1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



275 



ure than that in which he was first engaged ; this 

 brought him into constant communion with nature, 

 which everywhere reflected the goodness and the 

 mercy of Him, who both made and planted the 

 garden where the first man was placed, whose busi- 

 ness it was to dress and to keep it. 



These suggestions have been made to aid in re- 

 moving the prejudice from the minds of such as 

 entertain it, against the study and the observations 

 of the habits of birds not only, but of every other 

 department of natural histcry ; also, to remove 

 some fabulous notions of others who have given 

 some at'.ention to these things, being real lovers 

 and seekers of such knowledge. 



The question discussed in the preceding number, 

 concerning the brumal retreat of swallows, is one 

 of much interest, and to which I have given much 

 careful study and observation for more than twen- 

 ty years, which have fully confirmed me in the be- 

 lief that the swallow family is migratorj', and be- 

 longs to that large class usually denominated birds 

 of passage. Migratory birds, birds of passage, many 

 of them, before leaving their northern summer 

 homes, whither they came to breed, gather them- 

 selves into flocks before returning to their south- 

 ern abodes; wild geese, ducks and numerous water- 

 fowls are marked illustrations. Every farmer must 

 have observed that swallows, a little while before 

 they disappear, collect in flocks, and are seen upon 

 the roofs of buildings, fences and dead trees, often 

 near brooks and ponds. I have learned from careful 

 observation, that both in Massachusetts and in wes- 

 tern New York — the latitude being about the same 

 — the barn-swallows generally leave on or about 

 the 25th of August. A flock the past summer, for 

 several days prior to the 25th, was observed both 

 morning and evening perched on the front of 

 the State House, overlooking the Common, where 

 insects did then abound, furnishing them a share 

 of their food ; after the 25tli none but an occasion- 

 al straggler was seen. Now is it probable, sensible 

 or reasonable to suppose that these beautiful, swift- 

 winged birds descended at that time to the bottom 

 of lakes, rivers, ponds and mud-holes, and there 

 remained in a torpid state until about the first of 

 May ? Or, that they gather into hollow trees, or 

 crevices in old walls or buildings, or sandbanks, 

 and there sleep an unconscious sleep until summer 

 returns ? I say no ! no ! For I have not been able 

 to find one clear, well-authenticated statement, nor 

 one observation, to confirm such an absurd tradi- 

 tion. The reader is referred again to the preced- 

 ing article, to see and consider the kind of testimo- 

 ny, or myth, this strange legend has for its sup- 

 port. On the other hand, you have such eminent 

 men as Audubon, Wilson, Clinton and others, bear- 

 ing the fullest testimony to the fact that the swal- 

 lows migrate to the South — have been observed on 

 their way, and seen in southern climes during the 

 winter. The same kind of testimony is borne by 

 Edwards, Jardine, and other eminent authors in 

 England. They have noticed them there, as they 

 have been here, on their passage toward the South. 

 Hollow trees and sand-banks have been examined 

 by such men as Audubon, to ascertain whether swal- 

 lows did winter in either place, but none were ever 

 found after the season for migration had fully 

 passed, though diligently and carefully sought for. 

 And, yet, because swallows have been seen coming 

 out of hollow trees, called "swallow trees," as de- 

 scribed in a preceding number, there have been 



those who have affirmed that they wintered there, 

 seeming to be ignorant of the fact that they re- 

 sorted thither to roost, after returning from the 

 South to spend the summer here. 



Then, again, persons who, having seen swallows 

 about lakes, rivers and ponds, late in summer, when 

 about to migrate, and again observed them in sim- 

 ilar ])laces when first seen in the spring, come to 

 the strange conclusion that they wintered at the 

 bottoms of these ponds, rivers and lakes. Strange 

 kind of reasoning, this ! Suppose they are wet 

 when thus seen, as some affirm, what then? So far 

 from proving anything in favor of such a notion, it 

 only serves to confirm a well-known habit of these, 

 and other birds, that of going into the water to 

 bathe. And, moreover, the fact of their being seen 

 about the water is otherwise sufficiently accounted 

 for Avithout adopting the belief of such "credulous" 

 ones. Every one who is at all acquainted with the 

 habits of swallows, either from reading or observa- 

 tion, is aware that they subsist chiefly upon small 

 insects, that abound in greater abundance about 

 water, swamps and marshy grounds than elsewhere; 

 hence, in obedience to instinct, implanted in them 

 by Infinite Wisdom, they resort to those localities in 

 late summer for food, rot to seek a brumal retreat. 



The swallows, as do the other birds of passage, 

 migrate far enough towards the South to find a 

 temperature like what they enjoy here, and there 

 pass the season in conscious pleasure and delight, 

 as well as in ministering to the happiness of man, 

 as here, when they return hither, as they will do in 

 a few weeks, for "the stork [the dove,] the crane 

 and the swallow observe the time of their coming.' 

 Here it is seen that the swallow is classed by the 

 old prophet with well-known birds of passage. 



A man in Salem, a few years ago, closed the 

 doors and windows of a building where the swal- 

 lows had nested, thus confining a few of them about 

 the time of leaving, either for the South, or else for 

 some mud-hole or pond for hybernating during the 

 next eight months. They were kept in this con- 

 finement until about the first of October, when 

 some of them were caught and something attached, 

 whereby they might be identified if shot or ob- 

 served, and then permitted to leave. Twenty-four 

 hours from the time they were suffered to escape, 

 one of them was shot at Key West, south of Flor- 

 ida. This well-authenticated fact, going to prove 

 the swallow to be a migratory bird, is worth more 

 than all the speculation and conjectures about hy- 

 bernation, from the archbishop of Upsal dcwn to 

 the latest advocate and defender of this mythical 

 tradition. In speed of flight, Audubon says, the 

 barn-swallow supersedes all but the humming-bird. 



The musing sportsman of Key West may thus 

 have given utterance to his thoughts : 



"He comes ! he comes I who lores to bear 

 Soft sunny hours and seasons fair; 

 The swallow hither comes to rest 

 His sable wings and snowy breast." 



But, alas, the swift-winged, joyous bird escaped 

 from its confinement in a northern clime, to fall a 

 prey to the fowler in a few brief hours after reach- 

 ing his home, sought in quick obedience to instinct, 

 that inward impelling power, in some respects seem- 

 ing superior to reason itself as manifested in the 

 human race. 



Having occasion, a few years since, to visit Mon- 

 treal and Quebec during the first part of August, 

 I was exceedingly interested by the almost infinite 



