THE SWALLOW 81 
give sight to its young. Not only was it thus skilled in the healing 
art, but was in itself a medicine of no ordinary virtue. Even in 
the time of our countryman Ray, not two hundred years ago, its 
efficacy in various complaints was seriously believed: the whole 
body burnt was considered a specific for weak eyes, quinsy and 
inflamed uvula ; the heart was prescribed in epilepsy and in quartan 
ague, it was good also for strengthening the memory; the blood 
was good for the eyes, especially if drawn from under the right 
wing : a little stone sometimes found in the stomach of young birds, 
called chelidonius, tied to the arm, or hung around the neck, was a 
remedy against children’s fits. This was to be searched for before 
or at the August full moon, in the eldest of a brood. Even the nest 
had its virtues, being, if applied externally, good for quinsy, redness 
of the eyes, and the bite of a viper. 
A century later ‘good old White’ published his account of the 
Swallow, to which the reader is referred as an admirable model 
of bird-biography, not only for the age, but as an authentic history 
full of fresh interest to the reader in all ages. The only point on 
which White had doubts was whether Swallows all migrate, or 
whether some of the young do not occasionally stay behind, and 
hibernate in hollow trees, holes of rocks, and the banks of pools 
and rivers. Individuals are said to occasionally remain, perhaps 
in consequence of having been disabled by accident at the season 
when the migratory instinct was in its active force, or from some 
other cause unknown to us. Several instances of such have been 
recorded by authors who, whether accurate observers or not, cer- 
tainly believed that they were reporting truly. That they were seen 
only on warm days is of course no evidence that they had been 
roused from a state of torpor by the unusual warmth. Sunny days 
in winter tempt people to walk abroad and to resort to the same 
places which winter-gnats would choose for their gambols. Here, 
too, the stray Swallow would be found ; but in dark stormy weather 
the gnats and the Swallow would stay at home, and the ornithologist 
would have little temptation to do otherwise. I happen to be my- 
self among the number of those who on personal evidence believe 
that individual Swallows do remain in England long after the period 
of general migration. I was walking through a limestone quarry 
at Saltram on the bank of the Plym, in Devonshire, many years ago, 
on the twenty-fourth of December, when I saw a Swallow, whether 
a Chimney Swallow or Martin, I cannot positively affirm, wheeling 
about, and evidently hawking for gnats near the face of the cliff. 
The season was a mild one, the air still, and the sun shining brightly 
against the limestone rocks, from which much heat was reflected, 
That the bird had been kept in captivity until the migratory season 
had passed and then released is not probable. On any other 
supposition it must have remained ‘either of its own free will, which 
is not likely, or from incapacity to accompany its congeners. Left 
BB G 
