NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 33 



seemed disposed to breed in my outlet ; but were frighted and per- 

 secuted 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 I shot. Since that, now 

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



A crossbill {loxia curvirostra) 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 1 s thumb (gobius 

 fluviatilis capitatus) , the trout (truttafluviatilis}^ the eel (anguilla\ 

 the lampern (lampatra parva et fluviatilis}, and the stickle- back 

 (pisciculiis acnleatus). 



MILLERS THUMB AND STICKLE-BACK. 



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 teems of ducks bred in the moors 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. 



c 



