The Natural History of SelborneLane, 1902 - 552 pages The great naturalist, first to describe many now familiar birds, writes of the wildlife of his 18th century Hampshire village. This recording contains excerpts from the book, accompanied throughout by birdsong recordings of many of the rare and everyday species mentioned by Gilbert White. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 39
Page 6
... sort of rotten or rubble stone , which , when turned up to the frost and rain , moulders to pieces , and becomes manure to itself . * Still on to the orth - east , and a step lower , is a kind of white land , neither chalk nor clay ...
... sort of rotten or rubble stone , which , when turned up to the frost and rain , moulders to pieces , and becomes manure to itself . * Still on to the orth - east , and a step lower , is a kind of white land , neither chalk nor clay ...
Page 14
... sort of marl ; and are usually very small and soft but in Clay's Pond , a little further on , at the end of the pit , where the soil is dug out for manure , I have occa- sionally observed them of large dimensions , perhaps fourteen or ...
... sort of marl ; and are usually very small and soft but in Clay's Pond , a little further on , at the end of the pit , where the soil is dug out for manure , I have occa- sionally observed them of large dimensions , perhaps fourteen or ...
Page 16
... sort of stone , called by the workmen sand , or forest - stone . This is generally of the colour of rusty iron , and might probably be worked as iron ore ; is To surbed stone is to set it edgewise , contrary to the posture it had in the ...
... sort of stone , called by the workmen sand , or forest - stone . This is generally of the colour of rusty iron , and might probably be worked as iron ore ; is To surbed stone is to set it edgewise , contrary to the posture it had in the ...
Page 18
... sort still occur at Selborne : there are many close to the church . They are also common at Dorking and in other places on the Greensand area . For an example , see illustration on p . 14.-ED. A Hollow Lane near Norton LETTER V.1 To the ...
... sort still occur at Selborne : there are many close to the church . They are also common at Dorking and in other places on the Greensand area . For an example , see illustration on p . 14.-ED. A Hollow Lane near Norton LETTER V.1 To the ...
Page 35
... sort which , rising into tall hassocks , is called by the foresters torrets ; a corruption , I suppose , of turrets . NOTE . In the beginning of the summer 1787 , the royal forests of Wolmer and Holt were measured by persons sent down ...
... sort which , rising into tall hassocks , is called by the foresters torrets ; a corruption , I suppose , of turrets . NOTE . In the beginning of the summer 1787 , the royal forests of Wolmer and Holt were measured by persons sent down ...
Common terms and phrases
abound animals appear April autumn birds of prey breed brood called chaffinches Church cuckoo curious Daines Barrington district eggs feet female fern-owl fieldfares fields flies forest Frank Buckland frequent garden Gilbert White Gilbert White's Greatham ground Hanger hard frost haunt hedges hirundines hirundo house-martins inches insects July July 13 July 22 June June 11 June 22 June 9 last seen late legs LETTER Linnĉus London male manner MARKWICK migration mild Motacilla natural history Naturalist's Calendar included nest never Newton Valence night perhaps ponds quadrupeds rain remarkable ring-dove ring-ousels sand-martin season seems Selborne Sept showers sings snow species spring stone-curlew summer suppose Sussex swallow swarm swift tail titmouse trees vast village volume warm weather White wild wings winter Wolmer wonder woods wren young
Popular passages
Page 178 - Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? Or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, And warmeth them in the dust, And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, Or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, As though they were not hers...
Page 37 - Now scarcely moving through a reedy pool, Now starting to a sudden stream, and now Gently diffus'd into a limpid plain ; A various group the herds and flocks compose, Rural confusion ! on the grassy bank Some ruminating lie ; while others stand Half in the flood, and often bending, sip The circling surface.
Page 402 - Looks through the horizontal misty air Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon, In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.
Page 103 - While o'er the cliff th' awaken'd churn-owl hung, Through the still gloom protracts his chattering song ; While, high in air, and poised upon his wings, Unseen, the soft enamour'd woodlarkf sings : These, Nature's works, the curious mind employ, Inspire a soothing melancholy joy : As fancy warms, a pleasing kind of pain Steals o'er the cheek, and thrills the creeping vein ! Each rural sight, each sound, each smell combine ; The tinkling sheep-bell, or the breath of kine ; The new-mown hay that scents...
Page 227 - Creation with the utmost satisfaction, and thinks them equal to anything he had seen in the finest parts of Europe. "For my own part, I think there is somewhat peculiarly -sweet and amusing in the shapely figured aspect of chalkhills in preference to those of stone, which are rugged, broken, abrupt and shapeless.
Page 275 - Now a shrew-ash is an ash whose twigs or branches, when gently applied to the limbs of cattle, will immediately relieve the pains which a beast suffers from the running of a shrew-mouse over the part affected...
Page 103 - Till blended objects fail the swimming sight, And all the fading landscape sinks in night ; To hear the drowsy dor come brushing by With buzzing wing, or the shrill ' cricket cry ; To see the feeding bat glance through the wood ; To catch the distant falling of the flood ; While o'er the cliff th...
Page 402 - ... any alteration in the air. The sun, at noon, looked as blank as a clouded moon, and shed a rust-coloured ferruginous light on the ground and floors of rooms ; but was particularly lurid and bloodcoloured at rising and setting. All the time the heat was so intense that butchers...
Page 216 - I have paid good attention to the manner of life of these birds during their season of breeding, which lasts the summer through, the following remarks may not perhaps be unacceptable : — About an hour before sunset (for then the mice begin to run; they sally forth in quest of prey, and hunt all round the hedges of meadows and small enclosures for them, which seem to be their only food. In this irregular country...
Page 161 - And leaves her callow care, and cleaves the skies : At first she flutters ; but at length she springs To smoother flight, and shoots upon her wings : So Mnestheus in the Dolphin cuts the sea ; And, flying with a force, that force assists his way.