from so midland a county, attempt a voyage to 

 Goree or Senegal, almost as far as the equator? I 

 acquiesce entirely in your opinion — that, though 

 most of the swallow kind may migrate, yet that 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 think about them. 1 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 tor- 

 pid state in winter. But with regard to their migra- 

 tion, 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 seasons amidst the regions of Africa ! 



November /\, 1767. 



LETTER Xiri. 

 To Thomas Pennant, Esq. 



As in one of your former letters you expressed 



the more satisfaction from my correspondence on 



account of my living in the most southerly county ; 



so now I may return the compliment, and expect to 



50 



