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that all these animals, he believes, do breathe in 

 their torpid state ; and as far as his experience 

 reaches, he knows they do ; and that, therefore, he 

 esteems it a very wild opinion that terrestrial ani- 

 mals can remain for any long time under water 

 without breathing." 



Aristotle and Pliny placed them in warm and se- 

 questered places, not at the bottom of lakes, ponds 

 and rivers. Says DeWitt Clinton, of New York, 

 "reputable men, even in our own time, laboring 

 under optical delusion, have declared that they 

 have witnessed the descent of swallows into the 

 Hudson, and the pond on Manhattan Island called 

 the Collect. All these speculations and conjectures 

 have yielded to the doctrine of emigration. Like 

 all other migratory birds, the swallows congregate 

 in flocks at the time of their departure, and, prob- 

 ably, ascend out of sight on their transit." 



Kev. G. White, of England, a writer on birds, 

 entertained the idea that swallows occasionally hy- 

 bernated in that island, though he fails to give 

 any authenticated facts to confirm it. His opinions 

 are founded on statements like the following, which 

 is quoted from his book : "one of my neighbors, an 

 intelligent and observing man, informs me, [White,] 

 that in the beginning of May, and about ten min- 

 utes before 8 o'clock in the evening, he discovered 

 a great cluster of house-swallows, thirty, at least, 

 perching on a willow that hung over a pond. His 

 attention was first drawn by the twittering of these 

 birds which sat motionless in a row on the bough, 

 with their heads aL one way, and, by their weight, 

 pressing down the twig, so that it nearly touched the 

 water. ]n this situation he watched them till he 

 could see no longer. Repeated accounts of this 

 sort, spring and fall," says White, "induce us great- 

 ly to suspect," [mark his words, induce us to sus- 

 pect,'] "that house-swallows have some strong at- 

 tachment to water, independent of the matter of 

 food; and though they may not retire into that el- 

 ement, yet they may conceal tliemselves in the 

 banks of j)ools and rivers during the uncomfortable 

 months of winter." This is the kind of testimony 

 that hybernation and torpidity rest upon. 



Spallanzani says very decidedly, that swallows 

 retire under water 'at the time of their disappear- 

 ance, but acknowledges that he never observed 

 it himself. He performed a variety of experiments 

 to resolve the question, whether cold would have 

 the effect of producing torpidity, by confining 

 swallows in different ways under snow and ice, and 

 in an ice-house. The result was death, and the 

 conclusion, that the species experimented with, 

 does not become torpid. 



It hardly seems necessary to multiply testimony 

 further on the hybernation and torpidity of swal- 

 lows. Much more might be presented of this 

 mythical and hypothetical kind ; none of it is posi- 

 tive in establishing the point at issue. It is opin- 

 ion and tradition. To meet it, there is much posi- 

 tive testimony, going to prove that swallows are 

 birds of passage — that they are migratory in their 

 habits, like the other summer birds. The articles 

 already published on this subject, have fully con- 

 firmed it in the United States. The reader will recall 

 Audubon's observations, the result of living in the 

 northern, middle and southern parts of this country, 

 with special reference lo testing the fabulous tra- 

 dition of the torpidity and hybernation of swallows. 

 Similar observations have been made in England 

 and other countries, wilh the same results that have 

 crowned the investigations of Audubon. 



Says De Witt Clinton, who thoroughly investi- 

 gated this subject, "in almost all countries, the 

 swallow is migratory." Herodotus excepts Egypt, 

 and says that "swallows and kites never emigrate 

 from the country through which the Nile passes ; 

 and the same has been said of Japan." 



In Greece and Italy they make their first ap- 

 pearance at the vernal equinox ; and are regarded 

 as the harbingers and companions of spring, being 

 identified with its beauties and delights. Horace, 

 in his letter to his friend Maecenas promises to 

 quit his winter retirement, in due season. 



-Te dulcis amice, reTiset 



Cum Zephyris, si concedes, et hirundine prima. 



The swallows' time of coming governed the op- 

 erations of husbandry. Hesiod, in his "Works and 

 Days," in urging attention to the pruning of the 

 vine, says : — 



" 'Tis dangerous to delay, 



Till with twit'riug the swallow breaks the day " 



The arrival of the swallow was considered as an 

 indication of spring by Virgil ; and its evolutions 

 were noticed as prognostics of the weather, as now 

 in this country. 



Nunquam imprudentibns imher 



Obsint ****** 

 Aul arguta lacus circumTolitavit Hirundo. 



The ancient writers mention the swallow as win- 

 tering in Africa. The Rhodians had a festival for 

 whose celebration the boys brought swallows ; the 

 song sung on the occasion comes down in these 

 words from the Greek : 



He comes ! he comes ! who loves to bear 

 Soft sunny hours and seasons fair; 

 The swallow hither comes to rest 

 His sable wings and snowy breast. 



Avienus, alluding to the same custom, says, 



When the hard earth grows soft in early spring. 

 And on the roofs the noisy swallow sings. 



Aristophanes says that among the Greeks, the 

 coming of the crane pointed out the time of sow- 

 ing; the arrival of the kite the time of sheep-shear- 

 ing ; and the advent of the swallow, the time to 

 put on summer clothes. 



Theophrastup, at ancient Athens, mentions in his 

 "Floral Calendar" "the Orinthian winds blow and 

 the swallow comes from the first to the twelfth of 

 March ; the kite and the nightingale appear be- 

 tween the eleventh and twenty-sixth of the same 

 month ; the cuckoo appears at ihe time young figs 

 come out." 



Thus, in ancient as in modern times, the swal- 

 lows made their appearance at the time of other 

 migratory birds, later than some and earlier than 

 others ; and in European countries as in the United 

 States, first appearing in the more southern king- 

 doms and States, and progressing northward as 

 the season advances, being everywhere regarded as 

 the true heralders of spring and early summer. 

 They everywhere hold a high rank in the estima- 

 tion of man, who welcomes ihem to his rural home, 

 where these swift-winged visitors seem to find de- 

 liglit in associating and dwelling near enlightened 

 and Christian civilization. 



American Pomological Society. — The Sixth 

 Session of this Association was held at Rochester, 

 N. Y., September 24, 25 and 26, 1856. There 

 was a large attendance, and a free discussion upon 



