344 
HIRUNDINES IN SOUTH DEVON. 
But there is no instance of such care and providen¬ 
tial consideration for the well-being of animals so 
clearly shewn and so demonstrative of adaptation 
of means to ends, as the exclusion of such a profu¬ 
sion of Coleoptera and lighter insects towards autumn, 
seemingly at an ungenial period of the year, and 
to thoughtless persons serving no useful purpose, 
but rather encumbering the air with pestilential 
inhabitants. At this juncture it will be remembered, 
the smaller birds which have to pass from us for a 
season need to be well prepared for that great ex¬ 
ertion as regards bodily powers, and the young more 
especially require the most rapid and efficient 
growth during the few weeks preceding their 
departure. To meet such a demand, Providence 
has directed the coincidence of the generation of 
that vast quantity of insect food above alluded to, 
and which the insectivorous portion of these migrants 
are found busily occupied in consuming, as if by 
instinctive preparation for their flight. Thus do 
we gradually gain acquaintance with the modes of 
existence and with the relations of the creatures about 
our paths, and learn to set bounds to our foolish de¬ 
preciation of what we are apt to term the lowest 
and meanest links in the chain of beings. 
The Hirundines as noticed in South Devon .—It 
is not in my power to add much to the present state 
of knowledge with respect to the Swallow tribe, 
and the little I can add is chiefly regarding their 
periods of arrival and departure from us. Fortu¬ 
nately this kind of information is that most desired, 
because serving to decide the great question relative 
to their torpidity, or at least tending to shed some 
light on the mode of their quitting our Island. 
Not that the few facts in my possession have any 
intrinsic value, but if the point is to be settled by 
reports from a variety of situations, it will then 
appear that the least information on the subject 
