A certain swallow built for two years together 

 on the handles of a pair of garden shears that were 

 stuck up against the boards in an out-house, and 

 therefore must have her nest spoiled whenever that 

 implement was wanted: and, what is stranger still, 

 another bird of the same species built its nest on 

 the wings and body of an owl that happened by 

 accident to hang dead and dry from the rafter of a 

 barn. This owl, with the nest on its wings, and with 

 eggs in the nest, was brought as a curiosity worthy 

 the most elegant private museum in Great Britain. 

 The owner, struck with the oddity of the sight, 

 furnished the bringer with a large shell, or conch, 

 desiring him to fix it just where the owl hung: the 

 person did as he was ordered, and the following year 

 a pair, probably the same pair, built their nest in the 

 conch, and laid their eggs. 



The owl and the conch make a strange grotesque 

 appearance, and are not the least curious specimens 

 in that wonderful collection of art and nature. 



Thus is instinct in animals, taken the least out of 

 its way, an undistinguishing, limited faculty; and 

 blind to every circumstance that does not immedi- 

 ately respect self-preservation, or lead at once to the 

 propagation or support of their species. 



Selborne, Sept. g, 1767. 



10 



