1 46 CHIMNE Y SWALLOW. 



to be the winter quarters of these birds, where, heaps upon 

 heaps, they dozed away the winter in a state of torpidity. 

 Here they have been seen on their resurrection in spring, and 

 here they have again been remarked descending to their 

 deathlike sleep in autumn. 



Among the various accounts of these trees that might be 

 quoted, the following are selected as bearing the marks of 

 authenticity. "At Middlebury, in this State," says Mr 

 Williams, "History of Vermont," p. 16, "there was a large 

 hollow elm, called by the people in the vicinity, the swallow 

 tree. From a man who for several years lived within twenty 

 rods of it, I procured this information. He always thought 

 the swallows tarried in the tree through the winter, and 

 avoided cutting it down on that account. About the first of 

 May the swallows came out of it in large numbers, about the 

 middle of the day, and soon returned. As the weather grew 

 warmer, they came out in the morning, with a loud noise, or 

 roar, and were soon dispersed. About half an hour before 

 sundown, they returned in millions, circulating two or three 

 times round the tree, and then descending like a stream into a 

 hole about sixty feet from the ground. It was customary for 

 persons in the vicinity to visit this tree to observe the motions 

 of these birds: and when any person disturbed their operations, 

 by striking violently against the tree with their axes, the 

 swallows would rush out in millions, and with a great noise. 

 In November 1791, the top of this tree was blown down 

 twenty feet below where the swallows entered : there has been 

 no appearance of the swallows since. Upon cutting down the 

 remainder, an immense quantity of excrements, quills, and 

 feathers were found, but no appearance or relics of any nests. 



"Another of these swallow trees was at Bridport. The man 

 who lived the nearest to it gave this account : The swallows 

 were first observed to come out of the tree in the spring, about 

 the time that the leaves first began to appear on the trees ; 

 from that season they came out in the morning about half an 

 hour after sunrise. They rushed out like a stream, as big as 



