The Natural History of SelborneConstable and Company, 1829 - 343 pages |
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... attention that of late years has been devoted to the study of Natural History , and its importance to our commerce , ma- nufactures , and domestic economy , must render every attempt to increase or sim- plify our knowledge of it at once ...
... attention that of late years has been devoted to the study of Natural History , and its importance to our commerce , ma- nufactures , and domestic economy , must render every attempt to increase or sim- plify our knowledge of it at once ...
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... attention that of late years has been udy of Natural History , to t im res ет ar a to our commerce , ma- mestic economy , must pt to increase or sim- e of it at once praise- e ; and , it is hoped , will ogy for the reprint of a lready ...
... attention that of late years has been udy of Natural History , to t im res ет ar a to our commerce , ma- mestic economy , must pt to increase or sim- e of it at once praise- e ; and , it is hoped , will ogy for the reprint of a lready ...
Page 14
... attention . These roads , running through the malm lands , are , by the traffic of ages , and the fretting of water , worn down through the first stratum of our freestone , and part- ly through the second ; so that they look more like ...
... attention . These roads , running through the malm lands , are , by the traffic of ages , and the fretting of water , worn down through the first stratum of our freestone , and part- ly through the second ; so that they look more like ...
Page 21
... attention of the greatest so- vereign ! But he farther adds , that , by means of the Waltham blacks , or , to use his own expression , as soon as they began blacking , they were reduced to about fifty head , and so continued decreasing ...
... attention of the greatest so- vereign ! But he farther adds , that , by means of the Waltham blacks , or , to use his own expression , as soon as they began blacking , they were reduced to about fifty head , and so continued decreasing ...
Page 25
... attention of a naturalist or a sportsman : For , being crowded at the upper end with willows , and with the carex cespitosa , * it affords such a safe and pleasant shelter to wild ducks , teals , snipes , & c . that they breed there ...
... attention of a naturalist or a sportsman : For , being crowded at the upper end with willows , and with the carex cespitosa , * it affords such a safe and pleasant shelter to wild ducks , teals , snipes , & c . that they breed there ...
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Common terms and phrases
abound Alauda Andalusia animal appear April autumn birds of passage birds of prey Blackcap breed British Zoology brood called chaffinches colour congeners cuckoo curious district dogs drupeds echo eggs feeding feet female fieldfares fish flocks forest frequently frost garden genus Gibraltar gralla Greatham ground Hanger haunt hedges hirundines hirundo house-martins inches insects late legs letter Linnæus mandible manner martins mentioned migration morning Motacilla natural history naturalist nest never night observed once owls parish perhaps procured quadrupeds RAII rain rastellum redwings remarkable remiges retire ring-dove ringousels season seems seen Selborne shot sing snow soft-billed soon sort species spring stone curlew strange summer birds suppose Sussex swallow swifts tail tion titmouse torpid trees vast village weather white-throat wild wings winter Wolmer wonder woodcocks Woodlark woods yards young Zoology
Popular passages
Page 67 - 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 320 - 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 78 - Amusive birds ! say where your hid retreat, When the frost rages and the tempests beat ? Whence your return, by such nice instinct led, When Spring, soft season, lifts her bloomy head? Such baffled searches mock man's prying pride, The God of Nature is your secret guide!
Page 219 - ... seldom failing to strip them with the nicest regularity. When these junci are thus far prepared, they must lie out on the grass to be bleached, and take the dew for some nights, and afterwards be dried in the sun.
Page 226 - 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. As the ceremonies necessary for such a consecration are no longer understood, all succession is at an end, and no such tree is known to subsist in the manor or hundred. As to that on the Plestor, " The late Vicar stubb'd and burnt it...
Page 238 - For to say nothing of half the birds, and some quadrupeds which are almost entirely supported by them, worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil, and rendering it pervious to rains and the fibres of plants, by drawing straws and stalks of leaves and twigs into it; and, most of all, by throwing up such infinite numbers of lumps of earth called worm-casts, which, being their excrement, is a fine manure...
Page 4 - In the midst of this spot stood, in old times, a vast oak, with a short squat body and huge horizontal arms, extending almost to the extremity of the area. This venerable tree, surrounded with stone steps, and seats above them, was the delight of old and young, and a place of much resort in summer evenings ; where the former sat in grave debate, while the latter frolicked and danced before them.
Page 168 - Nothing can be more assiduous than this creature night and day in scooping the earth and forcing its great body Into the cavity; but, as the noons of that season proved unusually warm and sunny, it was continually interrupted, and called forth, by the heat in the middle of the day; and though I continued there till the 13th of November, yet the work remained unfinished.
Page 261 - There is a peculiarity belonging to ravens that must draw the attention even of the most incurious — they spend all their leisure time in striking and cuffing each other on the wing in a kind of playful skirmish; and when they move from one place to another, frequently turn on their backs with a loud croak, and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with one foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity.
Page 6 - ... sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the ground.