XLIX.] OF SELBORNE. 133 



LETTER XLIX. 

 TO THE HONOURABLE DAIXES SARRIXGTON. 



As a gentleman and myself were walking on the 4th of last 

 November round the sea-banks at Xewhaven, 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, 1 come forth at mild 



1 Concerning swallows, the reader will see that Mr. White appears to 

 incline more and more in favour of their torpidity, and against their migra- 

 tion. Mr. D. Barrington is still more positive on the same side of the 

 question ; yet the ancients generally mention this bird as wintering in Africa. 

 See Anacreon Xy. ed. Brunck. p. 38. The Rhodinns had a festival called 

 XeXiSoKia, when the boys brought about young swallows ; the song which they 

 sang may be seen in the works of Meursius, v. 3, p. !)74, fol. 



"HX&, "HX#e, xXi8oii> icnXdr, 

 "Qpas Syowra, (cni (taXois 'F.viavroiis 

 "Em yaarfpa Xeuicd, K eVi VOITCI ^te'Xmya. 

 " He comes ! He conies ! who loves to bear 

 Soft sunny hours and seasons fair ;-- 

 The swallow hither comes to rest 

 His sable wing and snowy breast." 



And alluding to this custom, Avienus (who may be considered only as a very 

 bad translator of an excellent poem, the "Periegesis" of Dionysius) thus 

 says, v. 705, 



" Nam cum vere novo, tellus se dura relaxat, 

 Culminibusque cavis, blandum strepit ales hirund 

 Gens devota choros agitat ! " 



" When in early spring the iron soil relaxes, comes the swallow chirping 

 pleasantly from the hollow eaves, and the pious people begin to dance." 



From a passage in the " Birds " of Aristophanes, we learn that among the 

 Greeks the crane, pointed out the time of sowing ; the arrival of the kite, the 



