54 
NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
week in January, he espied three or four swallows huddled together on 
the moulding of one of the windows of that college. I have frequently 
remarked that swallows are seen later at Oxford than elsewhere ; is it 
owing to the vast massy buildings of that place, to the many waters 
round it, or to what else ] * 
When I used to rise in a morning last autumn, and see the swallows 
and martins clustering on the chimneys and thatch of the neighbouring 
cottages, I could not help being touched with a secret delight, mixed 
with some degree of mortification ; with delight, to observe with hoAV 
much ardour and punctuality those poor little birds obeyed the strong 
impulse towards migration, or hiding, imprinted on their minds by their 
great Creator ; and with some degree of mortification, when I reflected 
that, after all our pains and inquiries, we are yet not quite certain to 
what regions they do migrate ; and are still farther embarrassed to find 
that some do not actually migrate at all. 
These reflections made so strong an impression on my .imagination, 
that they became productive of a composition that may perhaps amuse 
you for a quarter of an hoar when next I have the honoui' of writing 
to you. 
* This letter is a reply to some of Mr. Pennant's inquiries, and is remarkable 
for the very distinct observations made upon the swallows. In a small pamphlet 
printed at Rotherham in 1815, the author of which we never ascertained, there 
are some observations made that agree with many of those recorded by Mr. White. 
These were also made by a clergyman, as it is told in his short pi-eface, " to rescue 
a beautiful and instructive phenomenon from oblivion, and to render it subservient 
to the moral improvement of his numerous and highly respected charge." 
" Early in the month of September, 1815, the swallows began to assemble in the 
neighbourhood of Rotherham, at the willow gi-ound near the glass-house on the 
banks of the canal, preparatory to their migration to a warmer climate, and their 
numbers were daily augmented until they became a vast flock which no man 
could easily number. It was their manner while there, to rise from the willows 
in the morning a little before six o'clock, when their thick columns literally 
darkened the sky. In the evening, about five o'clock, they began to return to their 
station, and continued coming in from all quarters until nearly dark." The 
year advanced, and "accordingly their mighty army broke up their encamp- 
ment, debouched from their retreat, and rising covered the heavens with their 
legions ; then directed by an unerring guide took their trackless way. On the 
day of their flight they left behind them about a hundred of their companions, 
after these a few stragglers only remained. These might be the sick or too young 
to attemi3t so great an expedition ; whether this was the fact or not they did not 
remain after the next day." The common house swallow is seen every autumn to 
congregate in lai'ge bodies as above described. The willow aits in the Thames are 
very favourite resorts, and we have no doubt that similar localities will, in like 
manner, be taken advantage of. They also assemble on some bare tree, upon 
rails and house-tops, making excursions therefrom as if to exercise their young- 
broods in flying, and at this autumnal period we have often seen them assemble 
and roost upon the alders fringing the side of a river. While at Malvern, some 
years since, in the month of September, the little white-rumped martin (//. urbico.) 
congregated in hundreds upon the roof, cornices, and wmdow tops of Mr. Wilson's > 
large house there. This was continued daily until the great departure took place, 
and in twenty-four hours only a few stragglers remained of the large concourse. 
The balcony and windows beneath that part of the building where they generally 
assembled, were covered with specimens of the swallow fly (see woodcut, p. 116j. 
We have never seen, nor do we recollect it recorded, that swifts congregate in this 
manner before migration. 
