184 



NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



which love to haunt a spot so secure from ruffling winds. As my prin- 

 cipal object was to discover the place of their roosting, I took care 

 to wait on them before they retired to rest, and was much pleased to 

 find that for several evenings together, just at a quarter-past five in the 

 afternoon, they all scudded away in great haste towards the south- 

 east, and darted down among the low shrubs above the cottages at the 

 end of the hill. This spot in many respects seemed to be well calculated 

 for their winter residence ; for in many parts it is as steep as the roof 

 of any house, and therefore secure from the annoyances of water; and it 

 is moreover clothed with beechen shrubs, which, being stunted and 

 bitten by sheep, make the thickest covert 

 imaginable ; and are so entangled as to 

 be impervious to the smallest spaniel ; 

 besides, it is the nature of underwood 

 beech never to cast its leaf all the winter ; 

 so that, with the leaves on the ground 

 and those on the twigs, no shelter can be 

 more complete. I watched them on the 

 thirteenth and fourteenth of October, 

 and found their evening retreat was 

 exact and uniform; but after this they 

 made no regular appearance. Now and 

 then a straggler was seen; and on the 

 twenty-second of October, I observed two 

 in the morning over the village, and with 

 them my remarks for the season ended. 



From all these circumstances put to- 

 MARTIN. gether, it is more than probable that this 



lingering flight, at so late a season of the 



year, never departed from the island. Had they indulged me that 

 autumn with a November visit, as I much desired, I presume that, 

 with proper assistants, I should have settled the matter past all doubt ; 

 but though the 3rd of November was a sweet day, and in appearance 

 exactly suited to my wishes, yet not a martin was to be seen ; and so 

 I was forced, reluctantly, to give up the pursuit. 



I have only to add that were the bushes, which cover some acres, and 

 are not my own property, to be grubbed and carefully examined, 

 probably those late broods, and perhaps the whole aggregate body 

 of the house-martins of this district, might be found there, in different 

 secret dormitories; and that, so far from withdrawing into warmer 

 climes, it would appear that they never depart three hundred yards 

 from the village. * 



The examination would have been fruitless. See note to Letter XXXVI. 



