KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



279 



allowed for hatching — and often a longer 

 period. A grisle weighing 6 lbs. in the month 

 of February, after spawning, has, in its 

 return from the sea in September, weighed 

 13 lbs.; and, it is said that a salmon fry of 

 April will in June weigh 4 lbs., and in August 

 6 lbs. 



Taking the rapid growth, the immense 

 powers of reproduction, and the effect 

 which the artificial production seems to have 

 upon the fish, we hardly know a subject of 

 greater national importance than the en- 

 couragement of this practice. 



We would strongly urge the thorough in- 

 vestigation of the subject, and the construc- 

 tion of breeding-ponds near the heads of our 

 principal rivers, properly secured. The ex- 

 periment has interest in itself enough to repay 

 the trouble ; and, if Jacobi be right, almost 

 every purchaser of a male and female salmon 

 has the power of putting the process into 

 operation. 



NOTES ON THE SWALLOW. 



The subjoined particulars of the 

 Swallow are from various sources, and will 

 be perused with interest. We need hardly 

 remark that these birds do not winter " under 

 water;" but depart to foreign climes, like 

 other birds of passage. 



The swallow makes its first appearance in Great 

 Britain early in spring ; remains with us during 

 summer, and disappears in autumn. The four 

 species which inhabit this island, are also found 

 during summer in almost every other region in 

 Europe and Asia, where their manners and habits 

 are nearly the same as in this country. In the 

 more southern parts of the continent, they appear 

 somewhat earlier than in England. The distin- 

 guishing marks of the swallow tribe are— a small 

 bill ; a wide mouth ; a head rather large in propor- 

 tion to the bulk of the body, and somewhat flattish ; 

 a neck scarcely visible ; a short, broad, and cloven 

 tongue ; a tail mostly forked ; short legs ; very long 

 wings ; a rapid and continued flight. 

 _ The House, orChimney Swallow, hirundo rustica, 

 is the most common, as well as the best known. 

 Its length is about six inches, its breadth from tip 

 to tip of the wings, when extended, about twelve 

 inches ; the upper parts of its body and wings are 

 black; the under parts whitish ash-color; the 

 head black ; the forehead and chin marked with a 

 red spot ; the tail very much forked. It generally 

 arrives earlier than the rest of its genus, and 

 mostly before the middle of April. It builds its 

 nest in chimnies, at the distance of about a foot 

 from the top, or under the roofs of barns and out- 

 houses, has commonly two broods in the year, and 

 usually disappears in the latter end of September, 

 or beginning of October. Like all birds of the 

 swallow tribe, it is perpetually on the wing ; and it 

 lives upon insects, which it catches flying. It has 

 been calculated from the velocity of this bird on the 

 wing, and its flight in the air for fourteen or fifteen 

 hours together, in search of food, that it flies from 

 two to three hundred miles in that time. As pre- 



viously observed by an early writer, before rain it 

 may often be seen skimming round the edge of a 

 lake or river, and not unfrequently dipping the tips 

 of its wings, or under part of its body, into the 

 water as it passes over its surface. 



Dr. Forster cites Aratus and Virgil in corro- 

 boration, that ancient authors had observed the 

 same fact. He describes the Martin or Martlett, 

 hirundo urbica, as being rather smaller than the 

 swallow, and as easily distinguishable from it by 

 the bright white color of all the under parts of the 

 body. This species usually makes its first appear- 

 ance early in May, though sometimes sooner ; and 

 leaves us towards the latter end of October. It 

 builds under the eaves of houses, in crags of rocks 

 and precipices near the sea, has oftentimes three 

 broods in the year, and constructs its curious nest 

 like that of the swallow, with mud and straw, lined 

 with feathers on the inside. 



He says that the swift, hirundo apus, is the 

 largest of the genus, being seven inches in length, 

 and nearly eighteen in breadth, when its wings are 

 extended, and that it is of a sooty black color with 

 a whitish spot on its breast. It arrives towards 

 the middle of May, and departs about the middle 

 of August. It builds in holes of rocks, in ruined 

 towers, and under the tiling of houses, and has 

 only one brood in the year. 



He observes of the Bank or Sand Martin, 

 hirundo riparia, that it is the smallest of the 

 genus, is of a dusky brown color above, and whitish 

 beneath ; and that it builds its nest in holes, which 

 it bores in banks of sand, and is said to have only 

 one brood in the year. 



No subject has more engaged the attention of 

 naturalists in all ages, than the brumal retreat of 

 the swallow ; neither is there any subject on which 

 more various and contrary opinions have been en- 

 tertained. Some have supposed that they retire 

 at the approach of winter to the inmost recesses 

 of rocks and mountains, and that they there remain 

 in a torpid state until spring. Others have con- 

 jectured that these birds immerse themselves in 

 the water at the approach of winter, and that they 

 remain at the bottom in a state of torpidity, until 

 they are again called forth by the influence of the 

 vernal sun.* Dr. Forster admits that there are 

 several instances on record of their having been 

 found in such situations, clustered together in great 

 numbers, and that, on being brought before the 

 fire, they have revived and flown away. But he 

 thinks that few of the accounts were well authen- 

 ticated ; and that the celebrated John Hunter and 

 Mr. Pearson clearly prove, from various experi- 

 ments, that these birds cannot continue long under 

 water without being drowned. The doctor does 

 not deny that swallows have occasionally been 

 found under water ; but he attributes their having 

 been found in such situations to mere accident. 

 As it is well known that, towards the latter end of 

 autumn, swallows frequently roost by the sides of 

 lakes and rivers ; he therefore supposes that a 

 number of these birds had retired to roost on the 

 banks of some shallow and muddy river at low tide ; 

 that they had been induced by the cold to creep 

 among the reeds or rushes which might grow in 

 the shallow parts of the river ; and that, while in 

 that situation, driven into a state of torpidity by 



* Gilbert White insists upon this ! — Ed. K. J. 



