OF SELBORNE. 37 



constantly find are eight pairs ; about half 

 of which reside in the church, and the rest 

 build in some of the lowest and meanest 

 thatched cottages. Now as these eight 

 pairs, allowance being made for accidents, 

 breed yearly eight pairs more, what, be- 

 comes annually of this increase ; and, what 

 determines every Spring which pairs shall 

 visit us, and re-occupy their ancient haunts? 

 Ever since I have attended to the sub- 

 ject of ornithology, I have always sup- 

 posed that that sudden reverse of affection, 

 that strange aurKTropyvi which immediately 

 succeeds in the feathered kind to the most 

 passionate fondness, is the occasion of an 

 equal dispersion of birds over the face of 

 the earth. Without this provision one 

 favourite district would be crowded with 

 inhabitants, while others would be destitute 

 and forsaken. But the parent birds seem 

 to maintain a jealous superiority, and to 

 oblige the young to seek for new abodes ; 

 and the rivalry of the males in many kinds, 

 prevents their crowding the one on the 

 jother. Whether the swallows and house^ 



