a aa 
352 BARN SWALLOW. 
It is to be regretted that a geater number c experiments have not 
been made, by keeping live Swallows through the winter, to convince 
these believers in the torpidity of birds of their mistake. That class 
of cold-blooded animals which are known to become torpid during 
winter, and of which hundreds and thousands are found every season, 
are subject to the same when kept in a suitable room for experiment. 
Howis it with the Swallows in this respect? Much powerful testimony 
might be produced on this point: the following experiments, recently 
made by Mr. James Pearson of London, and communicated by Sir 
John Trevelyn, Bart., to Mr. Bowick, the celebrated engraver in wood, 
will be sufficient for our present purpose, and throw great light on this 
part of the subject.* 
“Five or six of these birds were taken about the latter end of 
August, 1784, in a bat fowling-net at night. They were put sepa- 
rately into small cages, and fed with Nightingale’s food: in about a 
week or ten days, they took food of themselves; they were then put 
all together into a deep cage, four feet long, with gravel at the bot- 
tom; a broad shallow pan, with water, was placed in it, in which they 
sometimes washed themselves, and seemed much strengthened by it. 
One day Mr. Pearson observed that they went into the water with 
unusual eagerness, hurrying in and out again repeatedly with such 
swiftness as if they had been suddenly seized with a frenzy. Being 
anxious to see the result, he left them to themselves about half an 
hour, and, going to the cage again, found them all huddled together 
in a corner, apparently dead; the cage was then placed at a proper 
distance from the fire, when only two of them recovered, and were as 
healthy as before: the rest died. The two remaining ones were 
allowed to wash themselves occasionally for a short time only; but 
their feet soon after became swelled and inflamed, which Mr. Pearson 
attributed to their perching, and they died about Christmas. Thus 
the first year’s experiment was in some measure lost. Not discouraged 
by the failure of this, Mr. Pearson determined to make a second trial 
the succeeding year, from a strong desire of being convinced of the 
truth of their going into a state of torpidity. Accordingly, the next 
season, having taken some more birds, he put them into the cage, and 
in every respect pursued the same methods as with the last; but, to 
guard their feet from the bad effects of the damp and cold, he covered 
the perches with flannel, and had the pleasure to observe, that the 
birds throve extremely well; they sang their song during the winter, 
and, soon after Christmas, began to moult, which they got through 
without any difficulty, and lived three or four years, regularly moult- 
ing every year at the usual time. On the renewal of their feathers, it 
appeared that their tails were forked exactly the same as in those birds 
which return hither in the spring, and in every respect their appear- 
ance was the same. These birds, says Mr. Pearson, were exhibited 
to the Society for promoting Natural History, on the 14th day of 
February, 1786, at the time they were in a deep moult, during a 
severe frost, when the snow was cn the ground. Minutes of this 
circumstance were entered in the bcoks of the Society. These birds 
died at last from neglect, during a long illness which Mr. Pearson 
* See Bewick’s British Birds, vol. i. p. 254. 
