RAY AND WILLUGHBY 107 



but had been found hiding, and entirely bare of feathers, 

 in the winter months. This statement may possibly 

 have encouraged Glaus Magnus,^ or those who prompted 

 him, to publish the ridiculous fable about swallows 

 lying hid at the bottom of lakes and rivers, two together, 

 mouth to mouth and wing to wing. This delusion once 

 set going, false reports were readily produced to support 

 it, and the theory of hibernation did not die out till the 

 end of the eighteenth century. Gilbert White enter- 

 tained to the day of his death a suspicion that the 

 swallows of Selborne never left the country, but merely 

 went into hiding for the winter. Willughby and Ray 

 attributed the seasonal disappearance of the cuckoo, 

 swallows, fieldfare and woodcock to migration, though 

 they had to admit that the truth or falsehood of the 

 tales about hibernation had not been certainly deter- 

 mined. They say of the nightingale that it does not 

 endure cold well, and either goes into hiding in the 

 winter, or departs for warm countries. 



In the seventeenth century the bustard and the crane 

 were still well-known English birds. Willughby and 

 Ray tell us that in their day the bustard frequented the 

 heaths and plains of Cambridgeshire, Sufiblk and other 

 parts of the kingdom.^ Great flocks of cranes were to 

 be seen in summer in the marshes of Lincolnshire and 

 Cam bridgeshire. ^ 



Seventeen domestic races of pigeons are named and 

 described, several being figured ; Aldrovandi had already 

 given a systematic table of the breeds of pigeons. 



Mention is made of the aviary in St. James' Park, an 

 aery of sea-eagles belonging to the Countess of Pem- 



' Hiat. de yentibus septtiUrioiialihns (1555). Sec anjyra, p. 69. 



'^ P. 178. The last British-bred bustard was killed in May, 1838. 



»P. 274. 



