276 HOUSE-MARTIj!?g. 



of that montli ; and tliat, at times, once perhaps in two or 

 three years, a flight, for one day only, has shown itself in tha 

 fii'st week in November. 



Having taken notice, in October, 1780, that the last flight 

 was numerous, amounting perhaps to one hundred and fifty, 

 and that the season was soft and still, I resolved to pay un- 

 common attention to these late birds, to find, if possible, 

 where they roosted, and to determine the precise time of their 

 retreat. The mode of life of the latter hirundines is very 

 favourable to such a design, for they spend the whole day in 

 the sheltered district between me and the Hanger, sailing 

 about in a placid, easy manner, and feasting on those insects 

 which love to haunt a spot so secure from ruffling winds. 

 As my principal object was to discover the place of their 

 roosting, I took care to wait on them before they retired to 

 rest, and was much pleased to find that, for several eveninga 

 together, just at a quarter past five in the afternoon, they all 

 scudded away in great has^^te towards the south-east, and 

 darted down among the low shrubs above the cottages at the 

 end of the hill. This spot, in many respects, seems to be 

 well calculated for their winter residence, for, in many parts, 

 it is as steep as the roof of any house, and, therefore, secure 

 fron the annoyances of water ; and it is, moreover, clothed 

 with beechen shrubs, which, being stunted and bitten by 

 sheep, make the thickest covert imaginable, and are so en- 

 tangled as to be impervious to the smallest spaniel ; besides, 

 it is the nature of underwood beech never to cast its leaf all 

 the vnnter, so that, with the leaves on the ground and those 

 on the twigs, no shelter can be more complete. I watched 

 them on to the thirteenth and fourteenth of October, and 

 found their evening retreat was exact and uniform ; but after 

 this they made no regular appearance. Now and then a 

 straggler was seen ; and, on the twenty-second of October, I 

 observed two, in the morning, over the village, and with them 

 my remarks for the season ended. 



From all these circumstances put together, it is more 

 than probable that this lingering flight, at so late a season of 

 the year, never departed from the island.* Had they indulged 

 me that autumn with a November visit, as I much desired, 



* There may be solitary instances of martins, &c., hybernating in this country 



