NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 67 



bulk of them seem to withdraw at once ; only some stragglers stay 

 behind a long while, and do never, there is the greatest reason to 

 believe, leave this island. Swallows seem to lay themselves up, 

 and to come forth in a warm day, as bats do continually of a warm 

 evening, after they have disappeared for weeks. For a very 

 respectable gentleman assured me that, as he was walking with 

 some friends under Merton Wall on a remarkably hot noon, either 

 in the last week in December or the first week in January, he 

 espied three or four swallows huddled together on the moulding of 

 one of the windows of that college. I have frequently remarked 

 that swallows are seen later at Oxford than elsewhere ; is it owing 

 to the vast massy buildings of that place, to the many waters 

 round it, or to what else ? * 



When I used to rise in a morning last autumn, and see the 

 swallows and martins clustering on the chimneys and thatch of the 

 neighbouring cottages, I could not help being touched with a secret 

 delight, mixed with some degree of mortification ; with delight, to 

 observe with how much ardour and punctuality those poor little 

 birds obeyed the strong impulse towards migration, or hiding, im- 

 printed on their minds by their great Creator ; and with some 



* This letter is a reply to some of Mr. Pennant's inquiries, and is remarkable for the 

 very distinct observations made upon the swallows. In a small pamphlet printed at 

 Rotherham in 1815, the author of which we never ascertained, there are some observations 

 made that agree with many of those recorded by Mr. White. These were also made by 

 a clergyman, as it is told in his short preface, " to rescue a beautiful and instructive 

 phenomenon from oblivion, and to render it subservient to the moral improvement of his 

 numerous and highly-respected charge." 



" Early in the month of September, 1815, the swallows began to assemble in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Rotherham , at the willow ground near the glass-house on the banks of the 

 canal, preparatory to their migration to a warmer climate, and their numbers were daily 

 augmented until they became a vast flock which no man could easily number. It was 

 their manner while there to rise from the willows in the morning a little before six 

 o'clock, when their thick columns literally darkened the sky. In the evening, about five 

 o'clock, they began to return to their station, and continued coming in from all quarters 

 until nearly dark." The year advanced, and "accordingly their mighty army broke up 

 their encampment, debouched from their retreat, and rising covered the heavens with their 

 legions ; then directed by an unerring guide took their trackless way. On the day of their 

 flight they left behind them about a hundred of their companions, after these a few 

 stragglers only remained. These might be the sick or too young to attempt so great an 

 expedition ; whether this was the fact or not, they did not remain after the next day." The 

 common house swallow is seen every autumn to congregate in large bodies as above 

 described. The willow aits in the Thames are very favourite resorts, and we have no 

 doubt that similar localities will, in like manner, be taken advantage of. They also 

 assemble on some bare tree, upon rails and house-tops, making excursions therefrom as if 

 to exercise their young broods in flying, and at this autumnal period we have often seen 

 them assemble and roost upon the alders fringing the side of a river. While at Malvern, 

 some years since, in the month of September^ the little white-rumped martin (ff.iirbica) 

 congregated in hundreds upon the roof, cornices, and window-tops of Mr. Wilson's large 

 house there. This was continued daily until the great departure took place, and in twenty- 

 four hours only a few stragglers remained of the large concourse. The balcony and 

 windows beneath that part of the building where they generally assembled were covered 

 with specimens of the swallow fly (see woodcut, p. 155). We have never seen, nor do we 

 recollect it recorded, that swifts congregate in this manner before migration. 



