160 NATURAL HISTORY 



tember the twenty-second, they rendezvoused in a neigh- 

 bour's walnut tree, where it seemed probable they had 

 taken up their lodging for the night. At the dawn of 

 the day, which was foggy, they rose all together in 

 infinite numbers, occasioning such a rushing from the 

 strokes of their wings against the hazy air, as might be 

 heard to a considerable distance : since that no flock 

 has appeared, only a few r stragglers. 



Some swifts stayed late, till the twenty-second of 

 August a rare instance! for they usually withdraw 

 within the first week 2 . 



On September the twenty-fourth three or four ring- 

 ousels appeared in my fields for the first time this 

 season : how punctual are these visitors in their 

 autumnal and spring migrations ! 



LETTER XXXVIIL 



TO THE SAME. 

 DFAK sin, SELBORNE, March 15, 1773. 



BY my journal for last autumn it appears that the 

 house martins bred very late, and stayed very late in 

 these parts; for, on the first of October, I saw young 

 martins in their nest nearly fledged ; and again, on the 

 twenty-first of October, we had, at the next house, a 

 nest full of young martins just ready to fly ; and the 

 old ones were hawking for insects with great alertness. 

 The next morning the brood forsook their nest, and 

 were flying round the village. From this day I never 

 saw one of the swallow kind till November the third ; 

 when twenty, or perhaps thirty, house martins were 

 playing all day long by the side of the hanging wood, 

 and over my fields. Did these small weak birds, some 

 of which were nestlings twelve days ago, shift their 



a See Letter LI I. to Mr. Harrington. 



