LETTER XLIX. TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. As a gentleman and myself were walking on the 4th of last November round the sea-banks at Newhaven, near the mouth of the Lewes river, in pursuit of natural knowledge, we were surprised to see three house-swallows gliding very swiftly by us. That morning was rather chilly, with the wind at north-west; but the tenor of the weather for some time before had been delicate, and the noons remarkably warm. From this incident, and from repeated accounts which I meet with, I am more and more induced to believe that many of the swallow kind do not depart from this island; but lay themselves up in holes and caverns; and do, insect-like and bat-like,1 come forth at mild 1 Concerning swallows, the reader will see that Mr. White appears to incline more and more in favour of their torpidity, and against their migration. Mr. D. Barrington is still more positive on the same side of the question; yet the ancients generally mention this bird as wintering in Africa. See Anacreon Xy. ed. Brunck. p. 38. The Rhodians had a festival called Xeλidóvia, when the boys brought about young swallows; the song which they sang may be seen in the works of Meursius, v. 3, p. 974, fol. Ήλθε, Ήλθε, χελιδών καλὰς, "Npas “yovσa, kai kadoùs ’EviavTOÙS Επι γάστερα λευκά, κ ̓ ἔπι νῶτα μέλαινα. "He comes! He comes! who loves to bear Soft sunny hours and seasons fair ;- The swallow hither comes to rest His sable wing and snowy breast." And alluding to this custom, Avienus (who may be considered only as a very bad translator of an excellent poem, the "Periegesis" of Dionysius) thus says, v. 705, "Nam cum vere novo, tellus se dura relaxat, Culminibusque cavis, blandum strepit ales hirund Gens devota choros agitat!" "When in early spring the iron soil relaxes, comes the swallow chirping pleasantly from the hollow eaves, and the pious people begin to dance." From a passage in the "Birds" of Aristophanes, we learn that among the Greeks the crane pointed out the time of sowing; the arrival of the kite, the |