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 xiii
... feeding during the summer . Upon these occasions , I am placed on my back in the scale , where I sprawl about , to the great diversion of the shopkeeper's children . These matters displease me ; but there THE REV . GILBERT WHITE . xiii.
... feeding during the summer . Upon these occasions , I am placed on my back in the scale , where I sprawl about , to the great diversion of the shopkeeper's children . These matters displease me ; but there THE REV . GILBERT WHITE . xiii.
Page 33
... feeding . During this great proportion of the day , they drop much dung , in which insects nestle , and so supply food for the fish , which would be poorly subsisted , but for this contingency . * Thus Nature , who is a great economist ...
... feeding . During this great proportion of the day , they drop much dung , in which insects nestle , and so supply food for the fish , which would be poorly subsisted , but for this contingency . * Thus Nature , who is a great economist ...
Page 34
... feed in the brooks and meadows : returning again with the dawn of the morming ! Had this lake an arm or two more , and were it planted round with thick covert ( for now it is per- fectly naked ) , it might make a valuable decoy . Yet ...
... feed in the brooks and meadows : returning again with the dawn of the morming ! Had this lake an arm or two more , and were it planted round with thick covert ( for now it is per- fectly naked ) , it might make a valuable decoy . Yet ...
Page 41
... feeding in the walks , many times in the day ; and seemed disposed to breed in my outlet ; but were frightened and persecuted by idle boys , who would never let them be at rest . * Three grossbeaks ( loxia coccothraustes ) appeared some ...
... feeding in the walks , many times in the day ; and seemed disposed to breed in my outlet ; but were frightened and persecuted by idle boys , who would never let them be at rest . * Three grossbeaks ( loxia coccothraustes ) appeared some ...
Page 43
... feed them with cooked meat but this they rejected . Raw beef was , however , eaten with avidity ; and an evident preference was given to those pieces which had been moistened with water . The feeding with beef answered exceedingly well ...
... feed them with cooked meat but this they rejected . Raw beef was , however , eaten with avidity ; and an evident preference was given to those pieces which had been moistened with water . The feeding with beef answered exceedingly well ...
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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.