The Natural History of Selborne

The cuckoo arrives, & is seen, & heard.  The Apricots have no blossoms; they lost all their buds by the birds.  Red start returns, & appears on the grass plot.

Mary White came from London.

The chif-chaf, the smallest uncrested wren, is heard in the Hanger, & long Lythe.  They are usually heard about the 21 of March.  These birds, no bigger than a man’s thumb, fetch an echo out of the hanger at every note.

Crown imperials begin to blow.  Pronged the asparagus beds. Wheat looks well.  Mrs B. White & Hannah White come from London.

The bearing cucumber-bed becomes milder & more mellow; & the plants shoot & blow well.  Daffodils make a show.  Planted potatoes in the meadow-garden, ten rows.

Made two hand-glasses for celeri. A gross-beak seen at Newton parsonage-house.

Some rooks have built several nests in the high wood.  The building of rooks in the High wood is an uncommon incident, & never remembered but once before.  The Rooks usually carry on the business of breeding in groves, & clumps of trees near houses, & in villages, & towns.  Timothy weighs 6 Li. 11 oz.

Sowed a large plot of parsnips, & radishes in the orchard.  Crocus’s fade & go off.  Sowed also the Coss lettuce with the parsnips.

Cucumber-plants show bloom: but the bed is too hot, & draws the plants.  We sow our seeds too soon, so that the plants want to be turned out of the pots before the great bed can be got to due temperament.

Sowed onions, radishes, & lettuce: the ground harsh, & cloddy.