50 The Natural History of Selborne 



manner, feeding in the walks, many times in the day ; and seemed 

 disposed to breed in my outlet ; but were frighted and persecuted 

 by idle boys, who would never let them be at rest. 



Three grossbeaks (loxia coccothraustes] appeared some years ago 

 in my fields, in the winter ; one of which T shot. Since that, now 

 and then, one is occasionally seen in the same dead season. 



A crossbill (loxia curmrostra] was killed last year in this neigh- 

 bourhood. 



Our streams, which are small, and rise only at the end of the 

 village, yield nothing but the bull's head or miller's thumb (gobius 

 fluviatilis capitatus), the trout (trutta flu*viatilis}^ the eel (anguilla\ 

 the lampern (lamptetra parva et fluviatilis), and the stickle-back 

 (pisciculus aculeatus). 1 



We are twenty miles from the sea, and almost as many from a 

 great river, and therefore see but little of sea birds. As to wild 

 fowls, we have a few teams of ducks bred in the moors [marshes] 

 where the snipes breed ; and multitudes of widgeons and teals in 

 hard weather frequent our lakes in the forest. 



Having some acquaintance with a tame brown owl, I find that it 

 casts up the fur of mice and the feathers of birds in pellets, after 

 the manner of hawks ; when full, like a dog, it hides what it can 

 not eat. 



The young of the barn-owl are not easily raised, as they want a 

 constant supply of fresh mice ; whereas the young of the brown owl 

 will eat indiscriminately all that is brought ; snails, rats, kittens, 

 puppies, magpies, and any kind of carrion or offal. 



The house-martins have eggs still, and squab young. The last 

 swift I observed was about the 2ist of August : it was a straggler. 



Red-starts, fly-catchers, white-throats, and reguli non cristati, still 

 appear : but I have seen no blackcaps lately. 



I forgot to mention that I once saw, in Christ Church College 

 quadrangle in Oxford, on a very sunny warm morning, a house- 

 martin flying about, and settling on the parapet, so late as the 2oth 

 of November. 



1 I do not attempt to identify the particular species here intended, in the 

 absence of any sufficient description. ED. 



