OF SELBORNE. 319 



LETTER XXII. 



TO THE SAME. 

 DEAR SIR ; Selborne, Sept. IS, 1774. 



By means of a straight cottage-chimney 

 I had an opportunity this Summer of 

 remarking, at my leisure, how swallows 

 ascend and descend through the shaft ; but 

 my pleasure in contemplating the address 

 with which this feat was performed to a 

 considerable depth in the chimney, was 

 somewhat interrupted by apprehensions 

 lest my eyes might undergo the same fate 

 with those of Tobit.^ 



Perhaps it may be some amusement to 

 you to hear at what times the different 

 species of hirundines arrived this Spring in 

 three very distant counties of this kingdom. 

 With us the swallow was seen first on April 



* Tobit ii. 10. 



