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Whites Selbourne by E. T. Bennett

p 39 Bennett remarks on herds of deer keeping separate, in Forest of Dean & High Meadow woods deer are kept of two quite distinct colours, black & pale, & yet never one individual observed to mingle.— In the New Forest, the herds are known & are said hardly ever to mingle:— this against crossing in favour of species making.

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p 65 W. Herbert says that migratory singing birds kept in cages, show for nearly a month

Spring & autumn, much restlessness - They usually go to roost quietly but if a light be brought into the room after dark, it is very difficult to get them to perch again

"The anxiety is always accompanied with a looking upwards, &c as if the bird

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wished to soar up.

"It appears from this, as if the rise of the moon were the summons for departure"

p. 137. W. Herbert thinks that amongst songstress males much predominate in numbers over females, when the latter predominate amongst the sluggish vocalists.

p. 322. The Dean of Mandala marvels at destruction of small birds, a nightingale lives 9 or 10 years: but the destruction by yellow-hammers & chaffinches more surprising

- if six are reared from a pair. 6 owls of that & must perish before next summer.

Has been even more puzzled to understand the common consumption of toads - pikes won't eat them.

Has seen that ground crowded with grey ones

Toad known to be very long-lived

White says that Ducks, Buzzards owls stone curlews & snakes eat toads, but in the neighbourhood, there absent or rare — yet somehow

"this enormous increase of toads disappears before next. summer!!!

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White, Gilbert. 1837. The natural history and antiquities of Selborne. A new edition with notes by Edward Turner Bennett. London: Longman etc. PDF