BARN SWALLOW. 
223 
may have been found in a hollow tree, and in great numbers too, is not 
denied ; such being in some places of the country (as will be shown in 
the history of that species), their actual places of rendezvous, on their 
first arrival, and their common roosting place long after ; or that the 
Bank Swallows, also, soon after their arrival, in the early part of spring, 
may be chilled by the cold mornings which we frequently experience at 
that season, and be found in this state in their holes, I would as little 
dispute ; but that either the one or the other has ever been found, in 
the midst of winter, in a state of torpidity, I do not, cannot believe. 
Millions of trees of all dimensions are cut down every fall and winter 
of this country, where, in their proper season, Swallows swarm around 
us. Is it therefore in the least probable that we should, only once or 
twice in an age, have no other evidence than one or two solitary and 
very suspicious reports of a Mr. Somebody having made a discovery of 
this kind ? If eaves were their places of winter retreat, perhaps no 
country on earth could supply them with a greater choice. I have my- 
self explored many of these in various parts of the United States both 
in winter and in spring, particularly in that singular tract of country 
in Kentucky, called the Barrens, where some of these subterraneous 
caverns are several miles in length, lofty and capacious, and pass under 
a large and deep river — have conversed with the saltpetre workers by 
whom they are tenanted ; but never heard or met with one instance of a 
Swallow having been found there in winter. These people treated such 
reports with ridicule. 
It is to be regretted that a greater number of experiments have not 
been made, by keeping live Swallows through the winter, to convince 
these believers in the torpidity of birds, of their mistake. That class 
of cold-blooded animals which are known to become torpid during 
winter, and of which hundreds and thousands are found every season, 
are subject to the same when kept in a suitable room for experiment. 
How is it with the Swallows in this respect ? Much powerful testimony 
might be produced on this point ; the following experiments recently 
made by Mr. James Pearson of London, and communicated by Sir John 
Trevelyn, Bart., to Mr. Bewick, the celebrated engraver in wood, will 
be sufficient for our present purpose, and throw great light on this part 
of the subject.* 
" Five or six of these birds were taken about the latter end of August, 
1784, in a bat fowling net at night ; they were put separately into small 
cages, and fed with Nightingale's food : in about a week or ten days 
they took food of themselves ; they were then put all together into a 
deep cage, four feet long, with gravel at the bottom ; a broad shallow 
pan with water was placed in it, in which they sometimes washed them- 
* See Bewick's British Birds, vol. i., p. 254. 
