without being drowned *. I do not mean to deny 

 that swallows have been found under water ; for it 

 is well known that they have ; and this probably 

 has given rise to the absurd notion entertained by 

 some, that the whole of the species winter in that 

 element. But I should certainly attribute their 

 being found in such situations to mere accident ; 

 in some cases it might have been occasioned by 

 such a circumstance as the following : 



It is well known that, towards the latter end of 

 autumn, swallows frequently roost by the sides of 

 lakes and rivers f ; we will suppose, therefore, that 

 a number of these birds had retired to roost on the 

 banks of some shallow and muddy river at low tide, 

 and that they had been induced by the cold to creep 

 among the reeds or rushes which might grow in the 

 shallow parts of the river, and that while in this 

 situation, driven into a state of torpidity by the 



* The experiments of Mr. Pearson, related in Bewick's 

 Birds, shew, I think, that the swallow has no great propensity 

 to become torpid in winter, unless operated on by some other 

 circumstance than merely the time of the year. 



t This circumstance may have contributed to induce some 

 to believe that they go into the water. 



