C 298 3 



fome, which were found in the winter, under water, 

 and in which he could not obferve any circulation of 

 the blood *. 



AfTuming it, therefore, from thefe facts, that 

 fwallows have been found in fuch a flate, I would 

 afk the partifans of migration, whether any inftance 

 can be produced where the fame animal is calculated 

 for a flate of torpidity and, at the fame time of the 

 year, for a flight acrofs oceans ? 



Bat it may be urged, poffibly, that if fwallows 

 are torpid when they difappear, the fame thing 

 fhould happen with regard to other birds, which are 

 not feen in particular parts of the year. 



To this I anfwer, that this is by no means a ne- 

 ceiTary inference: if, for example, it mould be in- 

 fixed that other birds befides the cuckow are equally 

 carelefs with regard to their eggs, it would be im- 

 mediately allowed that the argument arifing from 



* As the fwallows were found in the winter, they muft have 

 been in a (tate of torpidity, as otherwife the animals mull have 

 been putrid. 



I fhall likewife here refer to Phil. Tranf. abr. Vol. V. p. 33. 

 where Mr. Derham fays, that he heard a fwift fqueak in an hole 

 of his houfe on the 17th of April ; but that, the weather being 

 cold, it did not ftir abroad for feveral days. 



This feems to be a ftrong inftance of a bird's fir ft waking 

 from a ftate of torpidity, but renaming its fleep on the weather 

 being fevere. 



I fhall clofe the proofs on this head (which I could much en- 

 large) by the dignified teftimony of Sigifmond, King of Poland, 

 who af&rmed on his oath, to the cardinal Commendon, that he 

 had frequently feen fwallows, which were found at the bottom 

 of lake?. See the life of cardinal Commendon, p. an. Paris, 

 16710 4to, 



fueh 



