LX.] 
OF SELBORNE. 
171 
In the garden of the Black-Bear Inn in the town of Beading 
is a stieani or canal running under the stables and out into 
the tields on the other side of the road : in this water are many 
carps, which lie rolling about in sight, being fed by travellers, 
who amuse themselves by tossing tliem bread ; but as soon as 
the weather grows at all severe these fishes are no longer seen, 
because they retire under the stables, where they remain till the 
return of spring. Do they lie in a torpid state ? If they do not, 
how are they sujDported ? 
The note of the whitethroat, which is continually repealed, 
and often attended with odd gesticulations on the wing, is harsh 
and displeasing. These birds seem of a pugnacious disposition ; 
for they sing with an erected crest and attitudes of rivalry and 
defiance ; are shy and wild in breeding-time, avoiding neigh- 
bourhoods, and haunting lonely lanes and commons ; nay, even 
the very tops of the Sussex downs, where there are bushes and 
coveit: but in July and Jiugust they bring their broods into 
