The Natural History of Selborne

The woman, who brought me two fern-owl eggs last year on July 14, on this day produced me two more one of which had been laid this morning, as appears plainly, because there was only one in the nest the evening before. They were found, as last July, on the verge of the down above the hermitage, under a beechen shrub on the naked ground. Last year those eggs were full of young, & just ready to be hatched. The circumstances point out the exact time when these curious nucturnal, migratory birds lay their eggs and hatch their young. Fern-owls, like snipes, stone-curlews, & some other birds, make no nest. Birds that build on the ground do not make much of nests.