150 NATURAL HISTORY 



It will be proper to premise here that the sixteenth, eighteenth, twen- 

 tieth, and twenty-first letters have been published already in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions: but as nicer observation has furnished several 

 corrections and additions, it is hoped that the republication of them will 

 not give offence ; especially as these sheets would be very imperfect with- 

 out them, and as they will be new to many readers who had no oppor- 

 tunity of seeing them when they made their first appearance. 



The liirundines are a most inoffensive, harmless, entertain- 

 ing, social, and useful tribe of birds : they touch no fruit in 

 our gardens ; delight, all except one species, in attaching 

 themselves to our houses ; amuse us with their migrations, 

 songs, and marvellous agility ; and clear our outlets from the 

 annoyances of gnats and other troublesome insects. Some 

 districts in the south seas, near Guiaquilf are desolated, it 

 seems, by the infinite swarms of venomous mosquitoes, which 

 fill the air, and render those coasts insupportable. It would 

 be worth inquiring whether any species of hirundines is found 

 in those regions. Whoever contemplates the myriads of in- 

 sects that sport in the sunbeams of a summer evening in this 

 country, will soon be convinced to what a degree our atmo- 



*/ ' O 



sphere would be choaked with them was it not for the friendly 

 interposition of the swallow tribe. 



Many species of birds have their particular lice; but the 



There are in the Alton Museum specimens of both species, which were 

 killed in the vicinity. Of the former the occurrence is recorded at 

 several places within a short distance of Selborne. The one preserved in 

 the Alton Museum was killed at Lasham many years ago. Mr. Cooper, 

 a very respectable bird-stuffer at Alton, had one of this species brought to 

 him which was killed at East Tisted, within about four miles of Sel- 

 borne ; and in the year 1858 he saw one pitched upon a gate, which was 

 so stupid that it allowed him to take it off with his hand. In the same 

 year he had another specimen brought to him to be stuffed. In April of 

 the year 1874 the gamekeeper of Arthur Scott, Esq., of Rotherfield Park, 

 took two young ones out of an old magpie's nest in a larch at that place. 

 I saw these young birds some time afterwards in perfect health, eating 

 readily from the hand. One of these, now two years old, is still living 

 and in health. It is a curious habit in this species that it seeks the 

 old used-up nest of some other bird (generally, as in this instance, that of 

 a magpie) for its own purpose. In the year 1874 one was killed at Tem- 

 ple Farm, in Selborne, by Mr. Bromwich, the occupier. T. B.l 

 c See Uttoa's Travels. 



