366 The Natural History of Set borne 



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 manner, 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 seemed to be well calcu- 

 lated for their winter residence ; for in many parts it is as steep 

 as the roof of any house, and therefore secure from the an- 

 noyances 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 im- 

 pervious 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 the thir- 

 teenth 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 morn- 

 ing 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 

 presume that, with proper assistants, I should have settled 

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



