The Natural History of Selborne

Fern-owl chatters.  A pair of white owls breed under Mr Yalden’s roof of his house: they get in thro’ the leaden-gutter that conveys the water from the roof to the tank.  They have eggs.  About this time many swallows were found dead at & about Fyfield: some were fallen down the chimnies, & some were lying on the banks of brooks, & streams.  Swifts kept-out all day, playing about in the rain: they seem to be more than 20 in number.  Rain with wind they avoid, & are not seen in such weather.