1825,] 
the ‘fire »was wemovedirrs Their disap- 
peurdnee! led/meito ¢onelude: that the 
coldihad kitked:thenn: bitin this I was 
imistakdn 2 fot abtiskadire ‘being kept 
vaprforai whole day; \in >the winter, the 
vwarnith sof it invited: iny ‘éolony from 
theimhiding-place, ‘but not:before even- 
ing; after which? they.y continued | to 
skip about) and chirp the greater part of 
the following iday, when they were com- 
pelled, * iby the‘returnitig cold; to take 
wefuge in >their ‘former retreats. They 
deft the chimney corner on the 28th of 
May 1807, after a continuance of hot 
weather, and revisited their winter-resi- 
‘denceson the 31st of August.” 
‘The precautions taken) by animals 
awheir “about to enter into: the torpid 
state, “indicate » the» power of instinct. 
The frogs: sink “deep' into the mud, ‘to 
‘avoid the frost ;, the dippus wraps itself 
‘ina clay: cloak ; the land testacea, the 
helix,’ pups, &ck retire: into creyices, 
and-form an pagglig rae to exclude the 
air. 
An Lorienal reviving froma torpid 
state is’ an interesting object. 'When 
the hampster’ passes. ‘from his torpid 
state, ‘he exhibits’ several curious ‘ap- 
pearances—he first loses the rigidity of 
his members, and then makes profound 
respirations, but at long. intervals; his 
legs begin to move, he opens his mouth, 
and — utters’ rattling and disagreeable 
sounds. — After continuing this opera- 
tion for some ‘time, he opens his.eyes, 
and etideavours to raise hiniself on his 
oe ‘All thesé-movements are still 
teady and’ reeling, like those of a 
man ita, state’ of intoxication; but he 
repeats ‘his: efforts till/he acquires the 
use of ‘his limbs. “He’then remains in 
that attitude for some time, as if to 
noitre, and rest himself after his 
fatigue!” His “passage froma torpid to 
a natural ‘state -is* ‘more or- less quick, 
ae the*temperatures © * © 
ees a ion*of birds was noticed 
by 4 earliestnaturalists, and the re- 
bie" pretision and order of their 
‘long beet sources of won- 
and de ht “to: casual ‘observers. 
fn ornitholog } 06 ‘individual’ member 
ofthe famnily hes excited fiore- interest 
oP-t6r6 Aiscussion “than: the. swallow. 
its jifimeréion ‘beneath the icy: wave, in 
‘winter, owas first-asserted by. the Areh- 
bishop oF andy thosibh mach 
ee ne subject ‘is just 
ARR RS an “description ot. “showers 
of mice? the 
— idea hasfound inany me 
as nan wantagonists:’” Ly 
bo ia ep Of opinion) that. meted: 
wiMonruty Mac. No. 413. 
‘Hybernation. 
AA 
swallowsand ‘martins ayes them- 
selves ; biit that. swifts, ~ commen 
European swallows, fat Ni the winter 
in church-towers, &c. . Many’! 
naturalists have: maintained the same 
cpinion. But can it be upheld by one 
well-attested fact ? 
If we examine the common seal, 
we find it every where particularly fitted 
for flight, and it is certainly one of the 
most ‘rapid of birds.. Having, then, 
such immense powers of locomotion, 
why should it be thought to leave its 
native air, and sportive joyous circum- 
volutions for a seven-months’ sojourn 
in a muddy, watery hole? It has been 
urged that their flight is unseen; but 
the minute observer is not less sure of 
their emigration. At the approach of 
cold, the swallow skims the fields in 
such multitudes that hundreds have 
been counted in a minute; and the 
difficulties of distance soon vanish when 
the rapidity of the flight of birds is 
considered. “ A ‘falcon, belonging ‘to 
Henry IV. of France, escaped. from 
Fontainbleau, and in four-and-twenty 
hours was found at Malta, a computed 
distance of 1,350 miles; supposing, 
therefore, that. the falcon was on wing 
the ‘whole. time, the velocity averages 
upwards of fifty-six miles an hour : but 
such birds never fly at night, wherefore, 
taking the longest day, the flight seems 
to have equalled seventy-five miles-an 
hour!” If we calculate that the flight 
of the swallow equals the rapidity of 
the falcon, is it marvellous that the 
bird, which in the morning bade adieu 
to: its summer nest within our barns, 
should, in the evening, rest his weary 
wing far, far beyond our ken ? 
Tf, however, the swallow, emerged 
from a watery ‘bed, ‘in spring, its resus- 
‘citation would be governed as the ther- 
mometer ; but this is not the case. Fos: 
ter says—* I have sometimes seen them 
as eatly as April 2d, when the mer- 
cury, in the thermometer, has been*be- 
low the freezing point: “On the other 
hand, I have: often taken. notice, that, 
during a continuance of mild weather, 
for the space of a fortnight, in the month 
of April; not so much as one swallow 
has appeared,”’— Foster on the Swallow, 
But ‘why should not this bird hyber- 
“nate, as has been frequently asserted ? 
‘Its ‘specific gravity is not sufficient ‘to 
‘sink it‘"in“water ; and it disappears’ bé- 
fore cold could ‘produce tpi a 
t*can hardly be" volufitary ;’ Wwiten 
mals-become vorpid, it! is ‘boéHasé 
ean-no longer he proewred? aead t they 
D 
are 
