232 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



is probably the state of those summer birds of passage 

 which accident may have detained with us during winter." 

 Willughby says, " What becomes of Swallows in Winter- 

 time, whether they fly into other countries, or lie torpid 

 in hollow trees, and the like places, neither are natural 

 historians agreed, nor indeed can we certainly determine." 

 The notion was actually entertained by Linnaeus, by Gilbert 

 White of Selborne, and many others. Pliny believed that 

 they retired at the approach of winter to the inmost recesses 

 of rocks and mountains, and there remained in a torpid 

 state till Spring (" Hist. Nat.," lib. xxx, cap. rv). Other 

 writers have conjectured that they lie torpid during winter 

 at the bottom of ponds or rivers, and it has been argued 

 that Linnaeus was of this opinion, although his reference 

 is not quite lucid. Gilbert White was of opinion that 

 " though they may not retire into that element, yet they 

 may conceal themselves in the banks of pools and rivers 

 during the uncomfortable months of winter." Elsewhere 

 he suggests that during the severe winds that often prevail 

 late in the spring they may retire and sleep away these 

 uncomfortable periods as bats do. Forster, writing in 

 1808, thinks that " Swallows may have occasionally been 

 found under water," and suggests their presence there may 

 be due to their having lain in a torpid state at night among 

 the reeds or rushes. He, in fact, credits the occasional 

 records of this kind, as well as their having been found 

 torpid in hollow trees, rocks and under the thatch of houses ; 

 but nevertheless he argues that the bulk of the species 

 migrates in the winter. The bird was formerly greatly 

 esteemed for its reputed medicinal value, being considered 

 a remedy for the "falling sickness," "dimness of sight," 

 " blear eyes," etc., their ashes in this latter case being 

 mingled with honey and applied. A Swallow's heart was 

 also eaten to strengthen the memory, or as a cure for the 

 ague, while the blood, particularly when drawn from under 

 the left wing, was thought a specific for the eyes. A stone, 

 called Chelidonius, sometimes found in the stomach of 

 young Swallows, was also used as a remedy for the " falling 

 sickness " in children, being hung from the neck or bound 

 to the arm. A popular belief is that when Swallows skim 

 the water, in flying over it, rain is coming. Virgil 

 ("Georgics") alluding to the signs of coming rain, writes : 

 " The Swallow skims the river's watr'y face." Dr. Jenner, 

 also, alluding to the low flight before rain, says : " Low 

 o'er the grass the Swallow wings." On the contrary a high 



