A man brought me a large trout weighing three pounds, which he found in the waste current at the tail of Bins pond, in water so shallow that it could not get back again to the Selborne stream. Made rhubarb tarts, & a rhubarb pudding, which was very good.
Set the second Bantam hen over the saddle cup-board in the stable with eleven dark eggs.
Sowed-in the three-light annual frame African & French marigolds, China asters, pendulous Amaranths, Orange-gourds. Took the blackbird’s nest the second time; it had squab young.
Two nightingales sing in my outlet. Foliage of trees expands very fast. Peat begins to be brought in: it is in good condition. H. martins build. The old Bantam hen began to sit in the barn on eleven eggs. The fern-owl, or churn-owl returns, & chatters in the hanger.
The merise, or wild cherry in beautiful bloom.
Missel thrushes do not destroy the fruit in gardens like the other species of turdi, but feed on the berries of missel toe; & in the spring on ivy berries which then begin to ripen. In the summer, when their young become fledge, they leave neighbourhoods, & retire to sheep walks, & wild commons.
The mag-pies, which probably have young, are now very ravenous, & destroy the broods of Missel-thrushes, tho’ the dams are fierce birds, & fight boldly in defence of their nests. It is probably to avoid such insults, that this species of thrush, tho’ wild at other times, delights to build near houses, & in frequented walks, & gardens.
Damson, sloe-trees, & wild Merise blow. Cock Red start. There has been so little frost, that the Antirrhinum Cymb. flourished & blossomed the whole winter thro’, & is now very thriving, tho’ it usually dies about Xmass. So that, in mild times, it is at least a biennial with us, & may be perhaps of longer duration in milder regions. James Knight has observed two large fieldfares in the high wood lately, haunting the same part, as if they intended to breed there They are not wild. A nest of this sort of bird would be a great curiosity.
Some beeches begin to show leaves. Sowed some fine Savoy seed from Newton. Hen red-start appears.
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