OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 403 



martins to frequent that district. For I have ever remarked that 

 they haunt near great waters, either rivers or lakes. WHITE. 



Here, and in many other passages of his writings, this very 

 ingenious naturalist savours the opinion that part, at least, of 

 the swallow tribe pass their winter in a torpid state in the same 

 manner as bats and flies, and revive again on the approach of 

 spring, 



I have frequently taken notice of all these circumstances, which 

 induced Mr. White to suppose that some of these hirundines lie 

 torpid during winter. I have seen so late as November, on a 

 finer day than usual at that season of the year, two or three 

 swallows flying backwards and forwards under a warm hedge, or 

 on the sunny side of some old building ; nay, I once saw on the 

 8th December two martins flying about very briskly, the weather 

 being mild. I had not seen any considerable number either of 

 swallows or martins for a considerable time before ; from whence, 

 then, could these few birds come, if not from some hole or cavern 

 where they had laid themselves up for the winter? Surely it will 

 not be asserted that these birds migrate back again from some 

 distant tropical region, merely on the appearance of a fine day or 

 two at this late season of the year. Again, very early in the spring, 

 and sometimes immediately after very cold severe weather, on its 

 growing a little warmer, a few of these birds suddenly make their 

 appearance, long before the generality of them are seen. These 

 appearances certainly favour the opinion of their passing the winter 

 in a torpid state, but do not absolutely prove the fact ; for who 

 ever saw them reviving of their own accord from their torpid state, 

 without being first brought to the fire, and as it were, forced into 

 life again ; soon after which revivification they constantly die. 

 MARKWICK. 



SWALLOWS, CONGREGATING AND 



DISAPPEARANCE OF. 



During the severe winds that often prevail late in the spring, it 

 is not easy to say how the hirundines subsist ; for they withdraw 

 themselves, and are hardly ever seen, nor do any insects appear 



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