[ 2€)0 ] 



Oibeck afterwards, in the courfe of his voyage*, 

 mentions, that a fwallow (indefinitely) followed the; 

 ihip, near Java, on the 24th of July, and another 

 on the 14th of Auguft, in the Chinefe fea* as he, 

 terms it. 



After what I have obferved before with regard to 

 other instances of the fame fort, I need fcarcely fay 

 that this naturalift does not flate of what fpecies thefe 

 fwallows were ; and that, from the latitudes in which 

 they were feen, they muft have been fome of the, 

 Aliatic kinds. 



I cannot, however, difmifs this article of the fwal- 

 low, without adding fome general reafons, which 

 feem to prove the great improbability of this or any, 

 other bird's periodically migrating over wide tracts of. 

 iea ; and I the rather doit in this place, becaufe 



There are feveral reafons why fwallows fhould not be fre- 

 quently thus found; ponds are feldom cleaned in the winter,. 

 as it is fuch- cold work for the labourers ; and the fame inftfnct 

 which prompts the bird thus to conceal itfelf, inftrudts it to - 

 choofe fuch a place of fecurity, that common accidents will not 

 difcover it. 



But the ftrongeft reafon for fuch accounts not being more 

 numerous, is, that facts of this fort are fo little attended to; for I 

 though I was born within half a mile of this pond, and have 

 always had much curiofity with regard to fuch fads, yet I never 

 heard a fyllable about this very material and interefting account^ . 

 till very lately. 



To this fact I muft alfo add, that fwallows may be con- 

 stantly taken in the month of October, during the dark nightSj 

 whilft they fit on the willows in the Thames, and that one may 

 almoft infrantaneoufly fill a large fack with them, becaufe at this 

 time they will not ftir from the twigs, when you lay your hands 

 upon them. This looks very much like their beginning to be 

 torpid before they hide themfelves under the water. 



A man near Brentford fays, that he hath caught them in this 

 itate in the eyt oppofixe to that town } even fo late as November. 



the 



