262 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



a flight, for one day only, has shown itself in the first 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 was resolved to pay uncommon 

 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 these 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 evenings together, just at a quarter-past five in the after- 

 noon, they all scudded away in great haste 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 seemed 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 from 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 entangled as to be im- 

 pervious to the smallest spaniel; besides, it is the nature of 

 underwood beech never to cast its leaf all the winter; so that, 

 with the leaves on the ground and those on the twigs, no shelter 

 can be more complete. I watched them on the i3th and i4th 

 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 22nd 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, I presume 

 that, with proper assistants, I should have settled the matter past 



