262 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



rying them to the fire, they have revived and sung 1 

 with as much vigour as in spring. " I have heard it 

 affirmed," says an intelligent author, " that an old 

 hollow tree being cut down in a certain village in 

 Wiltshire, and laid on the fire, a cuckoo revived by 

 the warmth, jumped out of it, and began repeating its 

 usual note with great energy, to the admiration of 

 the beholders: but I think this relation is too extra- 

 vagant to deserve our credit *.'' 



But however untenable the opinion may be that 

 swallows and cuckoos become torpid in winter, it ap- 

 pears rational when compared with the notion that 

 has been gravely supported of their going under 

 water to undergo their winter's sleep ; a notion 

 which we should not have brought under review 

 were it not that it still seems to linger in the fancies 

 of some, from the authority of the names of those by 

 whom it has been adopted. The earliest statement 

 of this notion which we have been able to trace is 

 given by Olaus Magnus, archbishop of Upsal in 

 Sweden, published in 1555. 



" From the northern waters," says the archbishop, 

 *' swallows are often dragged up by fishermen in the 

 form of clustered masses, mouth to mouth, wing to 

 wing, and foot to foot, these having at the beginning 

 of autumn collected amongst the reeds previous to 

 submersion (descensurce) . It is also to be noted, 

 that the most sweet season being now over and gone, 

 they plunge into the water with a song, from which 

 at the beginning of spring they quietly emerge to re- 

 visit their old nests, or from natural solicitude to 

 fabricate new ones. When young and inexperienced 

 fishermen find such clusters of swallows, they will, by 

 thawing the birds at the fire, bring them indeed to 

 the use of their wings, which will continue but a very 

 short time, as it is a premature and forced revival ; 

 * Discourse on Emigration, p. 35, 8vo. Lond. 1795. 



