THE SWALLOW 8i 



give sight to its young. Not only was it thus skilled in the healing 

 art, but was in itself a medicine of no ordinary virtue. Even in 

 the time of our countryman Ray, not two hundred years ago, its 

 efficacy in various complaints was seriously believed : the whole 

 body burnt was considered a specific for weak eyes, quinsy and 

 inflamed uvula ; the heart was prescribed in epilepsy and in quartan 

 ague, it was good also for strengthening the memory ; the blood 

 was good for the eyes, especially if drawn from under the right 

 wing : a little stone sometimes found in the stomach of young birds, 

 called chelidonius , tied to the arm, or hung around the neck, was a 

 remedy against children's fits. This was to be searched for before 

 or at the August fuU moon, in the eldest of a brood. Even the nest 

 had its virtues, being, if applied externally, good for quinsy, redness 

 of the eyes, and the bite of a viper. 



A century later ' good old White ' published his account of the 

 Swallow, to which the reader is referred as an admirable model 

 of bird-biography, not only for the age, but as an authentic history 

 full of fresh interest to the reader in aU ages. The only point on 

 which White had doubts was whether Swallows all migrate, or 

 whether some of the young do not occasionally stay behind, and 

 hibernate in hollow trees, holes of rocks, and the banks of pools 

 and rivers. Individuals are said to occasionally remain, perhaps 

 in consequence of having been disabled by accident at the season 

 when the migratory instinct was in its active force, or from some 

 other cause unknown to us. Several instances of such have been 

 recorded by authors who, whether accurate observers or not, cer- 

 tainly believed that they were reporting truly. That they were seen 

 only on warm days is of course no evidence that they had been 

 roused from a state of torpor by the unusual warmth. Sunny days 

 in winter tempt people to walk abroad and to resort to the same 

 places which winter-gnats would choose for their gambols. Here, 

 too, the stray Swallow would be found ; but in dark stormy weather 

 the gnats and the Swallow would stay at home, and the ornithologist 

 would have little temptation to do otherwise. I happen to be my- 

 self among the number of those who on personal evidence believe 

 that individual Swallows do remain in England long after the period 

 of general migration. I was walking through a limestone quarry 

 at Saltram on the bank of the Plym, in Devonshire, many years ago, 

 on the twenty-fourth of December, when I saw a Swallow, whether 

 a Chimney Swallow or Martin, I cannot positively affirm, wheeling 

 about, and evidently hawking for gnats near the face of the chff. 

 The season was a mild one, the air stiU, and the sun shining brightly 

 against the limestone rocks, from which much heat was reflected. 

 That the bird had been kept in captivity until the migratory season 

 had passed and then released is not probable. On any other 

 supposition it must have remained either of its own free wiU, which 

 is not likely, or from incapacity to accompany its congeners. Left 



B.B G 



