2S;5 NATURAL HISTORY 
see a goldfincli or a linnet hopping, as it were, in tlie midsi 
of tlie water, and the fislies swimming in a circle round it. 
The simple exhibition of the fishes is agreeable and pleasant, 
but in so complicated a way becomes whimsical and un- 
natural, and liable to the objection due to him, 
" Qui variare cuoit rem prodigialiter uuam.'* 
LETTER LY. 
TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 
October 10, 1781. 
THINK I have observed before that much 
the most considerable part of the house 
martins withdraw from hence about the first 
week in October ; but that some, the latter 
broods, I am now convinced, linger on till 
towards the middle of that month ; and that at times, once 
perhaps in two or three years, a flight, for one day only, 
has shown itself in the first week in November. 
Having taken notice, in October, 1780, that the last 
flight was numerous, amounting perhaps to one hundred 
and fifty, and that the season was soft and still, I was re- 
solved to pay uncommon attention to these late birds, to 
find, if possible, where they roosted, and to determine the 
precise time of their retreat. The mode of life of these 
latter Hirundines is very favourable to such a design, for 
they spend the whole day in the sheltered districts, between 
me and the Hanger, sailing about in a placid, easy manner, 
and feasting on those insects which love to haunt a spot so 
secure from rufiling 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 
