of Selborne 221 



awakened to express its resentments by hissing; and. 

 packing it in a box with earth, carried it eighty miles in 

 post-chaises. The rattle and hurry of the journey so 

 perfectly roused it that, when I turned it out on a border, 

 it walked twice down to the bottom of my garden ; how- 

 ever, in the evening, the weather being cold, it buried 

 itself in the loose mould, and continues still concealed. 



As it will be under my eye, I shall now have an 

 opportunity of enlarging my observations on its mode 

 of life, and propensities ; and perceive already that, 

 towards the time of coming forth, it opens a breathing 

 place in the ground near its head, requiring, I conclude, 

 a freer respiration, as it becomes more alive. This 

 creature not only goes under the earth from the middle 

 of November to the middle of April, but sleeps great 

 part of the summer; for it goes to bed in the longest 

 days at four in the afternoon, and often does not stir in 

 the morning till late. Besides, it retires to rest for every 

 shower; and does not move at all in wet days. 



When one reflects on the state of this strange being, it 

 is a matter of wonder to find that Providence should 

 bestow such a profusion of days, such a seeming waste 

 of longevity, on a reptile that appears to relish it so 

 little as to squander more than two-thirds of its existence 

 in a joyless stupor, and be lost to all sensation for 

 months together in the profoundest of slumbers. 



While I was writing this letter, a moist and warm 

 afternoon, with the thermometer at 50, brought forth 

 troups of shell-snails ; and, at the same juncture, the 

 tortoise heaved up the mould and put out its head ; 

 and the next morning came forth, as it were raised from 

 the dead; and walked about till four in the afternoon. 

 This was a curious coincidence ! a very amusing occur- 

 rence ! to see such a similarity of feelings between the 

 two <f)€pioiKOL ! for so the Greeks call both the shell-snail 

 and the tortoise. 



Summer birds are, this cold and backward spring, un- 

 usually late : I have seen but one swallow yet. This 

 conformity with the weather convinces me more and 

 more that they sleep in the winter. 



