310 THE UNIVERSE. 



they suddenly disappeared, and not long ago the strangest 

 suppositions were indulged in on this head. 



As these birds in autumn seek their insect prey in the 

 fens, and seem to plunge into them, it was for a long time 

 believed that they buried themselves in the mud, to issue 

 again with the return of the spring warmth, which reani- 

 mated them after a six months' asphyxia. Olaus Magnus, 

 a northern naturalist, more erudite than observing, was the 

 first who propagated this fable, going so far as to maintain 

 that the Norwegian fishermen often take in their nets a 

 great number of swallows along with the fish. It was even 

 asserted that if the poor birds, all soiled with mud, soaked 

 with water, and stupefied with cold, were exposed to the 

 heat of a stove, they were seen to become speedily dry and 

 return to life. 



Linnaeus, Buffon, and even Cuvier believed such stories! 

 Ought we to consider this as a reproach to them, when we 

 see that some physiologists of our own time obstinately 

 maintain that certain animals can be reanimated ? l 



As the swallows have for a long time concealed their 

 winter residence, it became the subject of all sorts of con- 

 jectures. Some naturalists maintained that, instead of emi- 

 grating to distant regions, they hid themselves and became 



1 The idea that swallows winter in the mud of our marshes was so popular that 

 a German academy thought it advisable to examine whether there was any foun- 

 dation for the opinion or not. This learned body accordingly proposed to give 

 their weight in silver for all the swallows brought out of the water, but the prize 

 was never claimed. The most astonishing part of the matter is to find Cuvier be- 

 lieving in such a fable. In his Regne Animal he says, " It appears certain that 

 swallows become torpid during winter, and even that they pass this season at the 

 bottom of the water in the marshes." Cuvier, Regne Animal, Paris, 1829, t. i., 

 p. 396. 



