The Natural History of Selborne

Rain is much wanted.  At Fyfield; charadrius oedicnemus returns & clamors April 14; first swallow, April 16; nightingale April 16; cuckow Ap. 20; swifts first seen Apr: 26: came to their nesting-place May 8.  At Lyndon, in Rutland first swallow Apr: 16; first swift May 6th.

Oaks are felled; the bark runs.

One swallow at Wallingford.

Young geese & ducks.  Four swallows at Alton.

Linnets, & chaffinches flock still: so are not paired.  Some few sky-larks survive.

No rain since the beginning of March. The ground dry & harsh.  The Bombylius medius abounds.  It is an hairy insect, like an humble-bee, but with only two wings, & a long straight beak, with which it sucks the early flowers, always appearing in March.  The female seems to lay it’s eggs as it poises on the it’s wings, by striking it’s tail on the ground, & against the grass that stands in it’s way in a quick manner for several times together.

Gossamer floats.  Wood-larks hang suspended in the air, & sing all night.

The willows in bloom diversify the coppices, & hedge-rows in a beautiful manner.

Hirundo domestica!  Hirundo agrestis!  Blackbirds are mostly destroyed by shooters.  Farmer Tredgold saw five hirundines at Willey-mill next Farnham playing about briskly over the mill-pond: four, he says, were house-swallows, & the fifth an house-martin with a white rump.  These birds are very early!  Some few bank-martins haunt round the skirts of London, & frequent the dirty pools in St. George’s fields, & near White-chappel: perhaps they build in the scaffold-holes of some deserted house; for steep banks there are none.

Flocks of fieldfares remain: no red-wings are seen.  No song-thrushes are heard; the seem to be destroyed by the hard weather.  Some wagtails survive.