180 SWALLOWS. 



spoiled whenever that implement was wanted. And, what 

 IS stranger still, another bird of the same species built its 

 nest on the wings and body of an owl, that happened by 

 accident to hang dead and dry from the rafter of a barn. 

 This owl, with the nest on its wmgs, and with eggs in the 

 nest, was brought as a curiosity worthy the most elegant 

 private museum in Great Britain. The owner, struck with 

 the oddity of the sight, fiu-nished the bringer with a large 

 shell, or conch, desiring him to fix it just where the owl 

 hung. The person did as he was ordered ; and the following 

 year, a pair, probably the same pair, built their nest in the 

 conch, and laid their eggs. 



The owl and the conch make a strange, grotesque appear- 

 ance, and are not the least curious specimecs in that wonder- 

 ful collection of art and nature.* 



Thus is instinct in animals, taken the least out of its 

 way, an undistinguishing, limited faculty, and blind to every 

 circumstance that does not immediately respect self-pre- 

 servation, or lead at once to the propagation or support of 

 their species. 



LETTEE LYIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, Feb. 14, 1774. 

 Deae Sir, — I received your favour of the eighth, and am 

 pleased to find that you read my little history of the swallow 



served the old and young birds as a perch. After the first brood of four took 

 strong flight, no more was seen of them in the carriage-house till the evening 

 preceding the above-mentioned final departure, when my man hearing a great 

 rliattering amongst his favourites, and fearing a cat had got among them, 

 hurried to the rescue, when, to his astonishment, he beheld the two old birds, 

 and all their annual progeny (eleven) perched in a line, evidently receiving 

 instructions relative to their mysterious journey : be that as it may, on the 

 following morning all were gone !" 



The above remarks also prove that swallows return to the same 

 locality. — Ed. 



* Sir Ashton Lever's Museum 



