OF SELBORNE. 59 
Mr. Willoughby passed through that kingdom on 
such an errand; but he seems to have skirted 
along in a superficial manner and an ill humour, 
being much disgusted at the rude, dissolute manners 
of the people. 
I have no friend left now at Sunbury to apply 
to about the swallows roosting on the aits of the 
Thames, nor can I hear any more about those birds 
which I suspected were merule torquate. 
As to the small mice,* I have farther to remark, 
Harvest-mouse. 
that, though they hang their nests up amid the 
straws of the standing corn, above the ground, yet 
I find that in the winter they burrow deep in the 
earth, and make warm beds of grass; but their 
grand rendezvous seems to be in corn-ricks, into 
which they are carried at harvest. A neighbour 
housed an oat-rick lately, under the thatch of which 
+ The mus messorius, harvest-mouse, was first discovered and 
described by Mr. White. 
