1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



S21 



same with an equal amount on the 25th. On the 

 2Gth, another cup full was supplied in the after- 

 noon. During the succeeding night a gentle rain 

 wet the surface of the flour, which was dried by 

 the winds into a hard crust before 9 o'clock on 

 the morning of the 27th. The bec3 came to it be- 

 fore ten, but they were puzzled to take it up as 

 they had done, and it became a matter of curiosi- 

 ty to see what course they v/ould pursue. Their 

 instincts, however, did not fail them. Ranged 

 side by side along the base of the mound, they soon 

 perforated the crust, and long before night the ex- 

 cavation was nearly completed, and most of the 

 flour carried away. 



Bee-bread, or pollen, is collected and packed 

 down for future use, and often covered with wax. 

 Flour is a similar substance, and answers their 

 purpose pretty well, therefore supply it. 



suscitated swallow, in the depth of winter, from 

 the bottom of a mill-pond, is, I confess, a phenom- 

 enon in ornithology, that I have never met with." 

 Now, in point of fact, Mr. Wilson's knowloilge of 

 our birds, extended only through a period of nine 

 years — to wit, frcmi 1804 to his death, in 1813. 

 And we strongly suspect he met a man, who 

 was as conversant with our birds as himself, when 

 he saw for the first time, in IMarch, iyiO,at Louis- 

 ville, in Kentucky, the author of the Birds of 

 America. Mr. Audubon's account of this inter- 

 view and Mr. Wilson's subsequent notice of it, 

 may be seen in the 1st vol. of Audul)on's Birds, 

 page 437. And he certainly "marked the pecu- 

 liarities of our birds, when he made the discovery 

 and described the Red Owl as a distinct species, 

 since all ornitholgists subsequent to his time have 

 failed to distinguish it, and have ascertained that 

 the Red Owl is no other than the Mottled Owl, in 

 his juvenile years. We should think from read- 

 ing Wilson's Life by Mr. Ord, that his biographer 

 supposed that he would probably have beconie,had 

 he have lived, a reformer in the Natural History 

 of our country. And that all stories published 

 in our Philosophical and Natural History transac- 

 tions and Institutes, such as the torpidity of swal- 

 lows, toads found deeply imbedded in the earth or 

 roeks.the Gloucester Sea Serpent, &.c., and all gross 

 fictions fas he was pleased to call them] palmed 

 upon mankind, the Paisley weaver was destined to 

 ii i. -J-. p M - ' .1. ■ L J X „,x lexpose. Doet. Barton, in a letter to the editor of 



the torpidity of swallows m the winter, and treats r^^l'^-. ^'^\. ,, ' . , allnrl^no- tn thp 



-^ - •' - - _..'.. "! the PAj/oso-o/ijca; Ma "-flsme, when auuning 10 me 



THi 



F'sr the New England FarmtT. 

 BIRDS OF NEV/ ENGLAND. 



3IR PAST AND PRESENT iUSTORY. ...No. 3. 

 BV 8. P. FOVTIiER. 



The Iflte Alexander Wilson, the author of the 

 "American Ornithology," was a disbeliever in 



the whole subject with ridicule. In his history ofj 

 our birds, he copies Doct. Williams's account of 

 the chimney swallows, found torpid in hollow 

 trees, in the towns of Danby and Bridport, as 

 before written, but wholly omits to notice the one 

 from Mr. Ramsey, from llubbardston, so conclu- 

 sive. He says, "I cannot, in the cases cited, see 

 any sufficient cause for the belief of the torpidity 

 of swallows. The birds were seen to pass out on 

 the first of May, or in the spring, when the leaves 

 began to appear on the trees, and, about the 

 middle of September, they were seen entering the 

 tree for the last time ; but there is no information 

 here, of their being seen at any time during win- 

 ter, either within or around the tree." This is ex- 

 ^leedingly unfair, on the part of Mr. Wilson, for 

 it will be seen in the account given by ]Mr-. Ram- 

 sey, from Hubbardston, that swallows were seen 

 by him in March, when there was a deep snow 

 upon the ground, and that the birds were actual- 

 ly examined, when inside the tree, and some of 

 them had the appearance of being in a torpid 

 state. Mr. Wilson admits, that the chimney 

 swallow usually arrives in May from the south, 

 and departs in September. Now I would inquire, 

 how came these birds to be found in a hollow tree 

 in Vermont, in a partially torpid state, in the 

 month of March, with a deep snow upon the 

 ground, if they had not hibernated there during 

 the winter ? Would they have migrated from the 

 south, 80 early in the spring 1 Mr. Wilson, when 

 writing upon the subject of the torpidity of swal- 

 lows in winter, says, "Away with such absurdi- 

 ties ! they are unworthy of a serious refutation. 

 I should be pleased to meet with a man, who has 

 been personally more conversant with birds, than 

 myself, who has followed them in their wide and 

 devious routes, — studied their various manners — 

 mingled with, and marked their peculiarities, 

 more than I have done; yet the miracle of a re- 



subject of the torpidity of swallows, says, "I have, 

 at this time, in the press, a memoir on the migra- 

 tion and torpidity of these birds. I am confident 

 that I shall be able to convince every candid phi- 

 losopher, that great numbers of swallows, of dif- 

 ferent species, do occasionally pass into a state of 

 torpidity, more or less profound. I do not sup- 

 pose that all the swallows of North xVmerica be- 

 come torpid. It is my present opinion, and it was 

 my opinion when I published the 'Fragments' 

 in 1799, that the swallows, in general, are migra- 

 tory birds. But subsequent and very extensive in- 

 quiries have convinced me, that the instances of 

 torpid swallows are much more frequent than I 

 formerly supposed they were ; and that there are 

 two species of the genus Hirundo, which are pe- 

 culiarly disposed to pass the brumal season m 

 the cavities of rocks, in the hollows of trees, and 

 in other similar situations, where they are often 

 found in a soporose state. These species are the 

 Hirundo riparia, or sand swallow ; and the H. 

 pelasgia, which we call chimney swallow. There 

 is no fact in ornithology better established than 

 the fact of the occasional torpidity of these two 

 species of Hirundo T' 



From some cause not known, Doct. Barton 

 never published, as he had promised, his "Me- 

 moir on the Migration and Torpidity of Swal- 

 lows," and from this circumstance, Mr. Ord, the 

 biographer of Alexander Wilson, infers that the 

 Doctor was deterred from doing it, in consequence 

 of the great fight shed upon the vexed subject 

 of the torpidity of swallows, by the author of 

 "The American Ornithology ;" and that he mani- 

 fested great discretion in suppressing it. We 

 have reason to suppose Mr. Wilson was not ta- 

 miUar with the habits of our birds, as they are 

 seen in New England. I have not been able t» 

 learn, that he ever visited the north, with a single 



