The pond on Selborne down has still some good water in it; Newton pond is all mud. Many annuals are shrivelled-up for want of moisture. The drought is very great. Hops are injured for want of rain.
Ponds & streams fail. People in many parts in great want of water. The reapers were never interrupted by rain one hour the harvest thro’.
One swift, perhaps a pair, going in & out of the eaves of the church. Why do these linger behind the rest, which have withdrawn some days? have they a backward brood delayed by some accident?
We have shot 31 black-birds, and saved our gooseberries.
Every ant-hill is in a strange hurry & confusion; & all the winged ants, agitated by some violent impulse, are leaving their homes; &, bent on emigration, swarm by myriads in the air, to the great emoulment of the hirundines, which fare luxuriously. Those that escape the swallows return no more to their nests, but looking out for new retreats, lay a foundation for future colonies. All the females at these times are pregnant.
Small scuds of rain. No rain to measure since July 14. On this day a bloody & obstinate engagement happened between Admiral Hyde Parker, & a Dutch fleet off the Dogger-bank.
Now the ants, male, female, & workers, come forth from under my stairs by thousands.
The honey-bees suck the goose-berries, where the birds have broke the skin.
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