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 xvi
... nest , had hatched them , and that when this is the case they get the start of those that build new ones by ten days or a fortnight . He speaks with some degree of triumph to having ricked his meadow hay in delicate order , and that ...
... nest , had hatched them , and that when this is the case they get the start of those that build new ones by ten days or a fortnight . He speaks with some degree of triumph to having ricked his meadow hay in delicate order , and that ...
Page 3
... nest - like bower ; Or where the hermit hangs the straw - clad cell , † Emerging gently from the leafy dell , * A kind of arbour on the side of a hill . * A grotesque building , contrived by a young gentleman , who used on occasion to ...
... nest - like bower ; Or where the hermit hangs the straw - clad cell , † Emerging gently from the leafy dell , * A kind of arbour on the side of a hill . * A grotesque building , contrived by a young gentleman , who used on occasion to ...
Page 9
... nest - trees , and with sedulous care Repairs her wicker eyrie , tempest - torn . The ploughman inly smiles to see upturn His mellow glebe , best pledge of future crop : With glee the gardener eyes his smoking beds ; E'en pining ...
... nest - trees , and with sedulous care Repairs her wicker eyrie , tempest - torn . The ploughman inly smiles to see upturn His mellow glebe , best pledge of future crop : With glee the gardener eyes his smoking beds ; E'en pining ...
Page 19
... nest upon nest , in perfect security , till the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled . It was in the month of February , when those birds usually sit . The saw was applied to the butt , the wedges were inserted into ...
... nest upon nest , in perfect security , till the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled . It was in the month of February , when those birds usually sit . The saw was applied to the butt , the wedges were inserted into ...
Page 37
... nest and sat again . The young ones were brought to life in September , and were able , early in October , to leave the nest for the spout or the roof of the house . They took a short flight across the court , but were too weak to ...
... nest and sat again . The young ones were brought to life in September , and were able , early in October , to leave the nest for the spout or the roof of the house . They took a short flight across the court , but were too weak to ...
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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.