TORPIDITY OF SWALLOWS. 207 



and came forth ; some bees swarmed in this neighbourhood ; 

 the old tortoise, near Lewes, awakened, and came forth out of 

 its dormitory ; and, what is most to my present purpose, many 

 house -swallows appeared, and were very alert in many places, 

 and particularly at Cobham, in Surrey.* 



But as that short warm period was succeeded as well as 

 preceded by harsh, severe weather, with frequent frosts and 

 ice, and cutting winds, the insects withdrew, the tortoise retired 

 again into the ground, and the swallows were seen no more 

 until the tenth of April, when, the rigour of the spring abating, 

 a softer season began to prevail. 



Again, it appears by my journals for many years past, that 

 house-martens retire, to a bird, about the beginning of October ; 

 so that a person not very observant of such matters would 

 conclude that they had taken their last farewell ; but then it 

 may be seen in my diaries, also, that considerable flocks have 

 discovered themselves again in the first week of November, 

 and often on the fourth day of that month, only for one day ; 

 and that not as if they were in actual migration, but playing 

 about at their leisure, and feeding calmly, as if no enterprise of 

 moment at all agitated their spirits. And this was the case in 

 the beginning of this very month ; for, on the fourth of Novem- 

 ber, more than twenty house-martens, which, in appearance, 



* We are still unable to account for the reappearance of swallows after 

 they seem to have taken their departure ; but, at the same time, we are 

 not inclined to believe in their general torpidity during the winter. We 

 must have proof on this subject. 



A curious fact respecting the swallow was mentioned by our late 

 worthy friend and intelligent naturalist, Captain Dougal Carmichael. It 

 appears that swallows are birds of passage at the southern extremity of 

 Africa, as well as in other parts of the world. They return to the Cape 

 of Good Hope in September, and quit it again in March and April. A 

 pair of these birds (liirundo capensis} fixed their flask-shaped nest against 

 the angle formed by the wall with the board which supported the eaves. 

 This nest had a single aperture, by which the birds went in and out. 

 It fell down after the young quitted it. On the February following, these 

 birds built in the same place ; but on this occasion Captain Carmichael 

 remarked, in the construction of the nest, an improvement which can 

 hardly be referred to the dictates of mere instinct. It was formed with 

 an opening at both sides, and the swallows invariably entered at the one, 

 and came out at the other. One advantage obtained by this arrangement 

 was, that its occupants were saved the trouble of turning round in the 

 nest, and thus avoided the risk of any derangement in its internal economy. 

 But the chief object appeared to be, to facilitate their escape from the 

 attacks of serpents, which harbour in the roofs of thatched houses, or 

 crawl up along the wall, and not unfrequently devour both the mother 

 and her young. ED. 



