38 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. [LETT. XII. 



the corn above the ground, and sometimes in thistles. They 

 breed as many as eight at a litter, in a little round nest, com- 

 posed of the blades of grass or wheat. 



One of these nests 1 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 in- 

 geniously 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 that were naked and blind. As this nest was 

 perfectly full, how could the dam come at her litter respectively, 

 so as to administer a teat to each ? Perhaps she opens different 

 places for that purpose, adjusting 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, and elegant instance 

 of the efforts of instinct, was found in a wheatfield, suspended in 

 the head of a thistle. 



A gentleman curious in birds wrote me word that his -servant 

 had shot one last January, in that severe weather, which he be- 

 lieved would puzzle me. I called to see it this summer, not 

 knowing what to expect : but the moment I took it in hand, I 

 pronounced it the male Garrulus Bohemicus, or German silk-tail, 

 from the five peculiar crimson tags or points which it carries at 

 the ends of five of the short remiyes. It cannot, I suppose, with 

 any propriety be called an English bird : and yet I see, by Ray's 

 " Philosophical Letters," that great flocks of them appeared in 

 this kingdom in the winter of 1685, feeding on haws. 



The mention of haws puts me in mind that there is a total 

 failure of that wild fruit, so conducive to the support of many of 

 the winged 'nation. For the same severe weather, late in the 

 spring, which cut off all the produce of the more tender and 

 curious trees, destroyed also that of the more hardy and common. 



Some birds, haunting with the missel-thrushes, and feeding 

 on the berries of the yew-tree, which answered to the description 

 of the Merula torquata, or ring-ouzel, were lately seen in this 

 neighbourhood. I employed some people to procure me a speci- 

 men, but without success. 



