[XCIX.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



265 



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 ; they 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 

 13th and 14th 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 

 22nd of October, in the morning, I observed two 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 pre- 

 sume that, with proper assistants, I should have settled the 

 matter past all doubt ; but though the 3rd of November was a 

 sweet day, and in appearance exactly suited to my wishes, yet 

 not a martin was to be seen ; and so I was forced reluctantly to 

 give up the pursuit. 



I have only to add, that, were the bushes, which cover some 

 acres, and are not my own property, to be grubbed and carefully 

 examined, probably those late broods, and perhaps the whole 

 aggregate body of the house-martins of this district, might be 

 found there, in different secret dormitories ; and that, so far from 

 withdrawing into warmer climes, it would appear that they 

 never depart three hundred yards from the village. 



October 10, 1781. 



VOL. I. 



M it 



