20 



and give written documents, importing the particu- 

 lars of the fact. The periodical journals were full 

 of the controversy about their place of retreat ; and 

 upwards of a hundred letters on the subject were 

 published in the Gentleman's Magazine. Some 

 persons have supposed that swallows retire at the 

 approach of winter to the inmost recesses of rocks 

 and mountains, and that they there remain in a tor- 

 pid state until spring. This was certainly the 



opinion of Pliny, who says, Abeunt et hirundines 



+ , 



hybernis mensibus ; sola carne vescens auis ex iis 



quae aduncos vngues non habent ; sed in vicina 

 abeunt y apricos* secutae montium recessus, inuen- 

 t aeque iam sunt ibi nudae atque deplumes. Lib. x. 

 cap. 24. 



But notwithstanding that we have the authority of 

 so learned, though at the same time so credulous a 

 naturalist as Pliny, it seems almost absurd to suppose 

 that the swallow differs so much in its nature from 



* Some editions have Africos, instead of apricos. The 

 latter however is certainly the best, for Pliny would surely 

 have applied the adjective to montivm, and not to recessus. 

 Thus he would have said, Africorum secutae montium recessus ; 

 or else, Africae montium secutae recessus. 



