136 SWALLOW. 



Wexford, on the 5th. of December, 1842; also on the 10th. 

 of November, 1844. One was seen at the end of November, 

 1847, at Castle Warren, near Cork. 



One would suppose, from their ceaseless flight while with 

 us, that the Swallows would never know fatigue; but, never- 

 theless, they shew unmistakeable signs of being wearied, by 

 alighting on the yards and rigging of ships when in their 

 transit; nevertheless, and it is a most striking proof of the 

 imperative impulse that guides them in their migration, they 

 will not diverge from their pathway over the ocean, to rest 

 on land that may be only a few miles on one side; but 

 'on, on,' is, like Marmion's, their motto, and from their bidden 

 course nothing can induce them to swerve aside. They also, 

 at such times, are said to refresh themselves by dropping on 

 the sea, from which they rise with fresh invigoration. Audubon 

 and other writers state this fact. 



It was formerly imagined that Swallows passed the winter 

 in a torpid state, submerging themselves in lakes for this 

 purpose. The following is the scientific 'dictum' of Dr. 

 Johnson: 'Swallows certainly do sleep all the winter. A 

 number of them conglobulate together, by flying round and 

 round, and then all in a heap throwing themselves under 

 water, and lie in the bed of a river;' a very cold bed cer- 

 tainly. Alexander Mai Berger also says, in a calendar kept 

 at Upsal in 1755; 'August 4th. Birds of passage, after having 

 celebrated their nuptials, now prepare for departing;' and 

 then 'September 17th. Swallows go under water.' The 

 'Kendal Mercury,' in 1837, detailed the circumstance of a 

 person having observed several Swallows emerging from 

 Grasmere Lake, in the spring of that year, in the form of 

 'bell-shaped bubbles,' from each of which a Swallow burst 

 forth; and the editor added, 'we give the fact, well authenti- 

 cated by the parties from whom we received it, in the hope 

 that it may prove an acceptable addition to the data on 

 which naturalists frame their hypotheses.' 



That the great body of them leave our wintry shores at 

 the annual time of their migration for the sunny south, is 

 unquestionable; but, nevertheless, it appears equally certain 

 that some individuals, more or fewer in number, hybernate 

 with us. Mr. J. B. Ellman records in the 'Zoologist,' page 

 2303, some instances of their having been dug out of hollows 

 in banks in the winter; and Mr. Edward Brown Fitton, at 

 page 2590, 'tells the tale as it was told to him' of 'immense 



