416 BARN SWALLOW. 



suddenly seized with a frenzy. Being anxious to see the result, 

 he left them to themselves about half an hour, and going to the 

 cage again found them all huddled together in a corner apparent- 

 ly dead; the cage was then placed at a proper distance from the 

 fire, when only two of them recovered and were as healthy as 

 before the rest died. The two remaining ones were allowed 

 to wash themselves occasionally for a short time only; but their 

 feet soon after became swelled and inflamed, which Mr. P. at- 

 tributed to their perching, and they died about Christmas. 

 Thus the first year's experiment was in some measure lost. Not 

 discouraged by the failure of this, Mr. P. determined to make 

 a second trial the succeeding year, from a strong desire of being 

 convinced of the truth of their going into a state of torpidity. 

 Accordingly the next season having taken some more birds he 

 put them into the cage, and in every respect pursued the same 

 methods as with the last; but to guard their feet from the bad 

 effects of the damp and cold he covered the perches with flan- 

 nel, and had the pleasure to observe that the birds throve ex- 

 tremely well; they sung their song during the winter, and soon 

 after Christmas began to moult, which they got through with- 

 out any difficulty, and lived three or four years, regularly 

 moulting every year at the usual time. On the renewal of their 

 feathers it appeared that their tails were forked exactly the same 

 as in those birds which return hither in the spring, and in eve- 

 ry respect their appearance was the same. These birds, says 

 Mr. Pearson, were exhibited to the Society for Promoting Na- 

 tural History, on the fourteenth day of February, 1786, at the 

 time they were in a deep moult, during a severe frost, when 

 the snow was on the ground. Minutes of this circumstance 

 were entered in the books of the society. These bircls died at 

 last from neglect, during a long illness which Mr. Pearson had: 

 they died in the summer. Mr. P. concludes his very interest- 

 ing account in these words: January 20th, 1797, I have now in 

 my house, No. 21, Great Newport street, Long Acre, four 

 Swallows in moult, in as perfect health as any birds ever ap- 

 peared to be when moulting." 



