D E A R S IR , Gftober xo, 1781,
I t h i n k I have obferved before that much the moll confiderable
part of the houfe-martm withdraw from hence about the firft week
in OBober; but that fome, the latter broods l 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
fhown itfelf in the firft week in November,
Having taken notice, in OBober 1780, that the lalt flight was
numerous, amounting perhaps to one hundred and fifty; and that
the feafon was foft and Itill; I was refolved to pay uncommon
attention to thefe late birds; to find, i f poffible, where they roolt-
ed, and to determine the precife time of their retreat. The
mode pf life of thefe latter hirmtdines is very favourable to fuch
a delign; for they fpend the whole day in the Iheltered diftridt,
between me and the Hanger, failing about in a placid, eafy
manner, and feafting on thofe infedts which love to haunt a fpot
fo fecure from ruffling winds. As my principal objeft was to dif-
cover the place of their roofting, I took care to wait on them
before they retired to reft, and was much pleafed to find that,
for feveral evenings together, juft at a quarter paft five in thé
afternoon, they all fcudded away in great halte towards the fouth-
eaft, and darted down among the low fhrubs above the cottages at
the end of the hill. This fpot in many refpedts feems to be well
calculated for their winter refidence : for in many parts it is as
fteep as the roof of any houfe, and therefore fecure from the
annoyances of water; and it is moreover clothed with beechen
fhrubs, which, being ftunted and bitten by fheep, make the thickeft
covert imaginable; and are fo entangled as to be impervious to
the fmalleft fpaniel: befides, it is the nature of underwood beech
never to call it’s leaf all the winter; fo that, with the leaves on
the ground and thofe on the twigs, no Ihelter can be more complete?
I watched them on to the thirteenth and fourteenth of
OBober and found their evening retreat was exaft and uniform;
but after this they made no regular appearance. Now and then
a ftraggler was feen; and, on thetwenty-fecond oiOBober, I obferved
two in the morning over the village, and with them my remarks
for the feafon ended. ;
From all thefe circumftances put together, it is more than probable
that this lingering flight, at fo late a feafon of the year, never
departed from the ifland. Had they indulged me that autumn
with a November vifit, as I much defired, I prefume that,, with
proper affiftants, I Ihould have fettled the matter pall all doubt ;
but though the third of November was a fweet day, and ia appearance
exactly fuited to my wifhes, yet not a martin was to be feen;
and fo I was forced, reludantly, to give up the purfuit.
I have only to add that were the bulhes, which cover fome
acres, and are not my own property, to be grubbed and carefully
examined, probably thofe late broods, and perhaps-the whole
aggregate body of the houfe-martins of this diftnft, 6
W m J , in different 'fecret dormitories; m i « - . * * • * • - Slime to o «mM nil«”“ld ,h“ •he>' Ss
N n l e t t e r