fruitful one for argument. The consensus of expert opinion at the present day is against 
hibernation, but there are, nevertheless, ornithologists who are not convinced ; while 
nearly all uneducated rural observers assert that in Winter the Swallow retires to a pond, 
where, sinking into its depths, he rolls himself in a mud casing or shell, and in a state of 
torpidity, awaits the coming of Spring. 
It is strange that such a curious belief, unsupported by evidence, should take 
possession of men’s minds ; but the conviction of hibernation in this manner on the part 
of the Swallow is certainly common, and is, say most eminent ornithologists, totally 
unsubstantiated by proof. 
Mr. Bicknell calls the song of the Barn Swallow *‘‘ a low, chattering trill * * often 
terminating with a clear, liquid note * * not unlike one of the notes of a Canary.” 
143 
