The Natural History of Selborne

• 1780: November 20, 1780 – The ponds fill very fast.
• 1777: November 20, 1777 – Bees come-out much from their hives, & are very alert.
• 1776: November 20, 1776 – Mrs. Snooke’s old tortoise at Ringmer went under ground.
• 1772: November 20, 1772 – Snipes come up into the meadows.
• 1770: November 20, 1770 – Hard frost.  Severe wind.  Plows are frozen out.

• 1792: November 19, 1792 – Water-cress comes in.
• 1788: November 19, 1788 – Mr. Hale continues to chalk the black malm field opposite to J. Berriman’s house, called Hasteds. He has laid on about 120 loads on less than 3 acres.
• 1785: November 19, 1785 – Harry Holt White left us, & went to Fyfield.
• 1782: November 1782 – One way or other we have used most of the grapes.
• 1781: November 19, 1781 – Planted two Cypresses in the garden.  They came from S. Lambeth.
• 1776: November 19, 1776 – This afternoon the weather turning suddenly very warm produced an unusual appearance; for the dew on the windows was on the outside of the glass, the air being warmer abroad than within.
• 1773: November 19, 1773 – Ring-ouzels still remain.  Gathered in the last grapes: ye crop was very large, & the grapes delicate.  And yet the vine-shoots were much pinched at their tops by frost the first week in May; & more-over Septemr was a season of continual clouds & rain. Ring-ouzels, & stone-curlews stay late with us this year.
• 1771: November 19, 1771 – Hen chaffinches begin to congregate.
• 1769: November 19, 1769 – Bearing ice.
• 1768: November 19, 1768 – Many sorts of flies still appear, the musca carnaria, meridiana, tenax, &c.

• 1788: November 18, 1788 – Farmer Lasham’s Dorsetshire ewes have produced several lambs.  Insects abound.  Wheat comes up well.
• 1782: November 18, 1782 – No hogs have annoyed us this year in my outlet.  They usually force-in after the acorns, nuts, beech & maple mast; & occasion much trouble.
• 1780: November 18, 1780 – Crickets in the chimney cry but faintly & do not appear much.  The cats kill all they can see.  *The severity of the weather quickened Timothy’s retreat: he used to stay above ground ’til about the 20th.  At Ringmer he used to lay himself up in a wet swampy border: indeed he had no choice.
• 1779: November 18, 1779 – Frost, ice, snow, grey, bright.
• 1773: November 18, 1773 – Stone Curlews appear still on Temple farm.
• 1772: November 18, 1772 – Nasturtiums blow yet some few leaves are decayed.  Grapes delicate, but many bunches decay.  Paths dry.
• 1771: November 18, 1771 – Crocuss begins to spring.
• 1769: November 18, 1769 – The ground as hard as stone.

Titmouse, T. Bewick

• 1792: November 17, 1792 – Baker’s hill is planted all over with horse-beans, which are grown four or five inches high.  They were probably sown by jays; & spring up thro’ the grass, or moss. Many were planted there last year, but not in such abundance as now.
• 1789: November 17, 1789 – Do left us.  Flood at Gracious street.
• 1787: November 17, 1787 – Sam White was chosen by the favour of the Provost & fellows of Oriel Coll: Bishop Robinson’s Exhibitioner.  This advantage will last him three years, ’till he takes his Mrs. degree.
• 1786: November 17, 1786 – I have often observed many titmice in beechen woods: by a heap of beech-mast now lying in my orchard I see that t.mice feed on the kernels of the fruit of that tree: & that marsh-titmice are employed all day in carrying them away.
• 1785: November 17, 1785 – Found the feathers of a ring-ouzel on the down, that had been killed by a hawk.  Mrs Ben White left us & went to London.
• 1780: November 17, 1780 – Somewhat eats the pinks in the garden.
• 1778: November 17, 1778 – Phalaneae flie in abundance about my hedges: those & some others, such as spiders, wood-lice, slippery jacks, & some gnats, & tipulae come forth all the winter in mild weather.
• 1777: November 17, 1777 – Large field-fares abound: vast clouds of them on the common.
• 1774: November 17, 1774 – Trimmed, & tacked the vines: pretty good wood towards the S.E. for next year’s bearing.  The S.W. vines are weak in the wood.
• 1773: November 17, 1773 – The turfing the walks advances apace.
• 1771: November 17, 1771 – A most astonishing, & destructive flood at Newcastle on Tyne.

