SWALLOWS. 45 



shaken off, by active exertion, inevitably ends in 

 death. If man is subject to this effect, as well as 

 some animals, why may not Swallows? Two of 

 these birds were, a Summer or two ago, caught, and 

 placed for twenty-four hours in a cage suspended in 

 an ice-house; at the expiration of this time, one was 

 found dead, but the other was alive, and, when re- 

 leased, flew away in perfect vigour. In this case, 

 therefore, nothing was learned from the experiment; 

 but the constitution of the bird may be different 

 towards the close of the season, and better pre- 

 pared for a Winter's sleep. And that this, to a 

 certain degree, is the case, may be collected from 

 the following statement: "On the 22nd of Sep- 

 tember, at about seven o'clock in the morning, 

 with a drizzling cold rain, and wind easterly, a 

 vast number of Chimney-Swallows were observed 

 hovering over, or resting on a house, in the South 

 of England: in the course of the morning, large 

 flocks continued to join this main body. The ap- 

 pearance of the whole was, however, very lethargic 

 and moping, and so tame were many, that they were 

 taken by hand from the window-sills, on which 

 they had perched. For experiment sake, our in- 

 formant put his arm out of an attic-story window, 

 and in a short time one of them settled on his hand; 

 he withdrew it, expecting the bird would fly off, but 

 there it remained, giving him ample time to examine 

 it more narrowly. Its eyes appeared nearly shut, 

 its wings and tail drooping, and its whole frame in 

 a torpid state; finding some force necessary to take 

 it from his hand, he had the curiosity to whirl it 

 round several times, but to no purpose, the only 



