Class II. SWALLOWS. 561 



tin was seen in Southwark, flying in and out of 

 its nest ; and on the twenty-ninth of the same 

 month, four or five swallows were observed 

 hovering round and settling on the county hos- 

 pital at Oxford. As these birds must have 

 been of a late hatch, it is highly improbable 

 that at so late a season of the year, they would 

 attempt from one of our midland counties, a 

 voyage, almost as far as the equator, to Senegal 

 or Goree: we are therefore confirmed in our 

 notion, that there is only a partial migration of 

 these birds, and that the feeble late hatches 

 conceal themselves in this country. 



The above, are circumstances we cannot but 

 assent to, though seemingly contradictory to 

 the common course of nature in regard to other 

 birds. We must, therefore, divide our belief 

 relating to these two so different opinions, and 

 conclude, that one part of the swallow tribe 

 migrates, and that others have their winter quar- 

 ters near home. If it should be demanded, 

 why swallows alone are found in a torpid state, 

 and not the other many species of soft billed 

 birds, which likewise disappear about the same 

 time ? The following reasons may be assigned. 



No birds are so much on the wing as swal- 

 lows; none fly ^vith such s^^iftncss and rapidity; 



VOL, T. 52 O 



