fruitful one for argument. The consensus of expert opinion at the present day is against 

 hibernation, but there are, nevertheless, ornithologists who are not convinced ; while 

 nearly all uneducated rural observers assert that in Winter the Swallow retires to a pond, 

 where, sinking into its depths, he rolls himself in a mud casing or shell, and in a state of 

 torpidity, awaits the coming of Spring. 



It is strange that such a curious belief, unsupported by evidence, should take 

 possession of men's minds ; but the conviction of hibernation in this manner on the part 

 of the Swallow is certainly common, and is, say most eminent ornithologists, totally 

 unsubstantiated by proof. 



Mr. Bicknell calls the song of the Barn Swallow " a low, chattering trill * * often 

 terminating with a clear, liquid note * * not unlike one of the notes of a Canary." 