• 1790: November 16, 1790 – Paths greazy from the frost.  Raked, & swept up the leaves in my outlet.  The hanger naked.
• 1789: November 16, 1789 – Few woodcocks; & few pheasants left.  Many hares have been found on our hill: the wetness of the season, it is supposed, induces them to leave the vales, & to retreat to the uplands.  Reb. & Hannah White came from Newton.
• 1787: November 16, 1787 – The stream at Fyfield encreases very fast.  Spent three hours of this day, viz. from one o’ the clock till four, in the midst of the downs between Andover & Winton, where we should have suffered greatly from cold & hunger, had not the day proved very fine, & had not we been opposite to the house of Mr Treadgold’s down farm, where we were hospitably entertained by the labourer’s wife with cold sparerib, & good bread, & cheese, & ale, while the driver went back to Andover to fetch a better horse.  The case was, the saddle-horse being new to his business, became jaded and restiff, & would not stir an inch; but was soon kept in countenance by the shaft-horse, who followed his example: so we were quite set-up ’till four o’ the clock, when an other driver arrived with an other lean jaded horse, & with much difficulty assisted in dragging us to Winton, which we did not reach toll six in the evening.  We set out from Fyfield at eleven; so were were seven hours in getting 19 miles.  During our long conversation with the dame, we found that this lone farm-house & it’s buildings, tho’ so sequestered from all neighbourhood, & so far removed from all streams & water, are much annoyed with Norway rats: the carter also told us that about 12 years ago he had seen a flock of 18 bustards at one time on that farm, & once since only two.  This is the only habitation to be met with on theses downs between Whorwel & Winchester.
• 1785: November 16, 1785 – Found some rasp-bushes on the down among the furze: & some low yew-trees, gnawn down by the sheep, among the bushes.
• 1783: November 16, 1783 – Winter is established.
  “Fled is the blasted verdure of the fields;And, shrunk into their beds, the flowery race/Their sunny robes resign. E’en what remain’d/Of stronger fruits falls from the naked tree/And woods, fields, gardens, orchards, all around/The desolated prospect thrills the soul.”
  Thomson’s Autumn
• 1773: November 16, 1773 – Two grey crows flew over my garden to the hanger: a sight I never saw before.
• 1772: November 16, 1772 – Appears in my fields:  Elvela pileo deflexo, adnato, lobato, difformi: Linn. flo Suec: Elvela petiloata, lamina in formam capituli deorsum plicato-laciniata & crispa; petiolo fistuloso, striato, & rimoso: Gleditsch methodus fungorum.

Notes:
The 1772 entry: “The elvella grows with a bent, lobed, and misshapen cap. This fungus grows upon a stalk and has a jagged and curled gill which is folded down into the shape of a pileus. The stalk is grooved and full of holes and cracks.” Refers to the Helvella fungus.

This is a good time to mention why White made his observations from so many locations: as a a curate, he was expected to take on clerical duties over a fairly wide area, hence his continual riding out over the downs and through the woods. The incident of the balking horses which stranded him on the Downs occurred when White was 67 years old.

• 1792: November 15, 1792 – Timothy comes out.
• 1790: November 15, 1790 – Timothy the tortoise gone under ground in the laurel-hedge.  Paths very dry: boys play at taw on the plestor.
• 1789: November 15, 1789 – A flock of red-wings.  Men have not finished their wheat season: some low grounds too wet to be sown.
• 1786: November 15, 1786 – Covered the rows of the celeri with straw.  This day compleats the 34 of the dry weather.  Horses begin to lie within.
• 1785: November 15, 1785 – We find several pheasants in our walks.  the hills thro’ the fog appeared like vast mountains.
• 1783: November 15, 1783 – Wind all night.  At Selborne, a storm at 11 A:M:  Sea-gulls abound on the Alresford-stream: they frequent those waters for many months in the year.
• 1782: November 15, 1782 – The torrent down the stoney-lane as you go towards Rood has run all the spring, summer, & autumn, joining Well-head stream at the bridge.
• 1781: November 15, 1781 – Vast rain in the night, with strong wind.  My well is risen near six feet.  Thomas begins to dress the vines.  The crop of grapes is just over, having lasted in perfection more than ten weeks.
• 1773: November 15, 1773 – Helleborus foetidus buds for bloom.
• 1772: November 15, 1772 – Harsh air.
• 1771: November 15, 1771 – Tortoise at Ringmer had not finish’d his hybernaculum, being interrupted by the sunny weather, which tempted him out.
• 1770: November 15, 1770 – Vast rain at night.  The ground so wet that no sowing goes forward.  Much ground unsown.

