208 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



This sudden summer-like heat was attended by many 

 summer coincidences ; for on those two days the thermometer 

 rose to 66 in the shade ; many species of insects revived 

 and came forth ; some bees swarmed in this neighbour- 

 hood ; the old tortoise, near Lewes, in Sussex, awakened 

 and came forth out of its dormitory ; and, what is most to 

 my present purpose, many house-swallows appeared, and 

 were very alert in many places, and particularly at 

 Chobham, in Surrey. 



Eut as that short, warm period was succeeded as well as 

 preceded by harsh, severe weather, with frequent frosts and 

 ice, and cutting winds, the insects withdrew, the tortoise 

 retired again into the ground, and the swallows were seen 

 no more until the 10th April, when, the rigour of the 

 spring abating, a softer season began to prevail. 



Again, it appears by my journals for many years past 

 that house-martins retire, to a bird, about the beginning of 

 October; so that a person not very observant of such 

 matters would conclude that they had taken their last 

 farewell ; but then it may be seen in my diaries also that 

 considerable flocks have discovered themselves again in the 

 first week of November, and often on the fourth day of that 

 month, only for one day ; and that not as if they were in 

 actual migration, but playing about at their leisure and 

 feeding calmly, as if no enterprise of moment at all agitated 

 their spirits. And this was the case in the beginning of 

 this very month ; for on the 4th November more than 

 twenty house-martins, which, in appearance, had all 

 departed about the 7th October, were seen again for that 

 one morning only sporting between my fields and the 

 Hanger, and feasting on insects which swarmed in that 

 sheltered district. The preceding day was wet and bluster- 

 ing, but the 4th was dark, and mild, and soft, the wind at 



