NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 181 



LETTER XXII. 



Selborne, Sept. IStJi, 1774. 



By means of a straight cottage chimney I had an opportun- 

 ity this summer of remarking, at my leisure, how swallows 

 ascend and descend through the shaft ; but my pleasure in 

 contemplating the address with which this feat was per- 

 formed to a considerable depth in the chimney was 

 somewhat interrupted by apprehensions lest my eyes might 

 undergo the same fate with those of Tobit."* 



Perhaps it may be some amusement to you to hear at 

 what times the different species of hirundines arrived this 

 spring in three very distant counties of this kingdom. 

 With us the swallow was seen first on April 4th, the 

 swift on April 24th, the bank-martin on April 12th, 

 and the house-martin not till April 30th. At South Zele, 

 Devonshire, swallows did not arrive till April 25th, swifts 

 in plenty on May 1st, and house-martins not till the middle 

 of May. At Blackburn, in Lancashire, swifts were seen 

 April 28th, swallows April 29th, house-martins May 1st. 

 Do these different dates, in such distant districts, prove 

 anything for or against migration ? 



A farmer, near Weyhill, fallows his land with two teams 

 of asses ; one of which works till noon, and the other in the 

 afternoon. When these animals have done their work, 

 they are penned all night, like sheep, on the fallow. In 



* " The same night also I returned from the burial and slept by the 

 wall of my courtyard, being polluted, and my face was uncovered. — 



*' And I knew not that there were sparrows (swallows ?) in the wall, 

 and my eyes being open, the sparrows muted warm dung into mine 

 eyes, and a whiteness came in mine eyes ; and I went to the 

 physicians, but they helped me not." — Tobit ii. 10. 



