About
fifty acres of land suffered from this violent convulsion; two
houses were entirely destroyed; one end of a new barn was left in
ruins, the walls being cracked through the very stones that
composed them; a hanging coppice was changed to a naked rock;
and some grass grounds and an arable field so broken and rifted by
the chasms as to be rendered, for a time, neither fit for the plough
or safe for pasturage, till considerable labour and expense had been
bestowed in levelling the surface and filling in the gaping fissures.
Letter XLVI
To The Honourable Daines Barrington
Selborne.
... resonant arbusta ...
There is a steep abrupt pasture field interspersed with furze close
to the back of this village, well known by the name of the Short
Lithe, consisting of a rocky dry soil, and inclining to the afternoon
sun. This spot abounds with the gryllus campestris, or field-cricket;
which, though frequent in these parts, is by no means a common
insect in many other counties.
As their cheerful summer cry cannot but draw the attention of a
naturalist, I have often gone down to examine the oeconomy of
these grylli, and study their mode of life: but they are so shy and
cautious that it is no easy matter to get a sight of them; for, feeling
a person's footsteps as he advances, they stop short in the midst of
their song, and retire backward nimbly into their burrows, where
they lurk till all suspicion of danger is over.
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