232 
DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 
is probably the state of those summer birds of passage 
which accident may have detained with us during winter.” 
Willughby says, ““ What becomes of Swallows in Winter- 
time, whether they fly into other countries, or lie torpid 
in hollow trees, and the like places, neither are natural 
historians agreed, nor indeed can we certainly determine.” 
The notion was actually entertained by Linneus, by Gilbert 
White of Selborne, and many others. Pliny believed that 
they retired at the approach of winter to the inmost recesses 
of rocks and mountains, and there remained in a torpid 
state till Spring (“‘ Hist. Nat.,” lib. xxx, cap.iv). Other © 
writers have conjectured that they lie torpid during winter 
at the bottom of ponds or rivers, and it has been argued 
that Linneus was of this opinion, although his reference 
is not quite lucid. Gilbert White was of opinion that 
“though they may not retire into that element, yet they 
may conceal themselves in the banks of pools and rivers 
during the uncomfortable months of winter.” Elsewhere 
he suggests that during the severe winds that often prevail 
late in the spring they may retire and sleep away these 
uncomfortable periods as bats do. Forster, writing in 
1808, thinks that “Swallows may have occasionally been 
found under water,” and suggests their presence there may 
be due to their having lain in a torpid state at night among 
the reeds or rushes. He, in fact, credits the occasional 
records of this kind, as well as their having been found 
torpid in hollow trees, rocks and under the thatch of houses ; 
but nevertheless he argues that the bulk of the species 
migrates in the winter. The bird was formerly greatly 
esteemed for its reputed medicinal value, being considered 
a remedy for the “falling sickness,” ‘‘dimness of sight,” 
‘“blear eyes,” etc., their ashes in this latter case being 
mingled with honey and applied. A Swallow’s heart was 
also eaten to strengthen the memory, or as a cure for the 
ague, while the blood, particularly when drawn from under 
the left wing, was thought a specific for the eyes. A stone, 
called Chelidonius, sometimes found in ‘the stomach of 
young Swallows, was also used as a remedy for the “ falling 
sickness ” in children, being hung from the neck or bound 
to the arm. A popular belief is that when Swallows skim 
the water, in flying over it, rain is coming. Virgil 
(*‘Georgics”’) alluding to the signs of coming rain, writes : 
“The Swallow skims the river’s watr’y face.” Dr. Jenner, 
also, alluding to the low flight before rain, says: “ Low 
o’er the grass the Swallow wings.” On the contrary a high 
