the +very wild hollies, in hot aspects, were so much affected that they cast +all their leaves. + +By the 14th 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. + + + +LETTER LXII. + + +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 12th, when a prodigious mass overwhelmed +all the works of men, drifting over the tops of the gates, and filling +the hollow lanes. + +On the 14th the writer was obliged to be much abroad; and thinks he never +before or since has encountered such rugged Siberian weather. Many of +the narrow roads were now filled above the tops of the hedges, through +which the snow was driven into most romantic and grotesque shapes, so +striking to the imagination as not to be seen without wonder and +pleasure. The poultry dared not to stir out of their roosting places; +for cocks and hens are so dazzled and confounded by the glare of snow +that they would soon perish without assistance. The hares also lay +sullenly in their seats, and would not move till compelled by hunger, +being conscious--poor 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 +waggons, and coaches, which could no longer keep on their regular stages; +and especially on the western roads, where the fall appears to have been +deeper than in the south. The company at Bath, that wanted to attend the +Queen's birthday, were strangely incommoded: many carriages of persons +who got in their way to town from Bath as far as Marlborough, after +strange embarrassments, here met with a _ne plus ultra_. The ladies +fretted, and offered large rewards to labourers if they would shovel them +a track to London; but the relentless heaps of snow were too bulky to be +removed; and so the 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 thermometer stood at +29 degrees, 28 degrees, 25 degrees, and thereabout; but on the 21st it +descended to 20 degrees. 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 horse's 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 degrees, 7 degrees, 6 degrees, 6 degrees; and at +Selborne to 7 degrees, 6 degrees, 10 degrees; and on the 31st January, +just before sunrise, with rime on the trees and on the tube of the glass, +the quicksilver sank exactly to zero, being 32 degrees below the freezing +point; but by eleven in the morning, though in the shade, it sprang up to +16.5 degrees,--a most unusual degree of cold this for the south of +England! During these four nights the cold was so penetrating that it +occasioned ice in warm chambers and under beds; and in the day the wind +was so keen that persons of robust 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 +February a thaw took place, and some rain followed before night, making +good the observation above, that frosts often go off as it were at once, +without any gradual declension of cold. On the 2nd February the thaw +persisted; and on the 3rd swarms of little insects were frisking and +sporting in a courtyard 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 degrees; at +Blackburn, in Lancashire, at 19 degrees; and at Manchester, at 21 +degrees, 20 degrees, and 18 degrees. 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. + + + +LETTER LXIII. + + +As the frost in December 1784 was very extraordinary, you, I trust, will +not be displeased to hear the particulars, and especially when I promise +to say no more about the severities of winter after I have finished this +letter. + +The first week in December was very wet, with the barometer very low. On +the 7th, with the barometer at 28.5 degrees--came on a vast snow, which +continued all that day and the next, and most part of the following +night; so that by the morning of the 9th the works of men were quite +overwhelmed, the lanes filled so as to be impassable, and the ground +covered 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 degrees, and +at eleven to 4 degrees, 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, sank 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 entreated 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 degrees, and the next +morning at 22 degrees, when mine was at 10 degrees! 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 +degrees less than at Selborne; and, through the whole frost, 10 degrees +or 12 degrees; and, indeed, when we came to observe consequences, we +could readily credit this; for all my laurustines, bays, ilexes, +arbutuses, cypresses, and even my Portugal laurels, and (which occasions +more regret) my fine sloping laurel-hedge, were scorched up; while, at +Newton, the same trees have not lost a leaf. + +We had steady frost on the 25th, when the thermometer in the morning was +down to 10 degrees with us, and at Newton only to 21 degrees. Strong +frost continued till the 31st, when some tendency to thaw was observed; +and, by January 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 10th, being bright sunshine, the air was full of icy +_spiculae_, floating in all directions, like atoms in a sunbeam let into +a dark room. We thought them at first particles of the rime falling from +my tall hedges; but were soon convinced to the contrary, by making our +observations in open places where no rime could reach us. Were they +watery particles of the air frozen as they floated, or were they +evaporations from the snow frozen as they mounted? + +We were much obliged to the thermometers for the early information they +gave us; and hurried our apples, pears, onions, potatoes, etc., 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 affected 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 +effects to have exceeded any since 1730-40. + + + +LETTER LXIV. + + +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 suffered from some late rigorous +winters. + +The