VIEWS ON MIGRATION. ii 



of Swallows and other birds, among the most inter- 

 esting and precise being the reputed discovery on 

 the i6th November, 1826, of five Barn Swallows 

 {Hirundorustica),h\xdd\Qd together in a torpid state 

 on one of the rafters supporting the roof of a cart- 

 shed near Loch Awe, in Scotland. These birds 

 were said to remain some time in an apparently 

 lifeless state, until the warmth of the room into 

 which they had been carried roused them into 

 activity. Other instances of Swallows being found 

 in a state of torpor in a hollow tree at Belleville, in 

 North America, and of Sand Martins (probably) 

 in a sand-bank near Stirling, are worthy of passing 

 mention. Two instances of Corn Crakes {Crex 

 pratensis)^ reputed to have been discovered in a 

 state of hibernation, are recorded in the Edinburgh 

 Journal (vol. viii.). The first example was found 

 in a mud wall at Aikerness, in the Orkneys ; in the 

 second instance, three of these birds were found in 

 a dung- heap that had long remained undisturbed at 

 Monaghan, in Ireland. All these birds were in a 

 state of torpor, but revived under the influence of a 

 warmer atmosphere. Reputed instances of Hum- 

 ming Birds (Trochillid.^) becoming torpid when 

 overtaken by cold, are recorded in the Philosophical 

 Magazine for 1805 (vol. xxii.). 



For the next fifty years but little was heard of 

 the hibernation of birds; its supporters were either 

 dead and gone, or the theory had been so pilloried 

 by modern naturalists that, as Dr. Coues forcibly 

 remarks, it was as much as a virtuous ornithologist's 



