The Natural History of Selborne

Went to Farnham.  Grey & still.

Flocks of wild-geese pass over.  Snow lies very deep.

Fierce frost, sun: none since the snow fell; grey. Clouds fly some from the N.W. some from the E.  Hares, compelled by hunger, come into my garden, & eat the pinks.  Lambs fall, & are frozen to the ground.

Snow falling, grey & light, dark & still.

Cats catch all the birds that come in from the cold. Wagtails retire to brooks, & rivulets; there they find the aureliae of water-insects. Titmice pull the mosses & lichens off from the trees in quest of grubs &c: Nuthatches do the same.

Rooks come to dunghills close to houses.   Sky-larks resort to farm-yards.

The brambling appears in farm-yards among the chaffinches.  It is rare in these parts.

Rugged, Siberian weather.  The narrow lanes are full of snow in some places, which is driven into the most romantic, & grotesque shapes.  The road-waggons are obliged to stop, & the stage-coaches are much embarassed.  I was obliged to be much abroad on this day, & scarce ever saw its fellow.

The snow is drifted-up to the tops of gates, & the lanes are full.  Poultry do not stir-out of the hen-houses: they are amazed, & confounded in snow, & would soon perish.

A very deep snow.  Poor birds begin to be distress’d, & to come in a door: hares do not stir yet.  Hares lie-by at first, ’til compelled to beat-out by hunger.