The Natural History of Selborne: With Miscellaneous Observations and Explanatory Notes |
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Page 3
... able manner , two very incongruous soils . To the south - west is a rank clay , that requires the labour of years to render it mellow ; while the gardens to the north - east , and small enclosures behind , consist of a warm , forward ...
... able manner , two very incongruous soils . To the south - west is a rank clay , that requires the labour of years to render it mellow ; while the gardens to the north - east , and small enclosures behind , consist of a warm , forward ...
Page 41
... able to fly from one end of the boat to the other . There is , therefore , no doubt that the swallow is a summer visitant with us , arriving be- tween the middle of April and the first week in May : the swallow , Hirundo urbica , first ...
... able to fly from one end of the boat to the other . There is , therefore , no doubt that the swallow is a summer visitant with us , arriving be- tween the middle of April and the first week in May : the swallow , Hirundo urbica , first ...
Page 54
... able to shift for themselves . About ten years ago I used to spend some weeks yearly at Sunbury , which is one of those pleasant villages lying on the Thames , near Hampton Court . In the autumn , I could not help being much amused with ...
... able to shift for themselves . About ten years ago I used to spend some weeks yearly at Sunbury , which is one of those pleasant villages lying on the Thames , near Hampton Court . In the autumn , I could not help being much amused with ...
Page 55
... able to traverse vast seas and continents , in order to enjoy milder seasons amidst the regions of Africa ! November 4 , 1767 . • See " Adanson's Voyage to Senegal . " These individuals are the waifs and strays of swallow society ; the ...
... able to traverse vast seas and continents , in order to enjoy milder seasons amidst the regions of Africa ! November 4 , 1767 . • See " Adanson's Voyage to Senegal . " These individuals are the waifs and strays of swallow society ; the ...
Page 57
... able to judge whether our female flocks migrate from the other end of the Island , or whether they come over to us from the con- tinent . We have , in the winter , vast flocks of the common linnets ; more , I think , than can be bred in ...
... able to judge whether our female flocks migrate from the other end of the Island , or whether they come over to us from the con- tinent . We have , in the winter , vast flocks of the common linnets ; more , I think , than can be bred in ...
Other editions - View all
The Natural History of Selborne, with Miscellaneous Observations and ... Gilbert White No preview available - 2016 |
The Natural History of Selborne: With Miscellaneous ..., Pages 215-429 Gilbert White No preview available - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
abound Andalusia animals appear April autumn birds birds of prey breed brood called chaffinches colour common common buzzard congeners cuckoo curious curlew district eggs feed feet female fern-owl fieldfares fields flies flocks forest frequently frost garden ground Hanger haunt hawk hedges hirundines Hirundo HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON house-martins inches insects known late le ham legs LETTER Linnĉus M'Gillivray male manner martins migration morning Motacilla natural history naturalist neighbouring nest never night observed owls pair perhaps ponds prey procured quadrupeds remarkable remiges retire ring-dove ring-ousels rooks says season seems seen SELBORNE shot sing snow soft-billed song soon species spring stone-curlew strange summer suppose Sussex swallow swifts tail THOMAS PENNANT thrush tion titmouse trees vast Vespertilio village weather white-throat wild wings winter Wolmer wonder woodcocks Woodlark woods wren young
Popular passages
Page 80 - For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Page 408 - Arch-Angel ruin'd, 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 182 - No part of its behaviour ever struck me more than the extreme timidity it always expresses with regard to rain ; for though it has a shell that would secure it against the wheel of a loaded cart, yet does it discover as much solicitude about rain as a lady dressed in all her best attire, shuffling away on the first sprinklings, and running its head up in a corner.
Page 199 - 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 an 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.
Page 278 - ... it is supposed that a shrewmouse ia 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.
Page 158 - MILTOK. but scout and hurry along in little detached parties of six or seven in a company ; and sweeping low, just over the surface of the land and water, direct their course to the opposite continent at the narrowest passage they can find.
Page 184 - Zoology (the stoparola of Ray) builds every year in the vines that grow on the walls of my house. A pair of these little birds had one year inadvertently placed their nest on a naked bough, perhaps in a shady time, not being aware of the inconvenience that followed. But...