158 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



greyhounds wait on the motions of their finders ; and as lions are 

 said to do on the yelpings cf jackals. Lapwings and starlings 

 sometimes associate. 



LETTER XII. 



March g/h, 1772. 



DEAR SIR, As a gentleman and myself were walking on the 

 4th of last November round the sea-banks 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 north-west ; 

 but the tenor of the weather for some time before had been 

 delicate, and the noons remarkably warm. From this incident, 

 and from repeated accounts which I meet 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 latebra. 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 periods 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 remarked during some of our late springs, that though 

 some swallows did make their appearance about the usual time, 

 viz., the 1 3th or i4th April, yet meeting with a harsh reception, 

 and blustering cold north-east winds, they immediately withdrew, 

 absconding for several days, till the weather gave them better 

 encouragement. 



