CHIMNE Y SWALL OW. j 4 y 



the hole in the tree would admit, and ascended in a perpen- 

 dicular line, until they were above the height of the adjacent 

 trees ; then assumed a circular motion, performing their 

 evolutions two or three times, but always in a larger circle, 

 and then dispersed in every direction. A little before sun- 

 down, they returned in immense numbers, forming several 

 circular motions, and then descended like a stream into the 

 hole, from whence they came out in the morning. About 

 the middle of September, they were seen entering the tree for 

 the last time. These birds were all of the species called the 

 house, or chimney swallow. The tree was a large hollow elm ; 

 the hole at which they entered was about forty feet above the 

 ground, and about nine inches in diameter. The swallows 

 made their first appearance in the spring, and their last appear- 

 ance in the fall, in the vicinity of this tree ; and the neighbour- 

 ing inhabitants had no doubt but that the swallows continued 

 in it during the winter. A few years ago a hole was cut at the 

 bottom of the tree : from that time the swallows have been 

 gradually forsaking the tree, and have now almost deserted it." 

 Though Mr Williams himself, as he informs us, is led to 

 believe, from these and some other particulars which he 

 details, " that the house swallow, in this part of America, 

 generally resides during the winter in the hollow of trees ; 

 and the ground swallows (bank swallows) find security in the 

 mud at the bottom of lakes, rivers, and ponds ; " yet I cannot, 

 in the cases just cited, see any sufficient cause for such a 

 belief. The birds were seen to pass out on the 1st of May, 

 or in the spring, when the leaves began to appear on the trees, 

 and, about the middle of September, they were seen entering 

 the tree for the last time ; but there is no information here of 

 their being seen at any time during winter, either within or 

 around the tree. This most important part of the matter is 

 taken for granted without the least examination, and, as will 

 be presently shown, without foundation. I shall, I think, 

 also prove that, if these trees had been cut down in the depth 

 of winter, not a single swallow would have been found either 



