148 



I do not hold, and, consequently, have never expressed, the 

 theory attributed to me by Mr. Kendall as to the cause of the 

 colour of the purple-grey rocks. With respect to the convenience 

 of any particular views in the correlation of beds, I would only 

 say that apparent convenience has always been a frequent cause of 

 unsound theory. 



As to my diagrams, it seems worth while to remark that a 

 section along a single line cannot show the full dip of two highly 

 unconformable formations at the same time. 



T. V. H. 



DESTRUCTION OF SWALLOWS. 



The first week of May, 1886, was fine and warm. Wind princi- 

 pally S. and VV., the 7 th being a particularly fine hot day. On the 

 8th the wind veered to E., rainy and cold, which continued till the 

 1 2th, when it was N.E., with rain and sleet; on the fells heavy 

 snow and intense cold. On the loth and nth the swallows were first 

 observed to be feeling the want of food and warmth, as no insects 

 were flying during these bitter east winds. The birds had so over- 

 come their natural timidity as to persistently seek the shelter of 

 houses, fishermen's huts, etc., whilst others were seen clustering 

 together in groups, sometimes as far as twenty or thirty birds : the 

 birds as they got forced to the top of the group, sought the 

 bottom again, and forced their way in. On the morning of the 

 12th many swallows, H. rustica, were flying so slow and wearied, 

 that the writer could have caught them with a butterfly net. Dead 

 birds now began to be seen and picked up everywhere in great 

 numbers, and in almost every part of Cumberland this occurred — 

 except the most southern portion, for which I have no data — and 

 also in the northern portion of Westmorland. Though many dead 

 Swifts, C. apiis, were found on the 13th and 14th, yet they seem 

 to have stood the cold and want of food better than the Hirun- 

 dinidce.- On the 15th I visited Rockcliffe, and beneath the cliffs 

 the ground was thickly strewn with dead birds, H, rusiica, C. urbica, 



