116 ORNITHOLOGY OF SELBORNE. 



any young broods appeared ; so that there was no 

 danger of confounding the dams with their pulli; 

 and besides, as they were then always in pairs, 

 and busied in the employ of nidification, there 

 could be no room for mistaking the sexes, nor 

 the individuals of different chimneys the one for 

 the other. From all my observations, it constantly 

 appeared that each sex has the long feathers in 

 its tail that give it that forked shape ; with this 

 difference, that they are longer in the tail of the 

 male than in that of the female. 



Nightingales, when their young first come 

 abroad, and are helpless, make a plaintive and a 

 jarring noise; and also a snapping or cracking, 

 pursuing people along the hedges as they walk : 

 these last sounds seem intended for menace and 

 defiance. 



The grasshopper lark chirps all night in the 

 height of summer. 



Swans turn white the second year, and breed 

 the third. 



Weasels prey on moles, as appears by their 

 being sometimes caught in mole-traps. 



Sparrow-hawks sometimes breed in old crows' 

 nests ; and the kestrel in churches and ruins. 



There are supposed to be two sorts of eels in the 

 island of Ely. The threads sometimes discovered 

 in eels are perhaps their young : the generation of 

 eels is very dark and mysterious. 



Hen-harriers breed on the ground, and seem 

 never to settle on trees. 



When red- starts shake their tails, they move 

 them horizontally, as dogs do when they fawn : 

 the tail of the wagtail, when in motion, bobs up 

 and down like that of a jaded horse. 



Hedge-sparrows have a remarkable flirt with 

 their wings in breeding time : as soon as frosty 