summers of 1781 and 1783 were unusually hot and dry; to them +therefore I shall turn back in my journals, without recurring to any more +distant period. In the former of these years my peach and nectarine +trees suffered so much from the heat that the rind on the bodies was +scalded and came off; since which the trees have been in a decaying +state. This may prove a hint to assiduous gardeners to fence and shelter +their wall-trees with mats or boards, as they may easily do, because such +annoyance is seldom of long continuance. During that summer also, I +observed that my apples were coddled, as it were, on the trees; so that +they had no quickness of flavour, and would not keep in the winter. This +circumstance put me in mind of what I have heard travellers assert, that +they never ate a good apple or apricot in the south of Europe, where the +heats were so great as to render the juices vapid and insipid. + +The great pests of a garden are wasps, which 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 degrees or 84 +degrees; but with us, in this hilly and woody district, I have hardly +ever seen it exceed 80 degrees, 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. + + + +LETTER LXV. + + +The summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one, and full +of horrible phenomena; for, besides the alarming meteors and tremendous +thunderstorms 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 anything known within +the memory of man. By my journal I find that I had noticed this strange +occurrence from June 23rd to July 20th inclusive, during which period the +wind varied to every quarter without making any alteration in the air. +The sun, at noon, looked as blank as a clouded moon, and shed a +rust-coloured 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 most +enlightened person to be apprehensive; for, all the while Calabria and +part of the isle of Sicily were torn and convulsed with earthquakes; and +about that juncture a volcano sprang out of the sea on the coast of +Norway. On this occasion Milton's noble simile of the sun, in his first +book of "Paradise Lost," frequently occurred to my mind; and it is indeed +particularly applicable because, towards the end, it alludes to a +superstitious kind of dread, with which the minds of men are always +impressed by such strange and unusual phenomena. + + "--As when the _sun_, new risen, + Looks through the horizontal, _misty_ air, + _Shorn_ of his _beams_; or from behind the moon, + In _dim_ eclipse, _disastrous twilight sheds_ + On half the nations, and with _fear_ of _change_ + _Perplexes_ monarchs--." + + + +LETTER LXVI. + + +We are very seldom annoyed with thunderstorms: 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 thunderstorm from the south, I do not +mean that we never have suffered from thunderstorms at all; for on June +5th, 1784, the thermometer in the morning being at 64 degrees, and at +noon at 70 degrees the barometer at 29.6.5 degrees and the wind north, I +observed a blue mist, smelling strongly of sulphur, hanging along our +sloping woods, and seeming to indicate that thunder was at hand. I was +called in about two in the afternoon, and so missed seeing the gathering +of the clouds in the north; which they who were abroad assured me had +something uncommon in its appearance. At about a quarter after two the +storm began in the parish of Hartley, moving slowly from north to south: +and from thence it came over Norton-farm, and so to Grange-farm, both in +this parish. It began with vast drops of rain, which were soon succeeded +by round hail, and then by convex pieces of ice, which measured three +inches in girth. Had it been as extensive as it was violent, and of any +continuance (for it was very short), it must have ravaged all the +neighbourhood. In the parish of Hartley it did some damage to one farm; +but Norton, which lay in the centre of the storm, was greatly injured; as +was Grange, which lay next to it. It did but just reach to the middle of +the village, where the hail broke my north windows, and all my garden- +lights and hand-glasses, and many of my neighbours' windows. The extent +of the storm was about two miles in length and one in breadth. We were +just sitting down to dinner; but were soon diverted from our repast by +the clattering of tiles and the jingling of glass. There fell at the +same time prodigious torrents of rain on the farms above mentioned, which +occasioned a flood as violent as it was sudden; doing great 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 +"_Annus Historico-naturalis_, or The Natural History of the Twelve Months +of the Year;" which would have comprised many incidents and occurrences +that have not fallen in my way to be mentioned in my series of letters; +but, as Mr. Aikin of Warrington has lately published somewhat of this +sort, and as the length of my correspondence has sufficiently put your +patience to the test, I shall here take a respectful leave of you and +natural history together, and am, + +With all due deference and regard, +Your most obliged and most humble servant, + +GIL. WHITE. + +THE END. + +Printed by Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C. + + + + +Footnotes. + + +{83} Letter XXIV. + +{86} Farmer Young, of Norton Farm, says that this spring (1777) about +four acres of his wheat in one field were entirely destroyed by slugs, +which swarmed on the blades of corn, and devoured it as fast as it +sprang. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE, +VOL. 2*** + + +******* This file should be named 20934.txt or 20934.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/9/3/20934 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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