SWALLOWS, 



269 



black bones. As for tlie rest, lliey stood up and opened tlieir mouths 

 very wide, moving one of their feelers about in difterent directions very 

 energetically. What all this meant I can scarcely conjecture, unless the 

 individuals upon the platform had been guilty of some great crime and 

 were making a public atonement. This appears probable from the fact, 

 that they gave every token of violent trepidation. They grew pale, 

 trembled, and some threw themselves into most hideous contortions of 

 body. This no doubt arose from a burning agony within, for 1 observ- 

 ed that they, with trembling eagerness, swallowed large quantities of a 

 cooling liquid that stood by, which, instead of proving a permanent re- 

 lief, only maddened them the more, until the poor creatures ceased, ap- 

 parently from mere exhaustion. * * * * 



Here the letter unfortunately ceased, either through the indifference 

 of the translator, or because he met with characters which he was un- 

 able to comprehend. In the Linnaean Cabinet, however, we have a pack- 

 age of Moonshee documents, and as one of our number is learning the 

 language we may soon expect to ascertain its contents. Awr. 



SWALLOWS. — A FACT IN ORxVITHOLOGY. 



The following fact., (which I have thought may be interesting to 

 the readers of the "Record,") I have frequently witnessed during the 

 past three seasons. It relates to the regular nightly visits of innumera- 

 ble multitudes of "jBarn Sioallows''' to a dense willow grove adjoining 

 the town of Martinsburg, Va. Immediately after sun-set, these bird.s 

 may be seen coming in dispersed companies from every quarter of the 

 heavens to join in one great congregation in the air above this grove. 

 In the course of about fifteen minutes after their first appearance, they 

 strikingly remind the beholder of myriads of swarming bees, or dimin- 

 utive mote.-' floating in countless profusion through the atmosphere, lit- 

 erally obscuring the declining light of day. After going through a num- 

 ber of playful and indescribable evolutions, they are observed to alight 

 rapidly upon the more slender branches of the willows, for some time 

 keeping up a chattering that falls upon the ear like the noise of a 

 dashing waterfall. So closely do they settle together, that a stone 

 thrown in among them has been known to kill as many as a dozen. — 

 With the earliest dawn of the morning lliey all suddenly depart for 

 tlieir distant homes, to return in the evening with exact punctuality to 

 their favorite roost. 



These nightly visits commence about the middle of .Inly, and are 

 regularly kept up until the latter part of Aucfu.'^t of every year. Tiieir 

 3-5 ' ' ^ 



