The Natural History of Selborne

Saw a wood-cock on the down among the fern: Fyfield flushed it.

Two or three wood-cocks seen in the high wood: one was killed.  Fyfield improves, & promises to make a good cock-dog.

The Emshot hounds kill a leash of hares on the hill.

The young men of this place found a stray fallow deer at the back of the village, which they roused, & hunted with grey hounds, & other dogs.  When taken it proved to be a buck of three years old.

Fyfield, the spaniel, rejects the bones of a wood-cock with horror.  Gathered in the non-pareils.  The prodigious crop of apples this year verified in some measure the words of Virgil made use of in the description of the Corycian garden;

“Quotq’ in flore novo pomis se fertilis arbos/Induerat, totidem in autumno matura tenebat.”

Shortest day. Pleasant weather.  A hunted hind came down Galley-hill into the street; where being headed by the village dogs, it turned back to Well-head, & was taken in Kircher’s farm yard, & put into the barn, being quite run down.  One of the Gent. pursuers let it blood, & hired  a man to watch it all night.  in the morning by seven o’ the clock a deer-cart came, & took it away.  There were several Gent. in with the dogs, when they took the deer.  The dogs & hind were said to belong to Mr Delmee, who lives near Fareham. The deer was turned-out in the morning on Stevens Castle down near Bishop’s Waltham, which is at least 18 miles from this place.  The dogs were short & thick, but had shrill notes like fox-hounds, & when they ran hard opened but seldom, so that they made but little cry.

Rover springs several pheasants, & some coveys of partridges.

Rover springs several pheasants in Harteley-wood.  We find many large coveys of partridges.

Dogs eat the goose-berries when they become ripe; & now they devour the plums as they fall; last year they tore the apricots off the trees.

My goose-berries are still very fine, but are much eaten by the dogs.