1884-85.] Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Chib. 193 



rival of our summer migrants are all much earlier than our experi- 

 ence here would lead us to expect, making, of course, due allow- 

 ance for the difference in latitude — though 500 or 600 miles is 

 really not a matter of much time to a Swallow, whose rate of flight 

 must be fully equal to that of the fastest express train. White 

 gives the Sand-martin, March 21 ; the Swallow, March 26 ; and the 

 House-martin, March 28. 



White had peculiar views on migration, and never quite aban- 

 doned the idea that some of the Swallow kind hibernated here. I 

 will give two brief extracts in confirmation of this. Speaking of 

 the House-martin, he says : " I see by my Fauna of last year that 

 young broods came forth as late as September 18. Are not these 

 late hatches more in favour of hiding than migration ? " Again he 

 says, addressing Mr Pennant : " I quite agree with you that though 

 most of the Swallow kind may migrate, yet that some do stay 

 behind and hide with us during the winter." 



It would occupy too much of our time to give many extracts 

 from White's writings. I will therefore give you only two — 

 one illustrative of his graphic and easy style, and the other where 

 he puts his thoughts into verse. The first is his description of 

 the nest of the Harvest-mouse {llus messoriiis) — and we must re- 

 member that he was the first to call the attention of natural- 

 ists to this, the smallest of British quadrupeds, as a distinct species. 

 He says : — 



" Two of them, in a scale, weighed down just one copper halfpenny, which 

 is about the third of an ounce, so that I suppose they are the smallest quad- 

 rupeds in this island. A full-grown Mas domedkus weighs one ounce lump- 

 ing weight, which is more than six times the mouse above." "One of the 

 nests of these ' small mice I procured this autumn, most artificially platted, 

 and composed of the blades of wheat ; perfectly round, and about the size 

 of a cricket-ball ; with the aperture so ingeniously closed that there was 

 no discovering to what part it belonged. It was so compact and well 

 filled that it would roll across the table without being discomposed, though 

 it contained eight little mice, which were naked and blind. As this nest 

 was perfectly full, how could the dam come at her litter so as to administer 

 a teat to each ? Perhaps she opens different places for that purpose, adjust- 

 ing them again when the business is over : but she could not possibly be 

 contained herself in the ball with her young, which moreover would be 

 daily increasing in bulk. This wonderful procreant cradle, an elegant in- 

 stance of the efforts of instinct, was found in a wheat field suspended in the 

 head of a thistle." 



As a specimen of White's verses, I give you — 



THE NATURALIST'S SUMMER-EVENING WALK. 



" When day, declining, sheds a milder gleam. 



What time the May-fly haunts the pool or stream ; 

 When the still Owl skims round the grassy mead. 

 What time the timorous Hare limps forth to feed. 



