The Natural History of Selborne: With Miscellaneous Observations and Explanatory Notes |
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Page 20
... night of the 29th of November , 1731 , it was mostly melted away by eleven the next morning , except in several places in Bushy Park , where there were drains or elm pipes covered with earth , more than four feet deep , on which the ...
... night of the 29th of November , 1731 , it was mostly melted away by eleven the next morning , except in several places in Bushy Park , where there were drains or elm pipes covered with earth , more than four feet deep , on which the ...
Page 30
... themselves , till towards sunset , when they issue forth in little parties ( for in their natural state they are all birds of the night ) to feed in the brooks and meadows ; returning again with the dawn of the 30 NATURAL HISTORY.
... themselves , till towards sunset , when they issue forth in little parties ( for in their natural state they are all birds of the night ) to feed in the brooks and meadows ; returning again with the dawn of the 30 NATURAL HISTORY.
Page 34
... night - hunters , who perpetually harass them in spite of the efforts of numerous keepers , and the severe penalties that have been put in force against them as often as they have been de- tected , and rendered liable to the lash of the ...
... night - hunters , who perpetually harass them in spite of the efforts of numerous keepers , and the severe penalties that have been put in force against them as often as they have been de- tected , and rendered liable to the lash of the ...
Page 48
... night , for it is strictly nocturnal , is startling enough . Many observers agree that it catches and eats fish as well as the barn owl . Mr. M'Gillivray found earth - worms in the stomach of one.-ED. Strix flammea may be looked on as ...
... night , for it is strictly nocturnal , is startling enough . Many observers agree that it catches and eats fish as well as the barn owl . Mr. M'Gillivray found earth - worms in the stomach of one.-ED. Strix flammea may be looked on as ...
Page 54
... night in the osier - beds of the aits of that river . Now this resorting towards that element , at that season of the year , seems to give some countenance to the northern opinion ( strange as it is ) of their re- tiring under water ...
... night in the osier - beds of the aits of that river . Now this resorting towards that element , at that season of the year , seems to give some countenance to the northern opinion ( strange as it is ) of their re- tiring under water ...
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Natural History of Selborne: With Its Antiquities, Naturalist's Calendar, Etc. Gilbert White No preview available - 2016 |
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 Linnæus 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...