362 CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 
but that the Swallows continued.in it during the winter. A few years 
ago, a hole was cut at the bottom of the tree: from that time the 
Swallows have been gradually forsaking the tree, and have now al- 
most deserted it.” ; : 
Though Mr. Williams himself, as he informs us, is led to believe, 
from these and some other particulars which he details, “that the 
House Swallow, in this part of America, generally resides during the 
winter,in the hollow of trees ; and the Ground Swallows (Bank Swal-,’ 
_lows) find security in the mud at the bottom of lakes, rivers, and 
ponds;” yet I cannot, in the cases just cited, see any sufficient cause 
for such a belief. The birds were seen to pass out on the first of 
May, or in the spring, when the leaves began to appear on the trees, 
and, about the middle of September, they were seen entering the tree 
for the last time; but there is no information here of their being seen 
at any time during winter, either within or around the tree.’ This 
most important part of the matter is taken for granted, without the 
least examination, and, as will be presently shown, without founda- 
tion. I shall, { think, also prove that, if these trees had been cut down 
in the depth of winter, not 4 single Swallow would, have been found, 
either in a living or torpid state! And that this was merely a place of 
rendezvous for active, living birds, is-evident from the “ immense quan- 
tity of excrements” found within. it, which birds in a state of pe 
are not supposed to produce. The total absence of the relics of nests 
is a proof that it was not a breeding place, and that the whole was 
nothing more than one of those places to which this singular bird re- 
sorts immediately on its arrival in May, in which, also, many of the 
males continue to roost during the’ whole summer, and from which 
they regularly depart about the middle of September. From other 
circumstances, it appears probable that some of these trees have been 
for ages the summer rendezvous, or general roosting place of the 
whole Chimney Swallows of an extensive district. Of this sort I con- 
ceive the following to be one, which is thus described by a late trav- 
eller to the westward : — 
Speaking of the curiosities of the state of Ohio, the writer observes | 
— “In connection with this, I may mention a large collection of feath- 
ers found within a hollow tree, which I examined, with the Rev. Mr. 
Story, May 18th, 1803. It is in the upper part of Waterford, about 
two miles distant from the Muskingum. A very large sycamore, 
which, through age, had decayed and fallen down, contained in its 
hollow trunk, five and a half feet in diameter, and for nearly fifteen 
feet upwards, 2 mass of decayed feathers, with a small admixture o: 
brownish dust, and the exuvie of various insects. The feathers were © 
so rotten, that it was impossible to determine to what kinds of birds 
they belonged. They were less than those of the Pigeon; and the - 
largest of them were like the pinion and tail-feathers of the Swallow. 
[ examined carefully this astonishing collection, in the hope of finding 
the bones and bills, but could not distinguish any. The tree, with 
some remains of its ancient companions lying around, was of a growth 
preceding that of the neighboring fores, Near it, and even out of its 
mouldering ruins, grow thrifty trees, of a size which indicate two or 
three hundred years of age.” * 
* Harnis’s Journal, p. 180. 
ee 
