SWALLOW MYSTERIES . 129 



nowadays believe that they hibernate during 

 winter under water, or until their reappearance 

 in the following spring. Although believing in 

 migration, Gilbert White held strongly to the 

 opinion that a few of the late birds of the Swallow 

 tribe hibernated during winter. In one of his letters 

 he says : " Repeated accounts of this sort, spring 

 and fall, induce us greatly to suspect that House- 

 Swallows have some strong attachment to water, 

 independent of the matter of food ; and though 

 they may not retire into that element, yet they 

 may conceal themselves in the banks of pools 

 and . rivers during the uncomfortable months of 

 winter." 



Dr. Johnson is said to have once remarked in 

 conversation : " Swallows certainly sleep all the 

 winter. A number of them conglobulate together, 

 by flying round and round, and then all in a heap 

 throw themselves under water, and lie in the bed 

 of a river." 



Swifts have a habit of soaring to a great height 

 at dusk, sometimes being quite out of sight and 

 appearing like tiny dots even as seen through a 

 field-glass. Founded on this habit is the mistaken 

 popular belief, that these birds float in the air all 

 night, roosting, as it were, on their outstretched 



wings ! 



IO 



