374 DO SWALLOWS HIBERNATE? 



States knows exactly when to expect the Swallows, and can 

 predicate their arrival within a few days the probable error 

 being due to advance or retardation of the season. This local 

 observer knows as well how long the birds will stay. Then, 

 those of us who make a business of the matter, and supple- 

 ment our individual observations with the recorded experiences 

 of all the rest, in all other countries, trace the movements of 

 the birds into warmer parts of America ; we map the distribu- 

 tion of each species, and account for every day in the lives of 

 Swallows during the period of their absence from our midst. 

 We know just where they go and what they do. We know, 

 for instance, that countless thousands of White-bellied Swal- 

 lows disport all winter long in Florida, as bright and active 

 then and there as during their summer sojourn in New Eng- 

 land. We know that myriads of Swallows are then at play in 

 the air in Mexico, in the West Indies, and in Central America, 

 just the same as at any other season of the year. 



Yet it was gravely asserted centuries ago, and it has been 

 steadily reiterated at intervals ever since, that Swallows plunge 

 into the mud, become torpid, and hibernate like frogs. Learned 

 bodies like the French Academy in Paris and the Eoyal 

 Society of London have discussed this matter, printed the 

 evidence in their official publications, and looked as wise after 

 as before their meditations on the subject. Ornithologists in 

 general fight shy of the thing; it savors too much of the 

 marvellous, the mythical and supernatural, and seems too in- 

 credible to be entertained for a moment. It is as much as a 

 virtuous ornithologist's name is worth to whisper hibernation, 

 torpidity, and mud. " Pooh ! Nonsense ! We know all about 

 the migrations of Swallows. Don't we know exactly where 

 they go, and how they get there, and how they get back f 

 Haven't we accounted for every day of their absence ? Be- 

 sides, no Swallow could live in the mud the thing is prepos- 

 terous can't be done, you know ! " 



The orthodoxy of the subject is, that Swallows never fly into 

 the mud and lie there torpid, because they cannot do so. But 

 it is always unsafe to ignore the cumulative wisdom of the 

 past, and it is never wise to speak of the impossible outside of 

 mathematics. The most difficult point to accept, or to attempt 

 to explain, is the suddenness of the alleged transition from a 

 high state of animation to a degree of lethargy, and the 

 abruptness with which the activity of vital functions is said to 



