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easy manner, and feasting on those insects which love to 

 haunt a spot so secure from ruffling winds. As my 

 principal 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 seems 

 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 under- 

 wood 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 to 

 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 together, 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 third 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. 



