©F NATURAL HISTORY. 48S 



lakes, with mouth to mouth, wing to wing, foot to foot, and 

 that in autumn they creep down the reeds to their fubterra- 

 neous retreats*. * That the good Archbifhop,' Mr. Pennant 

 archly remvirks, « did not want credulity in other inftances. 

 * appears from this, that, after having ftocked the bottoms 



< of the lakes with birds, he ftores the clouds with mice, 



< which fometimes fall in plentiful fliowers on Norway and 

 « the neighbouring countries !' Klein has endeavoured to fup- 

 port the notion that fwallows lie under water during the 

 winter, and gives the following account of their manner of 

 retiring, which he colle<Sled from fome countrymen : They 

 aflerted, he tells us, that the fwallows fometimes affembled 

 in numbers on a reed till it broke and funk them to the bot- 

 tom : That their immerfion was preceded by a kind of 

 dirge, which lafled more than a quarter of an hour : That 

 others united, laid hold of a ftraw with their bills, and plung- 

 ed down in fociety : That others, by clinging together with 

 their feet, formed a large mafs, and in this manner commit- 

 ted themfelves to the deepf. 



Two reafons feem to render this fuppofed fubmerfion of 

 fwallows impoffible. In the firft place, no land-animal can 

 exift fo long without fome degree of refpiration. The otter, 

 the feal, and water. fowls of all kinds, when confined under 

 the ice, or entangled in nets, foon perifh ; yet it is well 

 known, that animals of this kind can remain much longer 

 under water than thofe who are deftitute of that peculiar 

 ftru<^ure of the heart which is neceffary for any confiderable 

 relidence beneath that penetrating element. Mr. John Hun- 

 ter, in a letter to Mr. Pennant, informs us, ' That he had 



< diflecled many fwallows, but found nothing in them differ- 



< ent from other birds as to the organs of refpiration : That 



< all thofe animals which he had dilTedled of the clafs that 



• Derham's Phyf. Theol. page 349. 

 t Klein Prod. Hift. Avium, page S05. 2g6. 



