The Natural History of Selborne: With Miscellaneous Observations and Explanatory NotesBell and Daldy, 1862 - 426 pages |
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... birds that were to be remarked on , and as I rode or walked about , I noted each day the continuance or omission of each bird's song , so that I am as certain of my facts as a man can be of any transaction whatever . " In this manner a ...
... birds that were to be remarked on , and as I rode or walked about , I noted each day the continuance or omission of each bird's song , so that I am as certain of my facts as a man can be of any transaction whatever . " In this manner a ...
Page 37
... birds himself ; to my no small disappointment , he answered me in the negative ; but that others as- sured him they did . Young broods of swallows began to appear this year on July the eleventh , and young martins ( hi- rundines urbica ) ...
... birds himself ; to my no small disappointment , he answered me in the negative ; but that others as- sured him they did . Young broods of swallows began to appear this year on July the eleventh , and young martins ( hi- rundines urbica ) ...
Page 38
... birds were to be found . The same search was made many years ago with as little suc- cess . March 2 , 1793 , Mr. White adds , " a single sand martin was seen hovering and playing round the sand - pit at Short - heath , where they abound ...
... birds were to be found . The same search was made many years ago with as little suc- cess . March 2 , 1793 , Mr. White adds , " a single sand martin was seen hovering and playing round the sand - pit at Short - heath , where they abound ...
Page 41
... bird . " - ED . † The grey fly - catcher ( Muscicapa grisola ) . Mr. Durham Weir , a correspondent of M'Gillivray's , watched a pair of these birds while they fed their young 537 times in one day , their motions being so rapid that he ...
... bird . " - ED . † The grey fly - catcher ( Muscicapa grisola ) . Mr. Durham Weir , a correspondent of M'Gillivray's , watched a pair of these birds while they fed their young 537 times in one day , their motions being so rapid that he ...
Page 44
... birds in part . Birds are much influenced in their choice of food by colour , for though white currants are a much sweeter fruit than red , yet they seldom touch the former till they have devoured every bunch of the latter . Red ...
... birds in part . Birds are much influenced in their choice of food by colour , for though white currants are a much sweeter fruit than red , yet they seldom touch the former till they have devoured every bunch of the latter . Red ...
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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...