IM 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March ^ 



published In the Gentleman's Magazine. We will 

 now give the opinion of old European writers on 

 the subject of the winter retreat of swallows. 



Kaliu thought that swallows generally mi- 

 grated from the teniperatc climates of Europe ; 

 but that those found in the more northern regions, 

 partook of the wintry torpors of some other po- 

 lar creatures. Klein was decidedly of opinion 



tumn, to distant countries, and return in the 

 spring, or remain with us during the winter, in a 

 torpid state; and that the former opinion has gen- 

 erally prevailed. "When therefore, I acquaint you- 

 that I have adopted the latter, witli respect to the 

 AoM5e swa//oit', you ^ill justly expect that I give 

 you substantial reasons, for differing from sa 

 many, who have maintained the contrary. The 



■that chimney swallows wintered in the water, and, late Judge Foster, of Brookfield, a year or twobe- 

 sand martins in their holes, in the Ixinks of the fore his death, assured me, that he saw a certain 

 rivers. linnfcus asserts that chimney swallows pond drained, about the season of the year, when 

 and martins immerse themselves in the water in ] the swallows first appear. The business being ef- 

 winter; but supposes that swifts lay concealed in! fected, and the weather fair and warm, he, with 

 holes, in church towers, and other secure places, several others, observed, a rippling motion in many 

 Pontoppidan gives it as his belief, that swallows parts af the emptied hollow; which on a near in- 

 spent the winter in water ; and asserts that they spection, they found to be occasioned by a multi- 

 are frequently taken out of that element, in large tude of swallows, endeavoui-ing to disengage them- 

 raasses, by fishermen, in Norway and other north- selves from the mud, which was scarcely covered 

 ern countries. Daines Barrington supposed that by the shallow remains of water, 

 the chimney swallow remained during winter, im- I shall now mention some other facts, which 

 merscd in water ; but that the martin lay hid in [render it probable, that this sort of swallows sink 

 cavities of rocks, old towers, and other secluded into ponds and rivers, in the fall of the year, an^ 



retreats, in support of which opinion, he adduces 

 a great number of facts. Pennant believed that 

 the l)ulk of each species migrated ; but admits 

 that some individual birds may have occasionally 

 been found torpid in winter ; in which opinion, 

 Latham and White, and in fact, most naturalists 

 of their time, appear to have concurred. The 

 earliest opinion, which we have been able to trace, 

 is given by Olaus Magnus, archbishop of Upsal, 

 in Sweden, published in 1555. 



"From the northern waters," saya the arch- 

 bishop, "swallows are often dragged up by fisher- 

 men, in the form of clustered masses, among the 

 reeds from the bottom." Etmuller, professor of 

 Botany and Anatomy at Leipsic, a century after 

 Olaus, gives his personal testimony to the circum- 

 stance. "I remember," says he, "to have found, 

 more than a bushel measure would hold, of swal- 

 lows, closely clustered among the reeds of a fish- 

 pond, under the ice, all of them to appearance 

 dead, but the heart still pulsating." Baron Cu- 

 vier asserts of the bank swallow, as well au- 

 thenticated, that it falls into a lethargic state 

 during winter, and even that it passes that sea- 

 son at the bottom of marshy waters. 



In the dissertations read before the Academy of 

 Upsal, the submersion of swallows was received in 



lie there, benumbed and motionless, until the re- 

 turn of spring. You know. Sir, that my house i& 

 near a large river. This river is, in many parts, 

 shallow, and has a muddy bottom. A former 

 neighbour of mine, a plain, honest and sensible 

 man, now deceased, who lived still nearer the 

 river, used frequently to say to me, as the warm 

 weather came on in the spring, "it is almost tima 

 for the swallows to come out of the mud, where 

 they have lain all winter." He repeatedly as- 

 sured me, he had, in the autumn of many years, 

 seen great numbers of them, on one day only in 

 each year, and nearly about, but not always on 

 the same day of the month, sitting on the willow 

 bushes, [which, by the way, they are not wont to 

 roost upon at other times] on the borders of the 

 river, a little after sunset ; — that they seemed as 

 if their torpitude had already begun, as they 

 would not stjr from the twigs, which, hj the 

 weight of the swallows, were )>ent down almost 

 to the water; and that although he had never 

 seen them sink into it, yet he had waited till it 

 was so dark, that he could not discern them at all; 



and doubted not of their immersion, any more 

 than if he had been a witness of it; fur he had 

 never observed any flying about afterwards, till 

 the return of spring. He added, that if, as be 

 Sweden as an acknowledged fact. Such were the 'wished, I would carefully look for their resurrec- 

 opinions entertained by many of the distinguished jtion, he believed it would not be in vain. Altho' 

 naturalists of Europe, in regard to the retreat of , I paid little regard to it, for some years, yet I 

 swallows in winter. We may add that in Germa- j followed his advice at length, and watched for 

 ny, a reward of an equal weight in silver, with their appearance several seasons, as carefully as I 

 the birds thus found, was publicly offered to any could. I have not indeed beheld them rising out of 

 one, who should produce swallows, thus discovered, the water; yet I and my fixmily have, in more 

 under water, but as Frisch informs us, nobody years than one, seen, at the proper time in the 

 ever claimed the money. The subject of the tor- spring, A'cry large flocks of them, in my own, and 

 pidity of swallows, has attracted the attention of; in my neighbour's land, so near the margin of the 

 naturalists, in our country. We find an article] river, that from that circumstance, the appearance 

 on this subject, in the 1st Vol. of the Memoirs] of ' of their feathers, and their being unable to use 

 the American Academy, page 494, entitled, "A their wings as at other times, we concluded, they 

 Letter on the Pietreat of House Swallows in Win- [ were newly emerged from the water. When they 

 ter, from the Honourable Samuel Dexter, Esqr., to attempted to fly, they could not reach above eight 



the Honourable James Bowdoin, Esqr. , Pres. A. A. 



Dedhain, June 3d, 1783. 

 Dear Sir : — Among more important liranehes 

 of natural history, with which you are conver- 

 sant, ornithology cannot have escaped your notice. 

 I know it has been a prol)lem among naturalists. 



or ten yards, before they settled to the ground, 

 and then might be drove about, like chickens. -- 

 They appeared unwilling to be disturbed, and, if 

 not frightened by some noise or motion, would 

 cluster together, seeming to want to rest them- 

 selves, as if feeble, or fiitigued. They were not 



whether certain species of birds emigrate jn au^' ^"t^^^ly recovered from their stupor.-there was 



