OF SELBORNE. 



353 



very slow and helpless, and make no use of their wings 

 by day; but at night they come abroad, and make long 

 excursions, as I have been convinced by finding strag- 

 glers in a morning, in improbable places. In fine wea- 

 ther, about the middle of April, and just at the close of 

 day, they begin to solace themselves with a low, dull, 

 jarring note, continued for a long time without interrup- 

 tion, and not unlike the chattering of the fern-owl, or 

 goat-sucker, but more inward. 



MOLE CRICKET AND NEST. 



About the beginning of May they lay their eggs, as I 

 was once an eye-witness; for a gardener, at a house 

 where I was on a visit, happening to be mowing, on the 

 (3th of that month, by the side of a canal, his scythe 

 struck too deep, pared off a large piece of turf, and laid 

 open to view a curious scene of domestic economy : 



irigentem lato dedit ore fenestram : 



Apparet domus intfts, et atria longa patescunt : 

 Apparent penetralia." 



A A 



