BARN SWALLOW. 351 
afford many novel sights: should assert, that in some of my peregrina- 
tions J had met with a nation of Indians, all of whom, cid and young, at 
the commencement of cold weather, descend to the bottom of their lakes 
and rivers, ‘and there remain until the breaking up of frost ; nay, should 
I affirm, that thousands of people; in the neighborhood of this city, 
regularly undergo the same semi-annual submersion — that I myself 
had fished up a whole family of these from the bottom of the Schuyl- 
kill, where they had lain torpid all winter, carried them home, and 
brought them all comfortably to themselves again; should I even pub- 
lish this in the learned pages of the Transactions of our Philosophical 
Society, — who would believe me? Is, then, the organization of a 
Swallow less delicate than that of a man? Can a bird, whose vital 
functions are destroyed by a short privation of pure air and its usual 
food, sustain, for six months, a situation where the most robust man 
would perish in a few hours, or minutes?» Away with such absurdi- 
ties! they are unworthy of a serious refutation. I should be pleased 
to meet with a man who has been personally more conversant with , 
birds than myself, who has followed them in their wide and devious 
routes — studied their various manners— mingled with and marked 
their peculiarities more than I have done; yet the miracle of a resus- 
citated Swallow, in the depth of winter, from the bottom of a mill- 
pond, is, I confess, a phenomenon in ornithology that I have never 
met with. ; 
What better evidence have we that these fleet-winged tribes, instead 
of following the natural and acknowledged migrations of many other 
birds, lie torpid all winter in hollow trees, caves, and other subterra- 
neous recesses? That the Chimney Swallow, in the early part of 
summer, may have been found ina hollow tree, andin great numbers 
too, is not denied; such being, in some places of the country, (as will 
be shown in the history of that’ species,) their actual places of ren- 
dezvous, on their first arrival, and their common roosting place long 
after: or, that the Bank Swallows, also, soon after their arrival, in the 
early part of spring, may be chilled by the cold mornings which we 
frequently experience at that season, and be found in this state in their 
holes, I would as little dispute; but that either the one or the other 
has ever been found, in the midst of winter, in a state of torpidity, I 
do not —cannot believe. Millions of trees, of all dimensions, are cut 
down every fall and winter of this country, where, in their proper 
season, Swallows swarm around us. Is it, therefore, in the least prob- 
able that we should, only once or twice in an age, have no other 
evidence than one or two solitary and very suspicious reports of a 
Mr. Somebody having made a discovery of this kind? If caves were 
their places of winter retreat, perhaps no country on earth could supply 
them with a greater choice. I have myself explored many of these, 
in various parts of the United States, both in winter and in spimg, 
particularly in that singular tract of country in Kentucky, called the 
Barrens, where some of these subterraneous caverns are several m.les 
in length, lofty and capacious, and pass under.a large and deep river 
—have conversed with the saltpetre workers by whom they are ten- 
anted:; but never heard or met with one instance of a Swallow havin, 
been found there in winter. These people treated such reports a 
ridicule. 
