THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 225 
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 southeast, and darted down 
among the low shrubs above the cottages at the end of the 
hill. This spot in many respects seemed to be well calculated 
for their winter residence; for in many parts it is as steep 
as the roof of any house, and therefore secure from the 
annoyances of water; and it is moreover clothed with 
beechen shrubs, which, being stunted and bitten by sheep, 
make the thickest covert imaginable ; and are so entangled as 
to be impervious to the smallest spaniel; besides, it is the 
nature of underwood beech never to cast its leaf all the 
winter; so that, with the leaves on the ground and those on 
the twigs, no shelter can be more complete. I watched them 
on the 13th and 14th of October, and found their evening retreat 
was exact and uniform; but after this they made no regular 
appearance. Now and then a straggler was seen; and on the 
22d of October, I observed two in the morning over the village, 
and with them my remarks for the season ended. 
From all these circumstances put together, it is more than 
probable that this lingering flight, at so late a season of the 
year, never departed from the island. Had they indulged me 
that autumn with a November visit, as I much desired, I 
presume that, with proper assistants, I should have settled the 
matter past all doubt; but though the 3d of November was a 
sweet day, and in appearance exactly suited to my wishes, yet 
not a martin was to be seen; and so I was forced, reluctantly, 
to give up the pursuit. 
I have only to add that were the bushes, which cover 
some acres, and are not my own property, to be grubbed and 
carefully examined, probably those late broods, and perhaps 
the whole aggregate body of the house-martins of this district, 
