88 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



assertion I know to be wrong from repeated observation this sum- 

 mer ; for house-martins do feed their young flying, though it must 

 be acknowledged not so commonly as the house-swallow ; and the 

 feat is done in so quick a manner as not to be perceptible to 

 indifferent observers. He also advances some ( I was going to say) 

 improbable facts ; as when he says of the woodcock that " pullos 

 rostro portat fugiens ab hoste." But candour forbids me to say 

 absolutely that any fact is false, because I have never been witness 

 to such a fact. I have only to remark that the long unwieldy bill 

 of the woodcock is perhaps the worst adapted of any among the 

 winged creation for such a feat of natural affection. 



I am, &c. 



