88 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



Swans turn white the second year, and breed the third. 



Weasels prey on moles, as appears by their being some- 

 times caught in mole-traps. 



Sparrow-hawks sometimes breed in old crows' nests, and 

 the kestril 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 redstarts shake their tails they move them hori- 

 zontally, as dogs do when they fawn : the tail of a 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 mornings come they 

 make a very piping plaintive noise. 



Many birds which become silent about Midsummer 

 reassume their notes again in September ; as the thrush, 

 blackbird, woodlark, willow-wren, etc. ; hence August is 

 by much the most mute month, the spring, summer, and 

 autumn through. Are birds induced to sing again because 

 the temperament of autumn resembles that of spring ? 



Linnaeus ranges plants geographically ; palms inhabit 

 the tropics, grasses the temperate zones, and mosses and 

 lichens the polar circles ; no doubt animals may be classed 

 in the same manner with propriety. 



House-sparrows build under eaves in the spring ; as the 

 weather becomes hotter they get out for coolness, and nest 

 in plum-trees and apple-trees. These birds have been 

 known sometimes to build in rooks' nests, and sometimes 

 in the forks of boughs under rooks' nests. 



As my neighbour was housing a rick he observed that 

 his dogs devoured all the litde red mice that they could 

 catch, but rejected the common mice ; and that his cats 

 ate the common mice refusing the red. 



Red-breasts sing all through the spring, summer, and 

 autumn. The reason that they are called autumn songsters 



