66 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Discovery of a pair in a torpid state. 



The main body of these birds retire from this 

 country before the middle of August, generally 

 by the tenth, (which is but a short time after the 

 flight of their young,) and not a single straggler 

 is to be seen on the twentieth. This early re- 

 treat is totally unaccountable, as that time is 

 often the most delightful in the year. But what 

 is yet more extraordinary, they begin to retire 

 still earlier in the most southerly parts of Anda- 

 lusia ; where they can by no means be influenced 

 by any defect of heat, or even (as one would 

 suppose) of food. This is one of those incidents 

 in natural history, which not only baffle our re- 

 searches, but elude all our conjectures. 



A pair of swifts were, in the month of Fe- 

 bruary i?66, found adhering by their claws, 

 and in a torpid state under the roof of Longnor 

 Chapel, in Shropshire : on being brought to the 

 fire, they revived, and moved about the room. 



THE ESCULENT SWALLOW. 



THIS is said to be less in size than the. wren. 

 The bill is thick. The upper parts of the body 

 are brown, and the under parts whitish. The 

 tail is forked ; and each feather is tipped with 

 white. The legs are brown. 



This bird's nest is exceedingly curious ; and is 

 composed of such materials that it is not only 

 edible, but is accounted among the greatest 



