OF SELBORNE 125 



tenor, should sometimes be so extravagantly diverted, I leave to 

 abler philosophers than myself to determine. 



I am, &c. 



LETTER XV. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, July 8, 1773. 

 DEAR SIR, 



SOME young men went down lately to a pond on the verge of 

 Wolmer-forest 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 

 nests, 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 shew 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 the feet 

 may be at liberty to take hold of the plate on the wall as they 

 are rising under the eaves. 



