The Natural History of Selborne

Men pole their hops.  Dragon-fly & musca meridiana.  Ponds begin to be dry.

A pair of Nightingales haunt my fields: the cock sings nightly in the Portugal-laurel, & balm of Gilead fir.

White-throat on the road.

Some bank-martins at Wallingford-bridge.

While two labourers were examinnig the shrubs & cavities at the S.E. end of the hanger, a house-martin came down the street & flew into a nest under Benham’s eaves.  This appearance is rather early for that bird.  Quae: whether it was disturbed by the two men?

Searched the S.E. end of the hanger for house-martins, but without any success, tho’ many young me assisted.  They examined the beechen-shrubs & holes in the steep hanger.

The rooks at Faringdon have got young.  Very  little spring-corn sown yet.  Snow as deep as the horses belly under the hedges in the North field.  A brace more of hares frequenting my grounds were killed in my absence: so that I hope now the garden will be safe fore some time.

Timothy eats heartily.  The wry-neck appears & pipes.  Bombylius medius still: bobs his tail in flight against the grass, as if in the act of laying eggs.

Tortoise out.  Timothy weighs 6 lobs. 8 3/4 oz.  The beginning of last May he wighted only 6 lbs. 4 oz.

The tortoise came-out for two hours.