124 SWALLOWS TORTOISE. 



LETTER XLIX. 



TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. 



March 9, 1772. 



DEAR SIR, As a gentleman and myself were walking, on 

 the 4th of last November, round the sea-banks at Newhaven, 

 near the mouth of the Lewes river, in pursuit of natural 

 knowledge, we were surprised to see three house swallows 

 gliding very swiftly by us. That morning was rather chilly, 

 with the wind at north-west ; but the tenor of the weather, for 

 some time before, had been delicate, and the noons remarkably 

 warm. From this incident, and from repeated accounts which 

 I meet with, I am more and more induced to believe, that 

 many of the swallow kind do not depart from this island, but 

 lay themselves up in holes and caverns, and do, insect-like, 

 and bat-like, come forth at mild times, and then retire again to 

 their latebrce. Nor make I the least doubt but that, if I lived 

 at Newhaven, Seaford, Brighthelmstone, or any of those towns 

 near the chalk cliffs of the Sussex coast, by proper observations, 

 I should see swallows stirring at periods of the winter, when 

 the noons were soft and inviting, and the sun warm and invi- 

 gorating. And I am the more of this opinion, from what I 

 have remarked during some of our late springs, and though, 

 some swallows did make their appearance about the usual 

 time, viz. the 13th or 14th of April, yet, meeting with a harsh 

 reception, and blustering, cold, north-east winds, they imme- 

 diately withdrew, absconding for several days, till the weather 

 gave them better encouragement. 



LETTER L. 

 TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



April 12, 1772. 



DEAR SIR, While I was in Sussex last autumn, my resi- 

 dence was at the village near Lewes, from whence I had 

 formerly the pleasure of writing to you. On the 1st of 

 November, I remarked that the old tortoise, formerly men- 

 tioned, began first to dig the ground, in order to the forming 

 of its hybernaculum, which it had fixed on just beside a great 

 turf of hepaticas. It scrapes out the ground with its fore 

 feet, and throws it up over its back with its hind; but the 



