OF SELBORNE. 63 



of the year, and 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 sus- 

 pect about them. I watched them nar- 

 rowly 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 inquisi- 

 tive : and, as to their hiding, no man pre- 

 tends to have found any of them in a tor- 

 pid state in the Winter. But with regard 

 to their migration, 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 ^/nca / 



* See Adamxon' s Voyage to Senegal. 



