THE SWALLOW. 75 



arm or hung round the neck, helps the falling sickness in 

 children. 



5. "The nest applied gives relief to the squinancy 

 (quinsey), heals the redness of the eyes, and is good for 

 the biting of a viper or adder. 



6. " The dung heats very much ; the chief use is against 

 the bitings of a mad dog, taken outwardly and inwardly, 

 in colic, and in nephritic pains." 



Then is given "an approved medicine" for the falling 

 sickness (epilepsy). Take one hundred swallows (" I 

 suppose," he writes, " there is some mistake, and that one 

 quarter of this number will suffice "), one ounce of cas- 

 toreum, one ounce of perony root, so much white wine as 

 will suffice to distil altogether, and give the patient to 

 drink three drachms every morning fasting. 



Willoughby also says : " This bird is the spring's 

 herald, being not seen throughout all Europe in winter- 

 time, whence the proverb common in almost all languages, 

 * One swallow makes not a spring.' " 



The earlier naturalists believed in. the hybernation of 

 swallows. Willoughby says it is more probable they go 

 into Egypt and other hot countries ; yet, later on, Gilbert 

 White, as stated above, had a firm belief in their hyber- 

 nation. 



Moses Browne, in his angler's song : 



" Say canst thou tell where eels in winter hide ? 

 Or where the swallows, vagrant race, reside?" 



Wotton writes : 



" The swallow, 



Lyre-like, attunes the sultry summer hours ; 

 When chilling winter comes she torpid feels, 

 And fabricates her house amidst a tree." 



Thomson had the same belief: 



" Clinging in clusters 

 Beneath the mouldering bark, or where, 

 Unpierced by frost, the cavern sweats." 



We know better nowadays. The swallow conies to us 



