LETTER XII. 



To the same. 



March g(h, IJJ2. 



EAR SIR, As a gentleman and myself were 

 walking on the fourth of last November 

 round the sea-banks at Newhaven, 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 met 

 with, I am more and more induced to believe that many of 

 the swallow kind do not depart from this island, but lay them- 

 selves up in holes and caverns ; and do, insect-like and bat- 

 like, come forth at mild times, and then retire again to their 

 latebrce. Nor make I the least doubt but that, if I lived at 

 Newhaven, Seaford, Brighthelmstone [Brighton], or any of 

 those towns near the chalk cliffs of the Sussex coast, by proper 

 observations I should see swallows stirring at periods of the 

 winter when the noons were soft and inviting, and the sun 

 warm and invigorating. And I am the more of this opinion 

 from what I have remarked during some of our late springs, 



