SOME ANCIF.NT AND ANTIQUATED VIEWS 9 



doxon " of natural history ; he proceeds to relate how, in 

 1735, he saw Swallows taken from the Vistula in winter. 

 Cuvier (1769- 1832) was also a believer in the theory of 

 submergence, for he says, " the Martin becomes torpid 

 during winter ; and that it passes the cold season under 

 water at the bottom of marshes appears to be certain." 

 Learned bodies such as the Royal Society of London and 

 the French Academy have discussed this theory and 

 published the results in their Transactions. John Hunter 

 (1728- 1 793), the celebrated anatomist, made several ex- 

 periments to test this theory, all of which, needless to 

 remark, confirmed him in the opinion of the impossibility 

 of Swallows submerging themselves or sustaining life 

 under water. He even caught several Swallows in 

 October and confined them in a green-house, with 

 large tubs of water containing reeds ; but found, of 

 course, that none of the birds attempted to enter them. 

 The Hon. Daines Barrington quotes^ an instance of 

 three or four Swallows (or Martins) having been found 

 caked together in the mud at the bottom of a pond in 

 Berkshire in February. They were carried into the 

 kitchen, and afterwards Hew about. The Rev. Dr Pye 

 and others testify to these facts ! 



Swallows just ere they emigrate in the autumn have 

 a predilection for roosting in reed beds standing in water, 

 and this, coupled with the fact that the birds were not 

 seen afterwards, may have led those who witnessed the 

 act to suppose that they crept down the reeds and sub- 

 merged themselves. It does not, however, justify the 

 mythical accounts invented to bolster up the theory. 



Perhaps the most extraordinary theory ever pro- 

 pounded regarding the migration of birds is contained 



' Pliil. Trans., Ixii., p. 289. 



