THE BIOGRAPHY OF A BIRD. 317 



tion, held that they regularly hibernated, during the cold weather, 

 sinking into the mud at the bottom of ponds, like frogs, or curling up 

 in deep, warm crannies, like bats, and remaining torpid until revived 

 by tlie warmth of spring. Of this latter opinion was White, of Sel- 

 borue, who alludes to it again and again, and Sir Thomas Forster 

 wrote a " Monograph of British Swallows," apparently with no other 

 object tlian to present the arguments for and against the theory of 

 their annual submersion and torj^idity. One of the difficulties which 

 the suhmersionists put in the way of the migrationists was the fre- 

 quent accidental and isolated appearance of the swallow before its 

 usual time a fact which has occasioned a proverb in almost every lan- 

 guage. The French have, " Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printetrips ;''"' 

 the Germans, '"'' Eine Schwalbe macht Tceinen Fruhling j'''' the Dutch, 

 " Een zwaluw niaak geen zomer ; " the Italians, " Una rodhie non fa 

 primavera j'''' the Swedes, ^^ En svala gov ingen sommar ;''"' which all 

 mean. One sicallow doth not make a summer. The story is well known 

 of a thin brass plate having been fixed on a swallow with this inscrip- 

 tion : " Pi-ithee, swallow, whither goest thou in winter?" The bird 

 returned next spring with the answer subjoined : " To Anthony, of 

 Athens. Why dost thou inquire ? " 



Out of this controversy, evidence of their sudden autumnal ad- 

 journment to Africa accumulated in England. Wilson, in this coun- 

 try, showed that their advance could be traced in the spring from 

 New Orleans to Lake Superior and back again, and their regular mi- 

 gration soon came to be acknowledged. Then attention was turned 

 to the season, manner and limits of their migrations, and it was found 

 that, taking advantage of favorable winds, immense flocks of swal- 

 lows and many other birds of passage as well flying very high, 

 passed each fall from the coast of England to the coast of Africa, and 

 from Continental Europe across the Mediterranean direct, whence 

 they spread southward almost to the Cape of Good Hope. No sooner 

 had the spring fairly opened than they were suddenly back again, 

 very much exhausted at first with their long-sustained eflbrt, but 

 speedily recuperated and " diligent in business." Our own migrants, 

 as I have mentioned, winter in Central America and the West Indies, 

 or still farther south. 



Their flight is rapid, but unsteady, " with odd jerks and vacilla- 

 tions not unlike the motions of a butterfly," as White describes it ; 

 and continues : " Doubtless the flight of all hirundines is influenced by 

 and adapted to the peculiar sort of insects which furnish their food. 

 Hence it would be worth inquiry to examine what particular genus 

 of insects aflbrds the principal food of each respective species of swal- 

 low." They are constantly on the wing, skimming low over land and 

 loch, pausing not even to drink or bathe, but simply dropping into 

 some limpid lake as they sweep by to sip a taste of water, or cleanse 

 their dirty coats. It seems strange, then, that birds who sustain the 



