OF SELBORNE. 371 



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 3d of November was a sweet 

 day, and in appearance exactly suited to my wishes, 

 yet not a martin was to be seen ; and so I was forced, 

 reluctantly, to give up the pursuit. 



I have only to add, that were the bushes, which cover 

 some acres, and are not my own property, to be grubbed 

 and carefully examined, probably those late broods, 

 and perhaps the whole aggregate body of the house 



tained to fly, it is by no means an arduous undertaking, and must be 

 quickly accomplished, especially if a moment be chosen when the wind 

 is favourable. The only danger arises from violent squalls of cross or 

 contrary winds, and we know that in such cases birds are driven out of 

 their accustomed course and seek for refuge in ships, and sometimes are 

 drowned. 



Mr. White draws from circumstances probabilities which are not jus- 

 tified by his statements. Why should it be imagined, because a flight of 

 martins roosted in a thick warm covert some nights before their last 

 appearance at the cold season of the year, that, instead of following the 

 rest of their kind to more genial regions, they should have ensconced 

 themselves there in a state of torpidness. Coppices are felled in winter, 

 and there are few which are not thoroughly ransacked by sportsmen, and 

 it is impossible that lurkers should not be often brought to light, if such 

 habits of concealment prevailed amongst them. 



But there is nothing in the whole course of Mr. White's observation 

 tending in the slightest manner to justify the belief of their somnolency ; 

 on the contrary all his evidence weighs the other way, and if it be true 

 that they ever do secrete themselves in obscure winter quarters, the fact 

 must rest upon the testimony of other persons: but, if true at all, such 

 concealment appears to be only a resource of nature for stragglers which 

 have not departed in due season. Those which were observed by 

 Mr. White in November seemed to be young birds, bred too late to mi- 

 grate in company with the rest of their species. Granting that Hirundines 

 may have in a few instances been found torpid, they are said to have been 

 aroused from their sleep only to die presently : it is nowhere demon- 

 strated that when a straggling martin or two have been seen for a few 

 days, the same birds ever reappeared ; and it is much more probable, 

 that, having missed their time of passage and lost their conductors, or 

 come over too soon, they ramble about attempting to improve their situa- 

 tion, and either succeed in so doing, or perish ultimately, than that they 

 should pass from a state of torpor at an uncongenial season, and return to 

 it again. W. H. 



BB 2 



