280 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 
his authority, but we find the same circumstance 
reported by Albertus Magnus, Gaspar Heldelin, Au- 
gustine Niphus, and others. 
Unfortunately for the credibility of such accounts, 
however, they all wear the aspect of fanciful con- 
jecture rather than of a fact actually observed ; and 
though we have accounts of similar circumstances 
purporting to be from actual observation, they all 
appear suspicious when strictly investigated. 
The following narrative by M. Achard was com- 
municated to the Royal Society by Mr. Peter Col- 
linson. ‘In the latter end of March,” says he, “I 
took my passage down the Rhine to Rotterdam. 
A little below Basil, the south bank of the river was 
very high and steep, of a sandy soil, sixty or eighty 
feet above the water. ' 
**T was surprised at seeing near the top of the 
cliff some boys tied to ropes, hanging down doing 
something. The singularity of these adventurous 
boys, and the business they so daringly attempted, 
made us stop our navigation to inquire into the 
meaning of it. The waterman told us they were 
reaching the holes in the cliffs for swallows or mar- 
tins, which took refuge in them, and remained there 
all the winter, until warm weather, and then they 
came abroad. The boys being let down by their 
comrades to the holes, put in a long rammer, with 
a screw at the end, such as is used to unload guns, 
and, twisting it about, drew out the birds. For a 
trifle I procured some of them. When lI first had 
them, they seemed stiff and lifeless; I put one of 
them in my bosom, between my skin and shirt, and 
laid another on a board, the sun shining full and 
warm upon it; and one or two of my companions 
did the like. That in my bosom revived in about a 
quarter of an hour; feeling it move, I took it out to 
look at it; but perceiving it not sufficiently come 
to itself, I put it in again: in about another quarter, 
feeling it flutter pretty briskly, I took it out and ad- 
