20 The Natural History of Selborne 



for furlongs together. In many places they are reduced sixteen or 

 eighteen feet beneath the level of the fields ; and after floods, and in 

 frosts, exhibit very grotesque and wild appearances, from the tangled 

 roots that are twisted among the strata, and from the torrents 

 rushing down their broken sides ; and especially when those cascades 

 are frozen into icicles, hanging in all the fanciful shapes of frost- 

 work. These rugged gloomy scenes affright the ladies when they 

 peep down into them from the paths above, and make timid horse- 

 men shudder while they ride along them ; but delight the naturalist 

 with their various botany, and particularly with their curious filices, 

 with which they abound. 



The manor of Selborne, was it strictly looked after, with all its 

 kindly aspects, and all its sloping coverts, would swarm with game ; 

 even now hares, partridges, and pheasants abound ; and in old days 

 woodcocks were as plentiful. There are few quails, because they 

 more affect open fields than enclosures ; after harvest some few 

 landrails are seen. 



The parish of Selborne, by taking in so much of the forest, is a 

 vast district. Those who tread the bounds are employed part of 

 three days in the business, and are of opinion that the outline, in all 

 its curves and indentings, does not comprise less than thirty miles. 



The village stands in a sheltered spot, secured by the Hanger 

 from the strong westerly winds. The air is soft, but rather moist 

 from the effluvia of so many trees ; yet perfectly healthy and free 

 from agues. 



The quantity of rain that falls on it is very considerable, as may 

 be supposed in so woody and mountainous a district. As my 

 experience in measuring the water is but of short date, I am not 

 qualified to give the mean quantity.* I only know that 



* A very intelligent gentleman assures me (and he speaks from upwards of 

 forty years' experience), that the mean rain of any place cannot be ascertained till 

 .a person has measured it for a very long period. " If I had only measured the 

 rain," says he, " for the four first years, from 1740 to 1743, I should have said the 

 mean rain at Lyndon was 16^ inches for the year; if from 1740 to 1750, 

 i8| inches. The mean rain before 1763 was 2o| inches, from 1763 and since 

 25^ inches, from 1770 to 1780, 26 inches. If only 1773, 1774, and 1775, had 

 been measured, Lyndon mean rain would have been called 32 inches." 



