C. H. Merriam — Birds of Connecticut. 29 



up with the net in the great pond at Bidlacken ; in the year 1741, he 

 got two Swallows from another part of the pond, and took them home, 

 (they all being caught in his presence) ; after an hour's space they 

 revived all in a warm room, fluttered about, and died three hours 

 after. tohly, Amtman Bonke says, that having had the estate 

 Kleskow in farm, he had seen nine SwaUows brought up in the net 

 from under the ice, all which he took into a warm room, where he 

 distinctly observed how they gradually revived ; but a few hours 

 alter they all died. Another time his people got likewise some Swal- 

 lows in a net, but he ordered them again to be thrown into the water; 

 bthly, Andre- Rutta, a master fisherman, at Oletsko, made affi- 

 davit, 1747, that 22 years ago, two Swallows were taken up, by 

 him, in a net, under the ice, and being brought into a warm room, 

 they flew about. %thly, Jacob Kosiulo, a master fisherman, at 

 Stradauen, made affidavit, that in 173G, he brought up in winter, in 

 a net, from under the ice of the lake at Raski, a seemingly dead 

 Swallow, which revived in half an hour's time, in a warm room, and 

 he saw, a quarter of an hour after, the bird grow weaker, and soon 

 after dying. Ithly, I can reckon myself among the eye-witnesses 

 of this paradoson of natural history. In the year 1735, being a 

 little boy, I saw several SwaUows brought in winter by fishermen, 

 from the river Vistula, to my father's house, where two of them were 

 brought into a warm room, revived, and flew about. I saw them 

 several times settling on the warm stove (which the Northern nations 

 have in their rooms) and I recollect well that the same forenoon they 



died, and I hail them, when dead, in my hand In January 



[1754] the lake of Zi/bshaic, belonging to these estates, being covered 

 with ice, I ordered the fishermen to fish therein, and in my presence 

 several Swallows were taken; which the fishermen threw in again ; 

 but one I took up myself, brought it home, which was five miles from 

 thence, and it revived, but died about an hour after its reviving. 



These are facts, attested by people of the highest quality It 



is therefore highly probable, or rather incontestibly true, that Swal- 

 lows retire in the Northern countries during winter, into the water, 

 and stay there in a torpid state, till the return of warmth revives 

 them again in spring."* 



Not many years ago 1 brought upon myself the everlasting 

 odium of an old lady, in the northern part of New York State, 

 by presuming to question her statement that she had seen, " with 



* Peter Kalni's Travels into North America, vol. ii, pp. 140-44. 1771. 



