THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. ; OI 
The titmouse, which early in February begins to make two 
quaint notes, like the whetting of a saw, is the marsh titmouse: 
the great titmouse sings with three cheerful Tnyerus notes, and 
begins about the same time. 
Wrens sing all the winter through, frost excepted. 
House-martins came remarkably late this year both in 
Hampshire and Devonshire: is this circumstance for or against 
either hiding or migration ? 
Most birds drink sipping at intervals; but pigeons take a 
long-continued draught, like quadrupeds. 
Notwithstanding what I have said in a former letter, no gray 
crows were ever known to breed on Dartmoor ; it was my mis- 
take. , 
The appearance and flying of the fern-chafer commence 
with the month of July, and cease about the end of it. These 
scarabs are the constant food of fern-owls through that period. 
They abound on the chalky downs and in some sandy districts, 
but not in the clays. 
In the garden of the Black Bear inn in the town of Reading, 
is a stream or canal running under the stables and out into the 
fields 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 them 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 supported ? 
The note of the white-throat, which is continually repeated 
and often attended with odd gesticulations on the wing, is 
harsh and displeasing. These birds seem of a pugnacious dis- 
position ; for they sing with an erected crest and attitudes of 
rivalry and defiance; are shy and wild in breeding-time, avoid- 
ing neighborhoods and haunting lonely lanes and commons ; 
nay, even the very tops of the Sussex Downs, where there are 
