302 HOUSE-MARTINS. 



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 man- 

 ner, 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 afternoon, 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, 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 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 

 impervious 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 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. 



