164 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 
out of their retreat and warming, either with his hands 
or before a fire, he will see gradually to vivify again and 
fly. In other countries they retire very often to the 
caverns under the rocks. As many of. these exist 
between the city of Caen and the sea, on the banks of 
the Orne, there are found sometimes during the winter 
piles of swallows suspended in these vaults, like bundles 
of grapes. We have witnessed the same thing in Italy.” 
How the supposition can be entertained that a hot- 
blooded and lung-breathing creature like a bird can 
undergo immersion in water for months, and not be 
drowned, passes my comprehension. A single experi- 
ment would at once have demonstrated the absurdity of 
the theory, and proved that a swallow is no more fitted 
to live under water thana man. That some swallows 
have been found during the winter in a dormant condi- 
tion has often been proved. These are most likely late- 
hatched birds; but I think it is very questionable if 
they ever survive the winter in a torpid state, and when 
such have been accidentally disturbed and roused into 
temporary activity, they almost immediately disappear 
again, and doubtless perish from want of food. In 
January, 1842, I knew of an instance in which a pair 
of chimney swallows fluttered out of the thatch of an 
old barn which was being pulled down. They seemed 
in great distress, and after flying about the place during 
that and the following day, nothing more was seen of 
them. 
The late mild winter seems to have led a few pairs of 
this species to remain with us to an unusually late 
period. Five or six were seen skimming about at Sark 
on the 26th October last, and two or three at Margate 
at the latter end of December last. All these showed 
