DO SWALLOWS HIBERNATE? 177 



thousands of chimney-swallows and a few of other species 

 were seen flying southward, keeping as near to the ground 

 as possible, just avoiding the tree-tops, and in open spaces 

 often just clearing the ground. They were in dense flocks, 

 and appeared to be driven helplessly before the cutting 

 blasts of the north wind then prevailing. The weather 

 moderated the next day, and on the 7th of the month there 

 were very many swallows flying about just as usual ; they 

 did not finally disappear before the 20th of October. 



Such flocks of swallows as I have mentioned are cer- 

 tainly indicative of a voluntary or forced migration to a 

 certain extent. What becomes of such storm-driven colo- 

 nies (and they are an annual occurrence) I cannot say ; 

 but they are certainly indicative of the habit of migration 

 obtaining among these birds, to a certain extent. On the 

 other hand, what of the many swallows that remained for 

 fully two weeks after the storm I have mentioned ? As 

 bearing upon this point, the following is worthy of note : 

 In December, 1879, I had occasion to have a wood-stove 

 removed from a fireplace, and one for burning coal put 

 in its place. The removed stove had not had a fire in it 

 for nearly a year. On detaching the pipe, there were 

 found seven swallows in one of the elbows, occupying 

 the space between the angle and the damper. They were 

 all perfectly well and comparatively vigorous. On being 

 placed upon the floor of the room, they soon recovered 

 their full senses, and, after a feeble flight about the room, 

 passed quickly through an open window and were seen 

 no more. The great bulk of the chimney-swallows appar- 

 ently departed by the 25th of October of that year. I 

 certainly saw none later; yet fifty-five days after that 

 date seven are found, in fine health and strength, snugly 

 stowed away in a stove-pipe. It is fair to suppose that 

 they had lived for this length of time without food. If 



