SWALLOWS 369 



of going under water and remaining there until 

 springtime came round again. 



Tliese beliefs were not the sole property of the 

 uninstructed. Stillingfleet, a Swedish naturalist of 

 repute, talks as familiarly of the Swallows going 

 under water in the autumn as he would of his 

 poultry going to roost a little before sunset. 

 Another authority — a clergyman, too — found Sw^ifts 

 hibernating in a tower, and a third remembered the 

 fall of a clifT where many Swallows were discovered 

 amidst the debris. Gilbert White, himself, never 

 gave absolute way to these - confident dogmas, 

 although he was often troubled in his mind by the 

 mysteries of migration. He contented himself with 

 stating as facts only what his own eyes had seen, 

 and he treated the more startling discoveries of his 

 friends Avith a reserve which time has fully justified. 



Following the Sand Martin, the Swallow comes, 

 then the House ]\Iartin, and lastly the Swift. Why 

 the Swift should be the latest to arrive is not clear, 

 for he is the most rapid and fearless of all bird 

 travellers. Perhaps England is little to his taste, 

 for he is also the first to leave it. He differs from 

 his smaller congeners, in that he does not seek the 

 face of the waters. His home is in the upper air. 

 In the air he lives, eats and sleeps, resting on his 

 wonderful crescent-shaped wings. Indeed, if it 

 were not for the mundane business of nest-build- 

 ing and progeny-rearing, it would appear that there 

 is little need for him to come in contact with matter 

 at all. Even then he chooses some cranny in tower 

 or roof, and save at this time he never soils his 

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