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 xii
... never make a verse in my life , so you must be content with plain prose . Having seen but little of this great world , conversed but little , read less , I feel myself much at a loss how to entertain so intelli- gent a correspondent ...
... never make a verse in my life , so you must be content with plain prose . Having seen but little of this great world , conversed but little , read less , I feel myself much at a loss how to entertain so intelli- gent a correspondent ...
Page xiii
... never been on horseback before , I found myself somewhat giddy with my airy jaunt . My purchaser , who was a good - humoured man , after showing me to some of his neighbours , and giving me the name of Timothy , took little further ...
... never been on horseback before , I found myself somewhat giddy with my airy jaunt . My purchaser , who was a good - humoured man , after showing me to some of his neighbours , and giving me the name of Timothy , took little further ...
Page xiv
... never divulged to any one before , is the want of society with my own kind . This reflection is always uppermost in my mind , but comes upon me with irresistible force every spring . It was in the month of May last that I resolved to ...
... never divulged to any one before , is the want of society with my own kind . This reflection is always uppermost in my mind , but comes upon me with irresistible force every spring . It was in the month of May last that I resolved to ...
Page xv
... never to see again a human face for fifty years !!! Think on this , dear lady , and pity , Your sorrowful Reptile , TIMOTHY . This much is known of Mr. White . Further particulars of him must be sought in his Diaries , his History of ...
... never to see again a human face for fifty years !!! Think on this , dear lady , and pity , Your sorrowful Reptile , TIMOTHY . This much is known of Mr. White . Further particulars of him must be sought in his Diaries , his History of ...
Page xxiii
... never saw an electrometer . Our neighbourhood is all bad with colds ; and among the rest myself also : some have eruptive fevers . It is hoped that this short sketch of an observant out- door naturalist , and true lover of nature , will ...
... never saw an electrometer . Our neighbourhood is all bad with colds ; and among the rest myself also : some have eruptive fevers . It is hoped that this short sketch of an observant out- door naturalist , and true lover of nature , will ...
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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.