NA TURAL HTSTOR Y OF SELBORNE. 153 



LETTER XV. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, July Zth, 1773. 



DEAR SIR, Some young men went down lately to a pond on 

 the verge of Wolmer Poorest to hunt flappers, or young wild-ducks, 

 many of which they caught, and, among the rest, some very minute 

 yet well-fledged wild-fowls alive, which upon examination I found 

 to be teals. I did not know till then that teals ever bred in the 

 south of England, and was much pleased with the discovery : this 

 I look upon as a great stroke in natural history. 



We have had, ever since I can remember, a pair of white owls 

 that constantly breed under the eaves of this church. As I have 

 paid good attention to the manner of life of these birds during 

 their season of breeding, which lasts the summer through, the 

 following remarks may not perhaps be unacceptable : About an 

 hour before sunset (for then the mice begin to run) they sally forth 

 in quest of prey, and hunt all round the hedges of meadows and 

 small enclosures for them, which seem to be their only food. In 

 this irregular country we can stand on an eminence and see them 

 beat the fields over like a setting-dog, and often drop down in the 

 grass or corn. I have minuted these birds with my watch for an 

 hour together, and have found that they return to their nest, the 

 one or the other of them, about once in five minutes ; reflecting 

 at the same time on the adroitness that every animal is possessed 

 of as far as regards the well-being of itself and offspring. But a 

 piece of address, which they show when they return loaded, should 

 not, I think, be passed over in silence. As they take their prey 

 with their claws, so they carry it in their claws to their nest ; but, 

 as the feet are necessary in their ascent under the tiles, they 

 constantly perch first on the roof of the chancel, and shift the 

 mouse from their claws to their bill, that their feet may be at 

 liberty to take hold of the plate on the wall as they are rising 

 under the eaves. 



White owls seem not (but in this I am not positive) to hoot at 

 all ; all that clamorous hooting appears to me to come from the 



