CONTENTS 



PREFACE 5 



FOREWORD by Wilfred Mark Webb, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., Secretary 



of the Selborne Society 7 



WHITE OF SELBORNE ....... 15 



A FEBRUARY DAY (Poem) 17 



WHEN ROOKS START HOUSEKEEPING . . . . .18 



How rooks build Their fights and troubles Gallant 

 husbands The bachelors When the eggs are hatched 

 The first brood. 



THE GALLANT STORM-COCK ...... 22 



The missel-thrush How he defends his nest and 

 family Robber magpies The routed rat When missel- 

 thrushes sing Nests and eggs What they live on. 



MILK-WHITE ROOKS 24 



THE TIMID WHEATEAR . . . . . . .25 



How wheatears were trapped of old by shepherds 

 Their migration Stragglers found all through the year 

 Their habit of running to shelter when alarmed. 



ADDER AND GRASS-SNAKE ...... 26 



Our one venomous reptile, the adder Differences be- 

 tween adders and snakes Do adders swallow their young? 

 How they bask in spring sunshine How adders and 

 snakes destroy mice and frogs The slow-worm, an imita- 

 tion adder. 



LATE SINGERS ........ 29 



A BLACK BULLFINCH 29 



THE STONE-CURLEW'S STORY ...... 30 



The eggs The young birds Their migrations Their 

 haunts Their rarity Friends of the farmer. 



THE STORY OF THE SAND-MARTINS 32 



The emallest swallow Wonderful nests Eggs and 

 young Sparrows as enemies. 

 9 



