SWALLOWS. 41 



word, that he saw a house -martin, on the 23d of 

 last October, flying in and out of its nest in the 

 Borough ; and I myself, on the 29th of last Octo- 

 ber, (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 l ? 



I acquiesce entirely in your opinion, that, 

 though most of the swallow kind may migrate, 

 yet 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 

 se.asons amidst the regions of Africa ! 



XIII. 



As, in one of your former letters, you expressed 

 the more satisfaction from my correspondence on 



1 See Adamson's Voyage to Senegal. 



