1853- 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



115 



a viscous substance on and about tiieir wings, or 

 they were too weak to fly away. In addition to 

 the foregoing, I can a.^sure you, on the most cred- 

 ible testimony, that there have boon more instan- 

 ces than one of a pickerel's being caught in tliis 

 river, at the season of the coming of swallows, 

 with one or more of those birds in its l)elly. 



I am, with the sincerest esteem., Sir, your most 

 -obedient servant, Samuel Dexter. 



Doct. Williams, in his History of Vermont, 

 Vol. 1st, page 140 says, that at Dauby in this 

 State, the inhabitants report, that swallows were 

 takcB out of a pond in that town some years ago. 

 A man was engaged iii the winter, to procure the 

 roots of the pond lily, for m.ediciraal purposes. — 

 Among the mud and roots, , which ho threw out, 

 several swallows were found inclosed in the mud; 

 alive, but in a torpid state. The account is not 

 doubted among the inhabitants; but I have not 

 the testimony of any person who saw these swal- 

 lows. It has been doubted by some able natural- 

 ists, whether it is possible for the swallow to live 

 in such a situation. I saw an instance, which 

 puts the possibility of the Hxet beyond all room 

 for doubt. About the year 1760, two men were 

 digging in the salt ma;rsli in Cambridge, Massachu- 

 setts : on the baiik of Charles river, about two 

 feet below the surface ef the ground, they dug up 

 a swallow, wholly surrounded and covered with 

 mud. The swallow was in a torpid state, but be- 

 ing held in their hands, it revived in about half 

 an hour. The [-.lace where this swallow was dug 

 up, was every <hs,j covered with the salt water; 

 which at every high tide, was four or five feat 

 deep. The time when this swallow was found, 

 was the latter part of the month of February, 

 but the men assured me, they had never found 

 any other swallows in such a situation. 



The species calh'd the house or chimney swal- 

 low, has been fcvjiul during the winter, in hollow 

 trees. At Middl.^'nu-y ia this State, continues Dr. 

 Williams, there was a large hollow elm, called by 

 the people in the vicinity, the swallow tree. From 

 a man who, for several years, lived within twenty 

 rods of it, I procured this information. lie al- 

 ways thought tlie swallows tarried in the tree, 

 through the winter, and avoided cutting it down, 

 on that account. About the first of May, the 

 swallows came out of it, in large numbers, about 

 the middle of the day, and soon returned. As 

 the weather grew warmer, they came out in the 

 morning with a loud noise, or roar, and were soon 

 dispersed. About half an hour before sundown, 

 they returned in millions, circulating two or three 

 times round the tree, and then descending like a 

 stream, into a hole about sixty feet from the 

 ground. It was customary for persons in the vi- 

 cinity, to visit this tree, to observe the motions of 

 these birds. And when any persons disturbed 

 their operations, by striking violently against the 

 tree, with their axes, the swallows would rush out 

 in millions, and- with a great noise. In Novem- 

 ber, 1701, the top of this tree was blown down, 

 twenty feet below where the swallows entered. — 

 There has been no appearance of the swallows 

 since. Upon cutting down the remainder, an im- 

 mense quantity of excrements, quills and feathers, 

 were found; but no appearance or relics of any 

 nests. 



Another of these swallow trees was at Brid- 

 port. The man who lived nearest to it gave this 



account. The swallows were first observed to 

 come out of the tree, in the spring, about the time 

 that the leaves first begun to appear on the trees. 

 From that season, tlicy came out in the mornin"-, 

 about half an hour after sunrise. They rushed 

 out like a stream, as big as the hole in the tree 

 would admit, and ascended in a perpendicular 

 line, until they were above the height of the ad- 

 jacent trees; then tissumed a circular motion, per- 

 forming their revolutions two or three times, but 

 always in a lai'ger circle, and then dispersed m 

 every direction. A little before sundown, they 

 returned in immense numbers, forming several 

 circular motiims, and then descended like a stream 

 into the hole, from whence they carae out in the 

 morning. About the middle of September, they 

 were seen entering the tree, for the last time. — 

 These birds were ail of the s|3ecies, called the 

 house or chimney swallow. The tree was a large 

 hollow elm, the hole at which they entered, was 

 about forty feet a,bove the ground, and about nine 

 inches diameter. The- swallows made their first 

 appearance in the spring, and their, last appear- 

 ance in the fall, in the vicinity of this tree; and 

 the neighboring ip.habitants had no doubt but 

 that the swallows continued in it during the win- 

 ter. A few j^ears ago, a hole was cut at the bot^ 

 torn cf the tree, and from that time, the swallows 

 have been gradually forsaking the tree, and have 

 now almost deserted it. 



The following account from Nathan Rumsey, 

 Esqr., of Hubbard ton, is more circumstantial and 

 conclusive. "Sometime in the month of March, 

 A. D. 1786, when the snow was deep on the 

 ground, I was making sugar in the town of Hub- 

 bardton, with the assistance of some boys. The 

 boys informed me, that they had discovered a 

 large number of birds, flying out from a tree. I 

 went myself to the tree, and found that the birds 

 were swallows of the chimney kind. The tree 

 was an elm of a large size, and hollow fifty or 

 sixty feet from the ground. Remaining for sever- 

 al days in the vicinity I observed the swallows in 

 the fore part of the day going out, and in the lat- 

 ter part of the day going in at the same place. I 

 chopped a hole in the tree, from w^hence I could 

 see through it, to the place where they went out, 

 and found that they extended from fifty or sixty 

 feet in height near down to the ground; and ap- 

 peared to be sticking to the tree, as thick as they 

 could be placed, and that the sides of the cavity 

 were every where lined with them; a considerable 

 part of them seemed to be in a torpid state." 

 From these accounts, says Doct. Williams, I am 

 led to believe that the House swallow, in this part 

 of America, generally resides during the winter 

 in the hollow of trees; and that the ground swal- 

 lows find security in the mud, at the bottom of 

 lakes, rivers and ponds. s. p. f, 



Danversport, Jan. Ath, 1853. 



[to be continued.) 



The Grumbler. — Grumble ! grumble ! grumble ! 

 continually ! what a grumbler ! lie grumbles all 

 the time, night and day, week in and week out. 

 Whenever and wherever you meet him, it is grum- 

 ble, grumble, grumble ! Always some foot out of 

 joint, some shoe down at the heel I 



Always something to grumble about. If he has 

 nothing, or nobody to grumble at, he will grumble 



