19 



OF THE WINTER RETREAT OF THE- SWALLOW 

 TRIBE IN GENERAL. 



THERE is, perhaps, no subject in natural history 

 which has more engaged the attention of naturalists 

 in all ages, than the brumal retreat of the swallow ; 

 neither is there any subject on which more various 

 and contrary opinions have been entertained. The 

 reader may judge of the interest which the retreat 

 of the swallow has excited, when he reflects, that 

 few natural historians, from the time of Aristotle to 

 our days, have omitted the discussion of this sub- 

 ject. It has been frequently alluded to by the 

 ancient bards ; and even poems have been written 

 on it. In the library of Sir Joseph Banks is a 

 curious one in Latin hexameters, written in Hol- 

 land, on the occasion of a swallow being found 

 torpid in an old tree. In Prussia, and some of 

 the northern countries, was the question of the place 

 of their retreat considered of so much importance 

 by some naturalists, that persons who asserted 

 themselves to have found them torpid under watei\ 

 were put to their oath, or induced to make affidavits, 



