OBSERVATIONS. 311 



hawk high in the air, he would squat close to the 

 ground, expressing strong marks of fear. The female 

 was very shy. A tolerably good resemblance of the 

 male is in Pennant's British Zoology, v. 1. p. 284. 

 . P. 167. Concerning swallows, the reader will see, 

 that Mr. White appears to incline more and more in 

 favour of their torpidity, and against their migration. 

 Mr. D. Barrington is still more positive on the same 

 side of the question. See his Miscellanies, p. 225. The 

 ancients generally mention this bird, as wintering in 

 Africa. See Anacreon, Ay. ed. Brunk. p. 38. The 

 Rhodians had a festival called xf\t$mt* 9 when the 

 boys brought about young swallows ; the song which 

 they sang, may be seen in the works of Meursius. v. 3. 

 p. 974. fol. 



ciyovtroi) noil KO,\OVS ' 



'* He comes ! He comes ! who loves to bear 

 " Soft sunny hours, and seasons fair ; 

 The swallow hither comes to rest 

 " His sable wing, and snowy breast.'* 



And alluding to this custom, Avienus, (who may be 

 considered only as a very bad translator of an excellent 

 poem, the Periegesis of Dionysius), thus says, v. 705, 



" Nam cum vere novo, tellus se dura relaxat, 

 Culminibusq. cavis, blandum strepit ales hirundo 

 Gens devota chores agitat !" 



