108 ON THE SUPPOSED CAPABILITY OF THE 
under the eaves of our house, were both found dead 
in it before any eggs were laid. From the above 
circumstances, birds of this kind were unusually scarce 
throughout the summer.” 
In the ‘Report of the Twenty-fifth Meeting of 
the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science, held at Glasgow in 1855,’ Trans. of the 
Sections, pp. 112 & 118, some highly interesting 
facts are recorded relative to the great mortality 
among birds of the Swallow tribe caused by the 
unusually low temperature of the 30th and 31st of 
May in that year, the maximum for the period being 
50°, the minimum 85°, and the mean 41°-2, as indi- 
cated by a thermometer in the shade. 
The author of the communication, Mr. E. J. Lowe, 
states that “on the 30th of May the Swallows be- 
came so tame that they flew about the legs of per- 
sons, and could be caught without difficulty ; and on 
the following morning most of them lay dead upon 
the ground or in their own nests. 
“In this neighbourhood (near Nottingham) the 
greatest mortality was occasioned amongst the House- 
Swallow (Hirundo rustica), yet solely because this 
bird predominates. 
“Near the Red-Hill Tunnel at Thrumpton 
there are great numbers of Sand-Martins (/7- 
rundo riparia), and there, in a saw-pit on the banks 
of the river Soar, hundreds congregated and died. 
« At Borrowash, near the Derwent river, there are 
