THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. g 9 
LETTER V. 
Among the singularities of this place the two rocky hollow 
lanes, the one to Alton, and the other to the forest, deserve 
our attention. ‘These roads, running through the malm lands, 
are, by the traffic of ages, and the fretting of water, worn down 
through the first stratum of our freestone, and partly through 
the second; so that they look more like water-courses than 
roads; and are bedded with naked rag for furlongs together. 
In many places they are reduced sixteen to eighteen feet 
beneath the level of the fields ; and after floods, and in frosts, 
exhibit very grotesque and wild appearances, from the tangled 
roots that are twisted among the strata, and from the torrents 
rushing down their broken sides ; and especially when those 
cascades are frozen into icicles, hanging in all the fanciful 
shapes of frost-work. These rugged gloomy scenes affright the 
ladies when they peep down into them from the paths above, 
and make timid horsemen shudder while they ride along them; 
but delight the naturalist with their various botany, and par- 
_ ticularly with the curious /#/ices with which they abound. 
| The manor of Selborne, was it strictly looked after, with all 
its kindly aspects, and all its sloping coverts,.would swarm 
with game; even now hares, partridges, and pheasants abound; 
and in old days woodcocks were as plentiful. There are few 
quails, because they more affect open fields than enclosures; 
after harvest some few landrails are seen. 
[A man brought me a landrail or daker-hen, a bird so rare in 
this district, that we seldom see more than one or two in a 
season, and those only in autumn. This is deemed a bird of 
passage by all the writers; yet from its formation, seems to be 
poorly qualified for migration; for its wings are short, and 
_ placed so forward, and out of the centre of gravity, that it flies 
in a very heavy and embarrassed manner, with its legs hanging 
down; and can hardly be sprung a second time, as it runs very 
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