ion from what I have remarked during- some of our 

 late springs, that though some swallows did make 

 their appearance about the usual time, namely, the 

 13th or 14th of x\pril, yet meeting with a harsh re- 

 ception, and blustering cold north-east winds, they 

 immediately withdrew, absconding for several days, 

 till the weather gave them better encouragement. 



March 9, 1772. 



LETTER L. 

 To Thomas Penxaxt, Esq. 



Bv my journal for last autumn it appears that the 

 house-martins bred very late, and staid very late in 

 these parts; for on the ist of October I saw young 

 martins in their nest nearly fledged ; and, again, on 

 the 2 1 St of October, we had at the next house a nest 

 full of young martins just ready to fly ; and the old 

 ones were hawking for insects with great alertness. 

 The next morning the brood forsook their nest, and 

 were flying round the village. From this day I never 

 saw one of the swallow kind till the 3rd of Novem- 

 ber ; when twenty, or perhaps thirty, house-martins 

 were playing all day long by the side of the hanging 

 wood, and over my fields. Did these small weak 

 birds, some of which were nestlings twelve days ago, 

 shift their quarters at this late season of the year to 

 the other side of the northern tropic ? Or rather, is 



177 



