C 2 3 l J 



when on the fides of the moat, and much below the parts which 

 had been covered with w T ater, a great number or* fwallows were 

 feen to all appearance dead, but their plumage not impaired. 



Du Tertre mentions, that a Ruffian of credit had told him, 

 that, a piece of ice in a village of Mufcovy having been brought 

 into a houfe with fwallows in it, they all revived m . 



There are feveral reafons why fwallows mould not be fre- 

 quently thus found ; ponds are feldom cleaned in the winter, as 

 it is fuch cold work for the labourers, and the fame mftkicl 

 which prompts the bird thus to conceal itfelf, inftrudls it to 

 choofe fuch a place of fecurity, that common accidents will not 

 difcover it. 



But the ftrongeft reafon for fuch accounts not being more nu- 

 merous, is, that facts of this fort are fo little attended to ; for 

 though I was born within half a mile of the pond nearShriven- 

 ham, and have always had much curiofity with regard to the 

 natural hiftory of animals, yet I never heard a fyllable about this 

 very material and interefting intelligence till very lately. 



To thefe in fiances I muft alfo add, that fwallows may be conftantly 

 taken in the month of October, during the dark nights, whilft 

 they fit on the willows in the Thames ; and that one may almofb 

 inftantaneoufly fill a large fack with them, becaufe at this time 

 they will not ftir from the twigs, when you lay your hands upon 

 them. This looks very much like their beginning to be torpid 

 before they hide themfelves under the water. 



A man near Brentford fays, that he hath caught them in this 

 ftate in the eyt oppofite to that town, even fo late as November. 



I fhall conclude the proofs on this firft head by the dignified 

 teflimony of Sigifmond King of Poland,, who affirmed, on his 



4 



m Vol. II. p. 260. Paris^ 1667, 



