NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 153 
Loe eR. Xt Vi 
TO THE SAME. 
SELBORNE, ¥2/y 8th, 1773. 
DEAR SIR,—Some young men went down lately to a pond on 
the verge of Wolmer Forest to hunt flappers, or young wild-ducks, 
many of which they caught, and, among the rest, some very minute 
yet well-fledged wild-fowls alive, which upon examination I found 
to be teals. I did not know till then that teals ever bred in the 
south of England, and was much pleased with the discovery : this 
I look upon as a great stroke in natural history. 
We have had, ever since I can remember, a pair of white owls 
that constantly breed under the eaves of this church. As 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 we can stand on an eminence and see them 
beat the fields over like a setting-dog, and often drop down in the 
grass or corn. I have minuted these birds with my watch for an 
hour together, and have found that they return to their nest, the 
one or the other of them, about once in five minutes; reflecting 
at the same time on the adroitness that every animal is possessed 
of as far as regards the well-being of itself and offspring. But a 
piece of address, which they show when they return loaded, should 
not, I think, be passed over in silence.—As they take their prey 
with their claws, so they carry it in their claws to their nest ; but, 
as the feet are necessary in their ascent under the tiles, they 
constantly perch first on the roof of the chancel, and shift the 
mouse from their claws to their bill, that their feet may be at 
liberty to take hold of the plate on the wall as they are rising 
under the eaves. 
White owls seem not (but in this I am not positive) to hoot at 
all ; all that clamorous hooting appears to me to come from the 
