But as that short warm period was succeeded as 

 well as preceded by harsh severe weather, with 

 frequent frosts and ice, and cutting winds, the in- 

 sects withdrew, the tortoise returned again into the 

 ground, and the swallows were seen no more until 

 the loth of 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 very observ- 

 ant 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 dis- 

 covered themselves again in the first week of No- 

 vember, 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 of 

 November, more than twenty house-martins, which, 

 in appearance, had all departed about the 7th of 

 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 south-west, and the thermometer at 58^°; a 

 pitch not common at that season of the year. More- 



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