240 ON VARIOUS PARTS 



vours 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 the hirun- 

 dines 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 of 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 ap- 



