The Natural History of Selborne

Timothy the tortoise marches forth on the grass-plot and grazes.

The early beech in the long Lythe shows leaves fully expanded.

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.