emark applies to the following statement: it is
minute enough, and circumstantially precise; but, unfortunately, it was
"fifteen years ago." The communicator is Edward Brown Fitton, Hastings,
under date September 8, 1849:--

"A labourer named William Joyce, who is now employed in excavating part
of the East Hill for the foundation of a house, told me yesterday, that,
in the month of December, about fifteen years ago, while he was working
for Mr William Ranger, who had the contract for cutting away the 'White
Rock,' which used to stand between this place and St Leonard's, the men
found an immense quantity of Swallows in a cleft of the rock. The birds
were clinging together in large 'clots,' and appeared to be dead, but
were not frozen together, the weather being rather warm for the season,
nor were they at all putrid or decayed. The men carried out at least
_three railway-barrows_ full of birds, which were buried with the mould
and rubbish from the cliff as it was wheeled away. Some people from the
town carried away a few of the birds to 'make experiments with,' but
Joyce never heard any more of them. He mentioned the names of four
persons now in Hastings, who were then his fellow-labourers, and says,
that forty or fifty of Mr Ranger's men were on the spot when the birds
were found, and can confirm what he says, both as to the finding and the
very great quantity of the birds. There are many crevices in the seaward
surface of the cliffs about here, which apparently penetrate the cliff
for several yards. The birds were found about ten feet from the surface
of the rock facing the sea, and not very high up."[123]

There is yet another class of facts to be adduced, which has an
important bearing on the subject. At first sight, these facts appear
less conclusive than the asserted discoveries of the birds, because less
direct; but I am inclined to attach more value to them, because they are
attested by so many and so unexceptionable witnesses. I mean the sight
of Swallows at large in these islands during the winter months. Let us
see some examples.

White of Selborne records several cases: thus, in 1773, twenty or thirty
House-martins were playing in the air all day on the 3d of
November,[124] after having disappeared from the 22d of October. In
1772, he saw three House-swallows gliding by on the sea-shore at
Newhaven, on the 4th of November.[125] On another occasion, (the year
not being recorded,) he saw, on a sunny morning,