280 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



the cold, they had been overwhelmed, and perhaps 

 washed into the current, by the coming in of the 

 tide. He alludes to occasional instances of other 

 birds besides swallows having been found in a state 

 of torpor during winter, and imagines that fisher- 

 men had availed themselves of the coming in of 

 the tide to catch fish, and that the swallows, before 

 supposed to have been carried into the current, 

 coming in contact with their nets, were conse- 

 quently drawn out by them, and, not having been 

 long under water, were not completely drowned. 



There are several circumstances which seem to 

 favor the opinion, that these birds remain concealed 

 during winter in this country. Among others, the 

 most striking is, that swallows, hirundines rusticaz, 

 as well as martins, hirundines urbicce, have some- 

 times appeared very late in autumn, a considerable 

 time after they were all supposed to have taken 

 their departure ; and that they have likewise been 

 found concealed in the crevices of rocks, in holes 

 of old decayed trees, in old ruined towers, and under 

 the thatch of houses. Dr. Forster farther presumes, 

 that those birds which have been found in a state 

 of torpidity, had, owing to some accident, been 

 hatched later in the year than ordinary, and con- 

 sequently had not acquired sufficient strength to 

 undergo the fatigue of a long journey upon the 

 wing, at the time when the migration of the rest of 

 their species took place ; and that, to shelter them- 

 selves from the inclemency of the weather, they had 

 sought retreats wherein, from cold and hunger, they 

 had sunk into a state of torpidity. 



" For several years past," says Dr. Forster, " I 

 have observed that chimney swallows have ap- 

 peared first in cold weather. I have sometimes 

 seen them as early as April the second, when the 

 mercury in the thermometer has been below the 

 freezing point. On the other hand, I have often 

 taken notice, that, during a continuance of mild 

 weather for the space of a fortnight, in the month 

 of April, not so much as one swallow has ap- 

 peared." He also remarks, that, towards the latter 

 end of September, swallows, as well as martins, 

 congregate in great numbers, and are frequently 

 seen sitting on the tops of houses, and on rocks 

 near the sea. These meetings usually continue 

 for several days, after which they suddenly disap- 

 pear. They seldom perch on trees, except in au- 

 tumn, shortly previous to their disappearance, and 

 they then choose dead trees in preference. They 

 sometimes sit on trees earlier in summer, when the 

 weather has been very cold. 



Swifts begin to assemble in large bodies previous 

 to their departure, early in July ; their numbers 

 daily increase, and they soar higher in the air, with 

 shriller cries, and fly differently from their usual 

 mode. Such meetings continue till towards the 

 middle of August, after which they are seldom 

 seen. 



Sand-martins likewise flock together in autumn. 

 Some years ago they appeared in great numbers 

 in London and its t neighborhood. Dr. Forster 

 clearly shows that swallows are birds of passage, 

 and produces the accounts "of mariners, who had 

 seen these birds many hundred miles out at sea, 

 and on whose ships they had alighted to rest, 

 almost exhausted with fatigue and hunger.* By 



* ''Observations on the Brumal Retreat of the 

 Swallow," by Charles Forster, F.L.S. 8vo. 



this we may be enabled, in some measure, to de- 

 termine to what quarter of the globe they retire, 

 when they leave Europe in autumn. 



Adanson, in his u Voyage to Senegal," relates, 

 that on the 6th of October, being about fifty leagues 

 from the coast, between the island of Goree and 

 Senegal, four swallows alighted on the shrouds of 

 his ship, which he easily caught, and knew to be 

 European swallows. He adds, that they never 

 appear at Senegal until the winter season, and that 

 they do not build nests, as in Europe, but roost 

 every night on the sand by the sea-shore. Sir 

 Charles Wager has recorded, that in one of his 

 voyages home, as he came into soundings of our 

 Channel, a great flock of swallows settled on his 

 rigging, every rope was covered with them, they 

 hung on one another like a swarm of bees, the decks 

 and carvings were filled with them, they seemed 

 spent and famished, and, to use his own expression, 

 were only feathers and bones ; but, recruited with a 

 night's rest, they resumed their flight in the morn- 

 ing. A similar circumstance happened to Captain 

 Wright, in a voyage, many years ago, from Phila- 

 delphia to London. 



There are many anecdotes of sagacity in these 

 birds. For several years some swallows had built 

 their mud habitations in the window-frames of a 

 house, at Beaumaris in Anglesea. These dry, 

 comfortable, and protected abodes were envied by 

 the less favored sparrows of the same place, who 

 embraced the opportunity (while the unsuspected 

 swallows were skimming o'er the wide bosom of 

 the main) and confidently took possession, thinking 

 also to establish an undoubted settlement by de- 

 positing their eggs ; the swallows finding their 

 rightful mansions engrossed by other tenants, 

 seemed reconciled to the ejectment; but, to the 

 astonishment of the lady residing in the house, no 

 sooner had the sparrows hatched their young, 

 than the swallows gathered all their forces, and 

 plastered up the entrance of the nest containing 

 the old sparrow and her brood, where they 

 perished. 



DAY-BREAK. 



'Tis now the hour when o'er the eastern hills 

 Morn, like a blushing bride, her pearls puts on r 

 While the proud lark at Heaven's high lattice 



trills ; 

 Now milkmaids blithe their quilted kirtles don r 

 And the rough ploughman gapes and growls 



anon 

 As the cock's clarion pierces his dull ear ; 

 Down the green lane the lowing kine are gone 

 To where the noisy brooklet bubbles clear, 

 And in the folds the flock their shaggy guardian 



fear. 



Now may be heard, under the vantage eave 



Of trellis* d villa in smooth-shaven lawn, 



The twittering swallow that seems loth to 



leave 

 Her procreant cradle for the breezy dawn ; 

 And at that soft sweet reveillie, half drawn 

 The muslin from the casement's jealous bar, 

 Shows a fair form more timid than the fawn, 

 But with an eye that, like the morning star, 

 Gleams through its lashes long, that black as 

 midnight are. S. 