• 1787: November 14, 1787 – The late hard winters killed the extreamities of my wall-nut trees, so that they have borne no fruit since: but the same severe seasons killed many of the fyfield wall-nut trees down to the ground.
• 1786: November 14, 1786 – Boys slide on the Ice!  Flocks of hen-chaffinches are seen.
• 1784: November 14, 1784 – No acorns, & very few beech-mast.  No beech-mast last year, but acorns  innumerable.
• 1783: November 14, 1783 – Mr Mulso’s grapes at his prebendal-house are in paper bags: but the daws descend from the Cathedral, break open the bags, & eat the fruit.  Looked sharply for house-martins along the chalk-cliff at Wharel, but none appeared.  On Novr 3rd 1782: I saw several at that place.
• 1782: November 14, 1782 – Lord Howe arrived at Portsmouth with 16 men of war.  He was absent just nine weeks.  If a frost happens, even when the ground is considerably dry, as soon as a thaw takes place, the paths & fields are all in a batter.  Country people say that the frost draws moisture.  But the true philosophy is, that the steam & vaours continually ascending from the earth, are bound-in by the frost, & not suffered to escape, ’till released by the thaw.  No wonder then that the surface is all in a float; since the quntity of moisture by evaporation that arises daily from every acre of ground is astonishing.  Dr Watson, by experiment, found it to be from 1600 to 1900 gallons in 12 hours, according to the degree of heat in the earth, & the quantity of rain new fallen.– See Watson’s Chem. essays: Vol. 3 p. 55. 56
• 1777: November 14, 1777 – Thatched roofs smoke in the sun: when this appearance happens rain seldom ensues that day.  This morning they send-up vast volumes of reek.
• 1775: November 14, 1775 – Saw yesterday a considerable flock of gulls flying over the hanger to the S.W.  Gulls very seldom appear in this district; except sometimes on the forest ponds.  * When horses, cows, sheep, deer, &c. feed in the wind, & rain, they always keep their heads down the wind, & their tails to the weather; but birds always perch, & chuse to fly, with their heads to the weather to prevent the winds from ruffling their feathers, & the cold & wet from penetrating their skins.
• 1774: November 14, 1774 – Frost, sun.
• 1773: November 14, 1773 – Green plovers now appear in small companies on the uplands.  They flie high and make a whistling.  They do not breed in these parts.
• 1771: November 14, 1771 – An epidemic disease among the dogs in Sussex, which proves fatal to many.  They pine away, & die moping.
• 1770: November 14, 1770 – Bee on the asters.

• 1792: November 13, 1792 – Mr. Ed. White & man brought a good fine young white poplare from his out-let at Newton, & planted it at ye top of Parson’s, slip behind the bench, where it will be ornamental.
• 1791: November 13, 1791 – Thunder in the night.  Thomas heard the Portsmouth evening gun.
• 1790: November 13, 1790 – Bror. & Sister Benj. left us.
• 1787: November 13, 1787 – The Fyfield players performed Richard the Third.
• 1785: November 13, 1785 – Mr Ben White left us, & went to London.
• 1780: November 13, 1780 – Wheat-stubbles plow-up in fine order; green wheat comes up well.  Tortoise goes under ground: over him is thrown a coat of moss.  The border being very light & mellow, the tortoise has thrown the mould entirely over his shell, leaving only a small breatheing hole near his head.  Timothy lies in the border under the fruit-wall, in an aspect where he will enjoy the warmth of the sun, & where no wet can annoy him: a hen-coop over his back protects him from dogs, &c.
• 1776: November 13, 1776 – Nuthatches rap about on the trees.  Crocuss begins to sprout.  The leaves of the medlar-tree are now turned of a bright yellow.  On of the first trees that becomes naked is the wall-nut: the mulberry, & the ash, especially if it bears many keys, and hte Horse-chestnut come next.  All lopped trees, while their heads are young, carry their leaves a long while.  Apple-trees & peaches remain green ’til very late, often ’til the end of Novr: young beeches never cast their leaves ’til spring, ’til the new leaves sprout & push them off: in the autumn the beechen-leaves turn of a deep chestnut color.  Tall beeches cast their leaves towards the end of Octr.  Magpies sometimes, I see, perch on the backs of sheep, & pick the lice & ticks out of their wool; nay, mount on their very heads; while those meek quadrupeds seem pleased, & stand perfectly still, little aware that their eyes are in no small danger; & that their assiduous friends would be glad of an opportunity of picking their bones.
• 1775: November 13, 1775 – Charadrius pluvialis.  Green whistling plovers appear: they come in the autumn to us, but do not breed here.  They haunt the downs.
• 1773: November 13, 1773 – The turfing of the level ground goes on briskly.  No late martins have appeared this Novr: a flight sometimes is seen about the first week in this month.
• 1771: November 13, 1771 – Saw 16 fork-tailed kites at one on the downs.
• 1769: November 13, 1769 – The hedge-sparrow makes its winter piping.
• 1768: November 13, 1768 – The Ground dries much.  Wheat continues to be sown.  Elms are still in full leaf.

