The Natural History of Selborne

The titlark rises, & sings sweetly in its descent.  The Ring-dove hangs on its wings, & toys in the air.

The cock green-finch begins to toy, & hang about on the wing in a very peculiar manner.  These gestures proceed from amorous propensities.

The house snail begins to appear: the naked black-snail comes forth much sooner.  Slugs, which are covered with slime, as whales are with blubber, are moving all the winter in mild weather.

The golden-crested wren frequents the fir-trees, & probably builds in them.  Tho’ the spring has been remakably harsh & drying, yet the ground crumbles, & dresses very well for the spring-crops. The reason is, the driness of the winter: since the ground bakes hardest after it has been most drenched with water.

Returned from London to Selborne.

A swarm of bees came forth at Kingsley, & were hived.  From that day to April the 10th harsh, severe weather obtained with frequent frosts & ice, & cutting winds.  How are these bees to subsist so early in an empty hive?  On March 26 & 27, two, sunny sultry days, swallows were seen at Cobham, in Surry.  Thermrs were at that time in London up at 66 in the shade.

Two sultry days; Mrs Snooke’s tortoise came forth out of the ground; but retired again to it’s hybernaculum in a day or two, & did not appear any more for near a fortnight.  Swallows appeared also on the same days, & withdrew again: a strong proof this of their hiding.

About the beginning of July, a species of Fly (Musca) obtains, which proves very tormenting to horses, trying still to enter their nostrils, and ears, & actually laying their eggs in the latter & perhaps in both of those organs. When these abound, horses in wood-land districts become very impatient with their work, continually tossing their heads & rubbing their noses on each other, regardless of the driver: so that accidents often ensue. In the heat of the day, men are often obliged to deist from plowing: saddle-horses are also very troublesome in such season. Country-people call this insect the nose fly. In the decline of the year when the morning & evening become chilly, many species of flies (muscae) retire into houses, & swarm in the windows. At first they are very brisk & alert: but as they grow more torpid, one cannot help observing that that they move with difficulty, & are scarce able to lift their legs, which seem as if glued to the glass: and by degrees many do actually stick on till they die in the place. Now as flies have flat skinny palms, or soles to their feet, which enable them to walk on glass & other smooth bodies by means of the pressure of the atmosphere; may not this pressure the the means of their embarrassment as they grow more feeble; ’til at last their powers become quite inadequate to the weight of the incumbent air bearing hard upon their more languid feet; & so at last they stick to the walls & windows, where they remain, & are found dead.

Very harsh day.  The fieldfares now feed on sloes, which abound on the hedges.  ‘Til now I never observed that any birds touched the sloes.

The Planet Mercury is now to be seen every evening: it is nearer to the horizon than Venus, & more to the right hand, setting somewhat S. of the W. about six in the evening.  Will be visible about six days longer.