236 
NATURAL HISTORY 
revived and came forth; some bees swarmed in this neigh- 
bourhood ; the old tortoise near Lewes, in Sussex, awakened 
and came forth oat of its dormitory; and, what is most to 
my present purpose, many house swallows appeared, and 
were very alert in many places, and particularly at Cobham, 
in Surrey. 
But as that short warm period was succeeded, as well as 
preceded, by harsh severe weather, with frequent frosts and 
ice, and cutting winds, the insects withdrew, the tortoise 
retired again into the ground, and the swallows were seen 
no more until the 10th of April, when, the rigour of the 
spring abating, a softer season began to prevail. 
Again: it appears by my journals for many years past, 
that house martins retire, to a bird, about the beginning of 
October ; so that a person not very observant of such mat- 
ters would conclude that they had taken their last farewell ; 
but then it may be seen in my diaries also, that considerable 
flocks have discovered themselves again in the first week of 
November, and often on the fourth day of that month only 
for one day ; and that not as if they were in actual migration, 
but playing about at their leisure and feeding calmly, as if 
no enterprise of moment at all agitated their spirits. And 
this was the case in the beginning of this very month ; for, 
on the 4th of November, more than twenty house martins, 
which in appearance had all departed about the 7th of Oc- 
tober, were seen again, for that one morning only, sporting 
between my fields and the Hanger, and feasting on insects 
which swarmed in that sheltered district. The preceding 
day was wet and blustering, but the 4th was dark and mild, 
and soft, the wind at south-west, and the thermometer at 
68^°; a pitch not common at that season of the year. 
Moreover, it may not be amiss to add in this place, that 
whenever the thermometer is above 50% the bat comes flit- 
ting out in every autumnal and winter month. 
From all these circumstances laid together, it is obvious 
that torpid insects, reptiles, and quadrupeds, are awakened 
from their profoundest slumbers by a little untimely warmth ; 
and therefore that nothing so much promotes this death-like 
stupor as a defect of heat. And farther, it is reasonable to 
