i 
f 
~48 
_aye.80, by necessity; but it is not the 
_ baine. with the swallow: it loves soft 
and genial breezes; and almost the first 
Sharp northern blast, reminds it of its 
.equinoctial hausts. Adamson, in_ his 
_ voyage to Senegal, states that four 
swallows alighted on his vessel in Oc- 
tober, when fifty leagues from the 
*“ destined coast ; and that they winter in 
“Senegal, where they roost on the sands, 
~ “but never build. Sir C, Mager relates, 
,that on entering the soundings of the 
. British channel, a large flock of swal- 
lows covered every rope of his vessel, 
and appeared “ spent and famished.” 
Many similar instances could be related, 
owere it necessary; but the fact of migra- 
tion seems to be already sufficiently 
yroven. The point of their migration 
“ may be concluded to be so far south as 
to be beyond the reach of cold. Captain 
Henderson, of the British army, re- 
“Yates that, in Honduras (where they 
“remain from October to February) 
he saw myriads. They roost in the 
‘marshes, and rising spirally, in the 
‘morning, to great heights, they disperse 
“to seek their food ; when rising thus, 
he says, they resemble large columns 
“of smoke. 
In the South of France, it is said, 
they have been seen in December, 
where they are likewise stated to re- 
main all the winter. 
' Mr. Pearson, some years since, took 
great pains to ascertain if the swallow 
became torpid. For this purpose, he 
confined some in a cage, where, for 
three or four years, they remained in a 
perfectly healthful state,—when they 
died for want of attention during his 
illness. 
Various ridiculous assertions have 
been made, too, respecting other birds. 
The Rallus Carolinus, it has been as- 
serted, becomes a frog:—and a farmer 
of Maryland, in Virginia, has affirmed 
that he found one, and showed it to 
one of his labourers, in the very act of 
transformation :—but this does not prove 
the fact. Upon the whole, it is not, 
perhaps, too much to conclude, that a 
“torpid swallow never yet has had exis- 
tence, THERMES. 
= 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Siz: 
OTWITHSTANDING the “ in- 
formation” which your correspon- 
dent S.R.M, “ takes. the liberty” of 
iving me, through the medium of your 
‘Miscellany for this month (vol. lix., p. 
512); on the subject of the Armorial” 
Hybernation—English Heraldics. 
{ Aug. }, 
Bearings of England, I-venture to re- 
state the opinion, nay, to assert.it as. a 
fact, that the ancient ban oe kis 
nation bore not ja tt ds, 
I am the more emboldened to do this, 
as I find myself, countenanced. im the 
statement by so Da atide rene adept 
in antiqGarian research. and ».the 
olden customs of this our island, mili- 
tary and civil, as Sir, Walter, Scott. 
In his recent romance, “ The Talis- 
man,’ (the,.second ,of -his. collection, 
called the “ Crusaders,” he presents us 
with the following curious  conversa- 
tion, on the express subject of armorial 
symbols, at the table of the Archduke 
of Austria. att L 
‘<< The eagle,’ said the expounder of.dark 
sayings, ‘is the, cognizance, of \ournoble 
lord the Archduke—of, his,royal.grace, I 
would say ; and the.eagle flies. the: highest 
and nearest to the.sun of all the-feathered 
creation.’ tect 
“The lion hath taken a spring above 
the eagle,’ said Conrade, carelessly. , 
“The Archduke reddened, and: fixed his 
eyes on the speaker, while the’ spruch- 
sprecher answered, after a minute’s” con= 
sideration, ‘ The Lord Marquis will par- 
don me—a lion cannot fly above an “eagle, 
because no lion hath got wings.” 
«<< Except the lion of Saint Mark,' said 
the jester. ; 
““* That is the Venetian’s banner,’ said 
the Duke; ‘but, assuredly, that: amphi- 
bious race, half nobles, half merchants, will 
not dare to place their rank in comparison 
with ours.’ a 
““« Nay, it was not of the Venetian lion © 
that I spoke,’ said the Marquis of Mont- 
serrat; ‘but of the three lions pagsant of 
England—formerly, it is said, they-were leo- 
pards,. but now they are become. lions, at. all 
points, and must take precedence of beast, 
fish, or fowl, or woe worth. the gein- 
stander.’ ” pepo pe hes 
By the way, I am _even dis osed. to 
doubt whether Sir Wilts hale in 
this instance, taken a little purposed 
liberty with heraldic, chronology... { 
cannot find that the ,exact point, of 
time has been ascertained, when, the 
herald’s wand transformed the Jeopards 
into dions; but I much doubt, whether 
the English banner, floating ,in».the 
eamp of the Crusaders, , did not, still 
display the former of these animals ; 
though it is not, perhaps, ap .impro- 
bable conjecture, that the change might 
have taken place. in compliment, ;to 
Richard’s legendary. exploit,, of..yan- 
quishing the king of beasts; in. combat ; 
and that the lion-héarted king.g esthe 
lion. to _his_country?s_ shield: “pee 
2 be 
with 
some of your correspondents, 
