178 NATURAL HISTORY 
finders, and as lions are said to do on the yelping 
of jackals. Lapwings and starlings sometimes as- 
sociate. 
LETTER Xil. 
March 9, 1772. 
Dear Sir,—As a gentleman and myself were 
walking on the 4th of last November round the 
seabanks at Newhaven, near the mouth of the 
Lewes River, in pursuit of natural knowledge, we 
were surprised to see three house-swallows gliding 
very swiftly by us. ‘That morning was rather chilly, 
with the wind at northwest ; but the tenour of the 
weather for some time before had been delicate, 
and the noons remarkably warm. From this inci- 
dent, and from repeated accounts which I met with, 
I am more and more induced to believe that many 
of the swallow kind do not depart from this island, 
but lay themselves up in holes and caverns, and do, 
insect-like and bat-like, come forth at mild times, 
and then retire again to their datebre. Nor make 
I the least doubt but that, if I lived at Newhaven, 
Seaford, Brighthelmstone, or any of those towns 
near the chalk-cliffs of the Sussex coast, by proper 
observations, I should see swallows stirring at peri- 
ods of the winter, when the noons were soft and 
inviting, and the sun warm and invigorating. And 
I am the more of this opinion from what I have re- 
marked during some of our late springs, that, though 
some swallows did make their appearance about the 
usual time, viz., the 18th or 14th of April, yet, 