• 1792: November 12, 1792 – Planted in the garden 2 codling-trees, 2 damson-trees, & 22 goose-berry trees, sent me by Bror. T. W.
• 1789: November 12, 1789 – Bror & Sister Benj. left us, & went to Newton.  Tortoise almost covered.
• 1786: November 12, 1786 – The hogs have been turned for some weeks into the high-wood, & hanger, where they have availed themselves much of the large crop of beech-mast.  The hogs find, no doubt, many trufles in the high-wood, where they are said to abound.  Last week Wolmer-pond was sewed, & fished after an interval of almost 20 years.  And yet there was no quantity of fish; for the carps did not amount to one hundred; nor was there any young stock: tench there were none; many young perch; a few large, lank pikes; & a few large eels.  It is said that the pond is to lie a-sew all next summer.  The pond being an area of more than 60 acres, was several days in running dry.  If this pond continues dry next spring, more Roman coins may be found, in windy weather, on the surface of the sand.  Many hundreds were found when it last lay dry, about the year 1741.
• 1785: November 12, 1785 – The ring-ouzel is killed by a hawk.
• 1780: November 12, 1780 – Wells, streams, & ponds are very low.
• 1778: November 12, 1778 – The vast yew-tree at Prior’s-dean is a female: males in general grow to the largest bulk.  The yew tree of East-Tisted is a female.  The great yew-tree at Selborne, & two very large ones at Faringdon are all males.
• 1774: November 12, 1774 – Gathered-in all the grapes.  Snow on the hills.
• 1772: November 12, 1772 – Oenas, sive vinago.  The stock-dove, or wood-pigeon appears.  Where they breed is uncertain.  They leave us in spring, & do not return ’til about this time.  Before the beechen woods were so much destroyed we had every winter prodigious flocks, reaching for a mile together as they went out from their roost of a morning.  Hartley-wood used to abound with them.  They were considerably less than the ring-dove, or queest, which breeds with us, and stays the whole year round.
• 1769: November 12, 1769 – Glass sinks very fast.  Sheep feed in the night.

• 1790: November 11, 1790 – Two or three wood-cocks seen in the high wood: one was killed.  Fyfield improves, & promises to make a good cock-dog.
• 1789: November 11, 1789 – The tortoise is going under ground, but not quite buried: he is in motion, & pushing himself beneath the turf.
• 1788: November 11, 1788 – Men have taken advange of this dry season, & have chalked their hop-gardens, & fields.  The chalk at the foot of the hill is called marl, but it is only a hard grey chalk.  This chalk is of service on the malms.
• 1785: November 11, 1785 – Began to use celeri: it is very large, & somewhat piped.  Ring-ouzel on the common.
• 1783: November 11, 1783 – This country swarms with pigeons from dove-houses.  Millers complain for want of water.
• 1782: November 11, 1782 – Planted 50 tulips, which I bought of Dan Wheeler, in the border opposite to the great parlor-windows.  They are, I think, good flowers.
• 1781: November 11, 1781 – The house-martins have disappointed us again, as they did last year, with respect to their Novemr. visit for one day.  On Nov. 5th 1779, & Nov. 4th 1777, they showed themselves all day along the hanger in considerable numbers, after they had withdrawn for some weeks: when, had they been properly watched, their place of retreat in the evening, I make no doubt, might have been easily discovered.  Once in a few years they make us a visit of this sort, some time in the first week in November.
• 1780: November 11, 1780 – Several wood-cocks seen this day: stone curlews are not yet gone.
• 1778: November 11, 1778 – Planted in the borders some ferrugineous foxgloves.
• 1774: November 11, 1774 – First day of winter.  Snow on the ground.
• 1773: November 11, 1773 – All our levelling-work is under water.  The baromr has been unusually low for many days past; & yet with little wind: but the rains have been prodigious.  Most of the rain has fallen by night.
• 1772: November 11, 1772 – Nasturtiums and other Indian flowers are still in bloom: a sure token that there has been no frost.