OF SELBOBNE. 
271 
vinced by finding stragglers in a morning in improbable 
places. In fine weather, about the middle of April, and 
just at the close of day, they begin to solace themselves 
with a low, dull, jarring note, continued for a long time 
without interruption, and not unlike the chattering of the 
fern-owl or goat- sucker, but more inward. 
MOLE CRICKET AND NEST. 
About the beginning of May they lay their eggs, as I 
was once an eye-witness ; for a gardener, at a house where 
I was on a visit, happening to be mowing, on the 6th of that 
month, by the side of a canal, his scythe struck too deep, 
pared off a large piece of turf, and laid open to view a 
curious scene of domestic economy : 
" ingentem lato dedit ore fenestram : 
Apparet domus intus, et atria longa patescuut : 
Apparent penetralia." 
There were many caverns and winding passages leading 
to a kind of chamber, neatly smoothed and rounded, and 
about the size of a moderate snuff-box. Within this secret 
