of Selborne 35 



An observing gentleman in London writes me word 

 that he saw a house-martin, on the twenty-third of last 

 October, flying in and out of its nest in the Borough. 

 And I myself, on the twenty-ninth of last October (as I 

 was travelling through Oxford), saw four or five swallows 

 hovering round and settling on the roof of the county- 

 hospital. 



Now is it likely that these poor little birds (which 

 perhaps had not been hatched but a few weeks) should, 

 at that late season of the year, and from so midland a 

 county, attempt a voyage to Goree or Senegal, almost as 

 far as the equator ? ^ 



I acquiesce entirely in your opinion — that, though 

 most of the swallow kind may migrate, yet that some do 

 stay behind and hide with us during the winter. 



As to the short-winged soft-billed birds, which come 

 trooping in such numbers in the spring, I am at a loss 

 even what to suspect about them. I watched them 

 narrowly this year, and saw them abound till about 

 Michaelmas, when they appeared no longer. Subsist 

 they cannot openly among us, and yet elude the eyes of 

 the inquisitive : and, as to their hiding, no man pretends 

 to have found any of them in a torpid state in the winter. 

 But with regard to their migration, what difficulties attend 

 that supposition ! that such feeble bad fliers (who the 

 summer long never flit but from hedge to hedge) should 

 be able to traverse vast seas and continents in order to 

 enjoy milder seasons amidst the regions of Africa ! 



LETTER XIII 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE 



Selborne, Jan. 22, 1768. 



Sir, 

 As in one of your former letters you expressed the 

 more satisfaction from my correspondence on account of 

 my living in the most southerly county; so now I may 

 * See Adamson's Voyage to Senegal. 



