178 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



so, have we any right to limit the length of time that they 

 may thus remain in a semi-torpid or hibernating condi- 

 tion ? To maintain that such a question is reasonable is 

 not an attempt to carry water upon both shoulders ; for 

 swallows' hibernation in sheltered places, surrounded by 

 the atmosphere, is vastly different from lying in mud at 

 the bottom of a lake or the ocean. In a second somewhat 

 similar instance that has come to my knowledge, a num- 

 ber of these birds were found in a hollow sycamore which 

 was cut down in the month of February. These birds 

 were dead when I saw them, and I was assured by the 

 wood-cutter that they were stiff and cold when he took 

 them from the tree. They were not frozen, however, 

 and the appearance, on dissection, was such as to lead to 

 the belief that they had died but very recently ; certainly 

 before the tree was cut down, but not long previously. 

 There was no decomposition ; some trace of fatty tissue, 

 and the blood liquid ; the bowels and stomach empty, but 

 moist, soft, and flexible. 



In this case, happening during a remarkably mild 

 winter, that of 1879-'80, it is possible that swallows might 

 survive in such quarters, when a season of ordinary sever- 

 ity would destroy them. 



It is claimed that we do not know where the winter 

 haunts of these birds are ; if so, may it not be that, like 

 the almost as abundant bats, these birds congregate in 

 caves or hollow trees ? But if we grant this much, these 

 hibernating places are not to be looked for in New Eng- 

 land or the Middle States, but so far south as to be beyond 

 the reach of the severest frosts of our winters. Certainly, 

 did they hibernate with us, in the same manner as the 

 bats, their hiding-places would have been discovered far 

 oftener than even such instances as I have related have 

 been noticed. As a thousand or more may be found in 



