140 NATURAL AND GIVIL 



do not seem to be properly birds of passage. 

 At Danbij in this state, the inhabitants report^ 

 thiit some of them were taken out of a pond 

 in that town, some years ago. A man was em- 

 ployed in the winter, to procure the roots of the 

 pond lily, for medicinal purposes. Among the 

 mud and roots which he threw out, several swal- 

 lows were found inclosed in the mud ; alive, 

 but in a torpid state. Tlie account is not 

 doubted among the inhabitants ; but I have 

 not the testimony of any persons who saw 

 these swallows. It has been doubted by some 

 able naturalists, whether it is possible for the 

 swallow to live in such a situation* I saw an 

 instance, which puts the possibility of the fact 

 beyond all room for doubt. About the year 

 1760, two men were digging in the salt marsh 

 at Cambridsre, ia Massachusetts : On the bank 

 of Charles' river about two feet below the sur- 

 face of the ground, they dug up a swallow, 

 wholly surrounded ai^d covered with mud. 

 The swallow was in a torpid state, but being- 

 held in their hands, it re\*ivcd in about half an 

 hour. The place where this swallow was dug 

 up, \vas every day covered with the salt water ; 

 which at every high tide, was four or five feet 

 deep. The time when this swallow was found, 

 v/as the latter part of the month of February : 

 but the men assured me, they had ne\*er found 

 any other swallows in such a situation. The 

 species called the house or chimney sw^llovr, 

 has been found during the winter, in hollow 

 trees. At Middlebury in this state, there was 

 a large hollow elm, called by the people in the 

 vicinity the swallow tree. From a man ^vho, 



