OF SELBORNE. 239 



then, their associates attend them on the motive of 

 interest, as greyhounds wait on the motions of their 

 finders ; and as lions are said to do on the yelpings of 

 jackals. Lapwings and starlings sometimes associate. 



LETTER XII. 



TO THE SAME. 

 DEAR SIR, March 9, 1772. 



Asa gentleman and myself were walking on the 4th 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 swal- 

 lows 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 meet 

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

 of the swallow kind do not depart from this island ; 

 but lay themselves up in holes and caverns ; and do, 

 insectlike and batlike, come forth at mild times, and 

 then retire again to their latebra. Nor make I the 

 least doubt but that, if I lived at Newhaven, Seaford, 

 Brighthelmstone, 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, that though some swallows did make 

 their appearance about the usual time, viz. the 13th or 

 14th of April, yet, meeting with a harsh reception, and 

 blustering cold north-east winds, they immediately 

 withdrew, absconding for several days, till the weather 

 gave them better encouragement. 



