September 



the first week in January, he espied three or four 

 swallows huddled together on the moulding of one 

 of the windows of that college." 



If only the " clergyman of an inquisitive turn " 

 and the " very respectable gentleman " would have 

 spared the perplexed naturalist their trivialities ! 

 Theirs is the only testimony we have to set aside ; 

 his observations are unimpeachable to-day. 



Our last glimpse of him is in Letter XCIX., in 

 which he writes : " Much the most considerable part 

 of the house martins withdraw from hence about the 

 first week in October ; but some, the later broods, 

 I am now convinced, linger on till the middle of 

 that month ; and, at times, once perhaps in two or 

 three years, a flight for one day only has shown 

 itself in the first week of November. Having taken 

 notice in October, 1780, that the last flight was 

 numerous, amounting perhaps to one hundred and 

 fifty, and that the season was soft and still, I resolved 

 to pay uncommon attention to these late birds, to 

 find if possible where they roosted, and to deter- 

 mine the precise time of their retreat." 



After describing minutely their place and manner 

 of roosting, he continues : " I watched them on the 

 thirteenth and fourteenth October, and found their 

 evening retreat was exact and uniform ; but after 

 this they made no regular appearance. Now and 

 then a straggler was seen ; and on the twenty-second 

 of October I observed two in the morning over the 

 village, and with them my remarks for the season 



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