The Natural History of Selborne: With Observations on Various Parts of Nature and the Naturalist's CalendarBell & Daldy, 1870 - 416 pages |
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Page 37
... birds himself , to my no small disappointment he answered me in the negative ; but that others assured him they did . Young broods of swallows began to appear this year on July the 11th , and young martins ( hirundines urbica ) were ...
... birds himself , to my no small disappointment he answered me in the negative ; but that others assured him they did . Young broods of swallows began to appear this year on July the 11th , and young martins ( hirundines urbica ) were ...
Page 38
... birds in Spring Gardens . I found it nailed up at the end of a barn , which is the countryman's museum . The parish I live in is a very abrupt uneven country , full of hills and woods , and therefore full of birds . LETTER XI . TO THE ...
... birds in Spring Gardens . I found it nailed up at the end of a barn , which is the countryman's museum . The parish I live in is a very abrupt uneven country , full of hills and woods , and therefore full of birds . LETTER XI . TO THE ...
Page 48
... birds , wrote me word that his servant had shot one last January , in that severe weather , which he believed would puzzle me . I called to see it this summer , not knowing what to expect : but the moment I took it in hand , I ...
... birds , wrote me word that his servant had shot one last January , in that severe weather , which he believed would puzzle me . I called to see it this summer , not knowing what to expect : but the moment I took it in hand , I ...
Page 49
... birds to venture upon the wing from the perilous height at which their nest is placed , by making the abode insupportable . Each bird , Mr. Herbert says , builds its nest in the same form and of the same materials as its parent , and ...
... birds to venture upon the wing from the perilous height at which their nest is placed , by making the abode insupportable . Each bird , Mr. Herbert says , builds its nest in the same form and of the same materials as its parent , and ...
Page 50
... birds , which perhaps had not been hatched but a few weeks , should , at that late season of the year , and from so midland a county , attempt a voyage to Goree or Senegal , almost as far as the equator ? * I acquiesce entirely in your ...
... birds , which perhaps had not been hatched but a few weeks , should , at that late season of the year , and from so midland a county , attempt a voyage to Goree or Senegal , almost as far as the equator ? * I acquiesce entirely in your ...
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Common terms and phrases
abound animal appear April April 14 April 22 autumn bees birds of passage breed brood called chaffinches cold colour common cuckoo curious DAINES BARRINGTON DEAR district dogs eggs feed feet female fieldfares fields flies flocks forest frequently frost garden Gilbert White grass ground haunt hirundines hirundo house-martins inches insects July July 13 July 22 June June 11 June 22 June 9 late legs LETTER Linnæus male manner March March 26 MARKWICK mentioned migration mild morning naturalist nest never night observed perhaps plants prey quadrupeds rain remarkable rooks says season seems seen SELBORNE Sept showers sings snow soon species spring stone curlew strange summer suppose swallows swifts tail THOMAS PENNANT titmouse trees vast village vols weather WHITE wild wings winter wonder woods wren young
Popular passages
Page 296 - Less than archangel ruined, and the excess Of glory obscured ; 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.
Page 212 - ... 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.
Page 210 - ... 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...
Page 146 - I saw it distinctly, more than once, put out its short leg while on the wing, and by a bend of the head, deliver somewhat into its mouth. If it takes any part of its prey with its foot, as I have now the greatest reason to suppose it does these chafers, I no longer wonder at the use of its middle toe, which is curiously furnished with a serrated claw...
Page 33 - Now scarcely moving through a reedy pool, Now starting to a sudden stream, and now Gently diffus'd into a limpid plain ; A various group the herds and flocks compose, Rural confusion ! on the grassy bank Some ruminating lie ; while others stand Half in the flood, and often bending, sip The circling surface.