386 The Natural History of Selborne 



plants from Siberia will hardly endure our climate ; because, 

 on the very first advances of spring, they shoot away, and so 

 are cut off by the severe nights of March or April. 



Dr. Fothergill and others have experienced the same incon- 

 venience with respect to the more tender shrubs from North 

 America, which they therefore plant under north walls. There 

 should also, perhaps, be a wall to the east to defend them 

 from the piercing blasts from that quarter. 



This observation might without any impropriety be carried 

 into animal life; for discerning bee-masters now find that 

 their hives should not in the winter be exposed to the hot 

 sun, because such unseasonable warmth awakens the inhabi- 

 tants too early from their slumbers; and by putting their 

 juices into motion too soon, subjects them afterwards to 

 inconveniences when rigorous weather returns. 



The coincidents attending this short but intense frost were, 

 that the horses fell sick with an epidemic distemper, which 

 injured the winds of many, and killed some; that colds and 

 coughs were general among the human species ; that it froze 

 under people's beds for several nights ; that meat was so hard 

 frozen that it could not be spitted, and could not be secured 

 but in cellars ; that several redwings and thrushes were killed 

 by the frost ; and that the large titmouse continued to pull 

 straws lengthwise from the eaves of thatched houses and 

 barns in a most adroit manner for a purpose that has been 

 explained already.* 



On the 3rd of January, Benjamin Martin's thermometer * 

 within doors, in a close parlour where there was no fire, fell in 

 the night to 20, and on the 4th, to 18, and on the 7th, to 

 17!, a degree of cold which the owner never since saw in the 

 same situation ; and he regrets much that he was not able at 

 that juncture to attend his instrument abroad. All this time 

 the wind continued north and north-east ; and yet on the 

 8th roost-cocks, which had been silent, began to sound their 



* See Letter XI. I. to Mr. Pennant. 



1 Benjamin Martin was a maker of scientific instruments. ED. 



