The Natural History of Selborne

No young partridges are flyers yet: but by the deportment of the dams it is plain they have chickens hatched; for they rise & fall before the horses feet, & hobble along as if wounded to draw-off attention from their helpless broods.  Sphinx forte ocellata.  A vast insect; appears after it is dusk, flying with an humming noise, & inserting it’s tongue into the bloom of the honey-suckle: it scarcely settles on the plants but feeds on the wing in the manner of humming-birds.  Omiah, who is gone on board the Resolution, is expected to sail this week for Otaheite with Capt. Cook.