Class II. SWALLOWS. 559 



1769,.* And the Honorable Daines Bminng- 

 ton communicated to us the following fact, on 

 the authority of the late Lord Belhaven, that 

 numbers of swallows have been found in old 

 dry walls, and in sandhills near his Lordship's 

 seat in East Lothian ; not once only, but from 

 year to year ; and that when they were exposed 

 to the warmth of a fire, they revived. We have 

 also heard of the same annual discoveries near 

 Morpeth in Northumberland, but cannot speak 

 of them with the same assurance as the two 

 former : neither in the two last instances are 

 we certain of the particular species.'}' 



Other witnesses crowd on us to prove the 

 residence of those birds in a torpid state during 

 the severe season. ■ 



First, In the chalky cliffs of Sussex ; as was 

 seen on the fall of a great fragment some 

 years ago. 



Secondly, In a decayed hollow tree that was 

 cut down, near Dolgelleu, in Meireonethshire. . 



Thirdly, In a cliff near Whitby, Yorkshire ; 

 where, on digging out a fox, whole bushels of 

 swallows were found in a torpid condition. 

 And, . 



* Phil. Trans, vol. liii. p. 101. art. 24. 

 •f Klein gives an instance of swifts being found in a torpid 

 state. Hist. av. 204. 



