38 



BARN SWALLOW 



altogether into a deep cage, four feet long, with gravel at the bot- 

 tom; a broad shallow pan with water was placed in it, in which 

 they sometimes washed themselves, and seemed much strengthened 

 by it. One day Mr. Pearson observed that they went into the water 

 with unusual eagerness, hurrying in and out again repeatedly with 

 such swiftness as if they had been suddenly seized with a frenzy. 

 Being anxious to see the result, he left them to themselves about 

 half an hour, and going to the cage again found them all huddled 

 together in a corner apparently dead ; the cage was then placed at 

 a proper distance from the fire, when only two of them recovered 

 ^and were as healthy as before — the rest died. The two remaining 

 ones were allowed to wash themselves occasionally for a short time 

 only; but their feet soon after became swelled and inflamed, which 

 Mr. P. attributed to their perching, and they died about Christmas. 

 Thus the first year's experiment was in some measure lost. Not 

 discouraged by the failure of this, Mr. P. determined to make a se- 

 cond trial the succeeding year, from a strong desire of being con- 

 vinced of the truth of their going into a state of torpidity. Accord- 

 ingly the next season having taken some more birds he put them 

 into the cage, and in every respect pursued the same methods as 

 with the last; but to guard their feet from the bad effects of the 

 damp and cold he covered the perches with flannel, and had the 

 pleasure to observe that the birds throve extremely well ; they sung 

 their song during the winter, and soon after Christmas began to 

 moult, which they got through without any difficulty, and lived 

 three or four years, regularly moulting every year at the usual time. 

 On the renewal of their feathers it appeared that their tails were 

 forked exactly the same as in those birds which return hither in 

 the spring, and in every respect their appearance was the same. 

 These birds, says Mr. Pearson, were exhibited to the Society for 

 promoting Natural History, on the fourteenth day of February, 

 1786, at the time they were in a deep moult, during a severe frost, 

 when the snow was on the ground. Minutes of this circumstance 



