NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 41 



NOTES TO LETTER XI. 



1 One occasionally sees mention made in the scientific and natural history 

 periodicals of the occurrence of the hoopoe (upupa epops). Of course it is 

 generally shot, and no chance is given it of breeding. Its nest has only rarely 

 been found in England. 



2 The grossbeak (coccothraustes vulgaris], or as it is more commonly called, 

 the hawfinch, is not so rare as is generally supposed. Its shyness prevents it* 

 being easily observed. 



3 The crossbill may occasionally be seen, in small flocks, in districts where 

 the larch is plentiful. With its peculiar curved mandibles, it extracts the seeds 

 from the fir-cones. The birds vary greatly in size and colour, according to age 

 and sex. They are yellow, green, red, or brown at different times, so if it 

 were not for their crossed bills, it would be rather hard to distinguish them. 

 They breed in Norway and Sweden, and very occasionally in England. 



4 We used, when I was a boy, to catch great numbers of bull- heads to bait 

 our eel lines with. They were found under every flat stone in the Shropshire 

 streams, in company with the loach, also an excellent bait. 



5 It is now well known that there are three kinds of eels which inhabit our 

 rivers and pools, the snig, and the broad-nosed and sharp-nosed species. The 

 habits of eels are very peculiar. Nothing certain is known about their breeding, 

 but it is believed that the young are born alive. In the autumn the eels descend 

 the rivers in vast numbers, and go either to sea or to the brackish waters, where 

 they breed. In the spring the little eels, or elvers, ascend the rivers in columns 

 so dense that they may be scooped out by the bucketful. 



6 In the Dee at Llangollen, lamperns were very numerous. They hold on 

 to stones by means of their round sucker-like mouths, and can move very heavy 

 ones. 



7 There are six kinds of sticklebacks. Everyone knows the common three- 

 finned one. One kind builds a nest among the weeds, and guards it with the 

 utmost vigilance. 



8 There seem to be about twenty species of British bats. Four or five 

 species are tolerably common. The squeak made by the bat is so very fine, 

 that while to some ears it is loud, by others it cannot be heard. I once, when 

 a boy, was exploring a hollow tree after owls' nests, when the smell from one 

 particular hole was so dreadful that we put some lighted paper down to see 

 what would come out ; and to our astonishment dozens of large, reddish bats 

 flew out, and dashed madly about in the bright sunlight. The bat has more 

 vermin upon it than any other creature of its size. It seems needless to state 

 that the bat is an animal, and not a bird or an insect ; but I saw it gravely stated 

 in the columns of a local journal by two correspondents that it was either of the 

 two latter. 



