DO SWALLOWS HIBERNATE? 375 



be arrested. For the rest, I see no reason why a Swallow 

 should not stay a while in the mud in a state of suspended 

 animation, or greatly lowered degree of vital activity. The 

 thing is physically and physiologically feasible ; it is in strict 

 analogy with observed phenomena in the cases of many other 

 animals ; and it is not more marvelous than catalepsy, trance, 

 and several other conditions of life, the rationale of which is 

 still obscure. Finally, it is attested by the most positive, 

 direct, and explicit testimony of eye-witnesses, whose veracity 

 is unimpeached, whose competency is unchallenged, aud who, 

 being neither knaves nor dupes, have reiterated the evidence 

 for a period of several centuries. The rebutting testimony is 

 necessarily negative and inconclusive, for it consists, in effect, 

 of mere denial, or statement of disbelief, on the ground that the 

 allegations of fact are improbable or impossible. The evidence 

 has never been successfully refuted or satisfactorily explained 

 away ; * and the witnesses, nothing bullied nor disconcerted, 

 continue to tell what they have seen. 



They say, that they have seen hundreds of Swallows, in full 

 flight, suddenly dive under water and disappear beaeath 

 the surface. They say, that they have dug Swallows out of 

 the mud, found them lethargic, and seen them revive and fly 

 away. They say, they have found torpid Swallows in holes, 

 in caves, in various odd nooks, sometimes singly, sometimes 

 clustered like bees swarming, and have picked them up appar- 

 ently dead, and have reanimated them by the warmth of the 

 hands. They say much more to the same effect, and give full 

 particulars. 



I have never seen anything of the sort, nor have I ever 

 known one who had seen it ; consequently, I know nothing of 

 the case but what I have read about it. But I have no means 

 of refuting the evidence, and consequently cannot refuse to 

 recognize its validity. Nor have I aught to urge against it, 

 beyond the degree of incredibility that attaches to highly ex- 

 ceptional and improbable allegations in general, and in partic- 



* In his critical commentary on Aristotle, .Sundevall remarks that the north- 

 ern stories of the subaqueous hibernation of Swallows find no place, but 

 that, instead, the author speaks of their retiring to holes, probably, says 

 Sundevall, confounding them with bats. Sundevall brings in the Dipper to 

 account for the alli ged phenomena : — „E8 ist gezeigt worden dass die erstere 

 Sage dadurch entstanden sei, dass Cinclus aquations zuweilen beim Zuge 

 mit dem Eisnetze gefangen wurde " (p. 123 of the German translation, 

 Stockholm, 1863). 



