The Natural History of Selborne: With A Naturalist's Calendar & Additional Observations

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Scott, 1887 - Natural history - 366 pages
 

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Page 54 - For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Page 129 - Part loosely wing the region, part more wise In common, ranged in figure wedge their way, Intelligent of seasons, and set forth Their airy caravan high over seas Flying, and over lands with mutual wing Easing their flight...
Page 189 - ... over the part affected. For it is supposed that a shrewmouse is of so baneful and deleterious a nature, that wherever it creeps over a beast, be it horse, cow or sheep, the suffering animal is afflicted with cruel anguish, and threatened with the loss of the use of the limb. Against this accident, to which they were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A...
Page 103 - As, when the dove her rocky hold forsakes, Roused in a fright, her sounding wings she shakes ; The cavern rings with clattering ; out she flies, And leaves her callow care, and cleaves the skies : At first she flutters ; but at length she springs To smoother flight, and shoots upon her wings : So Mnestheus in the Dolphin cuts the sea ; And, flying with a force, that force assists his way.
Page 200 - ... slopes where the rain washes the earth away ; and they affect slopes, probably to avoid being flooded. Gardeners and farmers express their detestation of worms ; the former because they render their walks unsightly, and make them much work : and the latter because, as they think, worms eat their green corn. But these men would find that the earth without worms would soon become cold, hardbound, and void of fermentation ; and consequently sterile...
Page 278 - ... alteration in the air. The sun, at noon, looked as blank as a clouded moon, and shed a rustcoloured ferruginous light on the ground, and floors of . rooms ; but was particularly lurid and blood-coloured at rising and setting. All the time the heat was so intense that butchers...
Page 279 - Looks through the horizontal misty air Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon, In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.
Page 180 - THERK is a wonderful spirit of sociality in the brute creation, independent of sexual attachment : the congregating of gregarious birds in the winter is a remarkable instance. Many horses, though quiet with company, will not stay one minute in a field by themselves : the strongest fences cannot restrain them. My neighbour's horse will not only not stay by himself abroad, but he will not bear to be left...
Page 137 - ... much solicitude about rain as a lady dressed in all her best attire, shuffling away on the first sprinklings, and running its head up in a corner. If attended to, it becomes an excellent weather-glass ; for as sure as it walks elate, and as it were on tiptoe, feeding with great earnestness in a morning, so sure will it rain before night.
Page 146 - ... by its own weight, the provident architect has prudence and forbearance enough not to advance her work too fast ; but by building only in the morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About half an inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus careful workmen when they build...

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