OF SELBORNE. 133 



full tone and firmness. Hedge-hogs make 

 a deep and warm hybernaculum with leaves 

 and moss, in which they conceal themselves 

 for the Winter : but I never could find that 

 they stored in any Winter provision, as 

 some quadrupeds certainly do. 



I have discovered an anecdote with re- 

 spect to the fieldfare ( turdus pilaris ), which 

 I think is particular enough : this bird, 

 though it sits on trees in the day-time, and 

 procures the greatest part of its food from 

 white-thorn hedges ; yea, moreover, builds 

 on very high trees ; as may be seen by the 

 fauna suecica ; yet always appears with us 

 to roost on the ground. They are seen to 

 come in flocks just before it is dark, and to 

 settle and nestle among the heath on our 

 forest. And besides, the larkers, in drag- 

 ging their nets by night, frequently catch 

 them in the wheat-stubbles ; while the bat- 

 fowlers, who take many red-wings in the 

 hedges, never entangle any of this species. 

 Why these birds, in the matter of roosting', 

 should differ from all their congeners, and 

 from themselves also with respect to their 



