102 THE SWALLOW 



it ! " in order to ward off the evil spell of 

 witches. 



• The Italian peasant who sees the first 

 swallow in the spring at once stops where 

 he is and with his knife digs a hole in the 

 ground near his left foot, and there he finds 

 a little piece of coal, which has the wonder- 

 ful power to cure fever. This magic piece 

 of swallow coal, the youth of Denmark, 

 when he finds it in the same way, ties to 

 his spade handle as a talisman against 

 disease. In Chapter Seven we shall learn of 

 many other strange practices of healing. 



Where do the swallows spend the cold 

 months of winter? The answer to this 

 question, so simple to us to-day, was until 

 quite recent years the subject of astonishing 

 beliefs. Among the many curious things 

 which Pliny taught in his Natural History, 

 was the belief that swallows go to the bot- 

 toms of lakes and cling there close together 

 in bunches like grapes, until spring comes. 

 This, solution of the mystery sufficed for 



