OF SELBORNE 121 



LETTER XII. 



TO THE SAME. 



March 9, 1772. 

 DEAR SIR, 



As a gentleman and myself were walking on the fourth 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-swallows 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, insect-like and bat-like, come forth at mild 

 times, and then retire again to their latebrce. 1 Nor make I the 

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

 stone, 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 thirteenth or fourteenth of April, 

 yet meeting with an harsh reception, and blustering cold north- 

 east winds, they immediately withdrew, absconding for several 

 days, till the weather gave them better encouragement. 



LETTER XIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



April 12, 1772. 



DEAR SIR, 



WHILE I was in Sussex last autumn my residence was at the 

 village near Lewes, from whence I had formerly the pleasure of 

 writing to you. On the first of November I remarked that the 



1 [It is strange that it should not have occurred to White that these swallows 

 might be stragglers following in the wake of a migrating body.] 



