OF SELBORNE. 187 
inconceivable fwifrnefs of a meteor ; and perliaps, In their emi- 
gration, muft traverfe vaft continents and oceans as diflant as the 
equator. So foon does Nature advance fmall birds to their ^Xmx, 
or ftate of perfedion ; while the progreffive growth of men and 
large quadrupeds is flow and tedious ! 
I am, &C0 
LETTER XXIL 
TO THE SAME. 
DEAR SIR, Selborne, Sept. 1774, 
By means of a flraight cottage- chimney I had an opportunity 
this fummer of remarking, at my leifure, how fwallows afcend 
and defcend through the fliaft : but my pleafure, in contemplating 
the addrefs with which this feat was performed to a confiderable 
depth in the chimney, was fomewhat interrupted by apprehenfions 
left my eyes might undergo the fame fate with thofe of Tobit.'^ 
Perhaps it may be fome amufement to you to hear at what 
times the different fpecies of hirundines arrived this fpring in 
three very diftant counties of this kingdom. With us the 
1 Tobit 2. 10. 
Bb2 
fwallow 
