LIFE OF WILSON. 
cxxvii 
who had so long had the subject of the torpidity of animals under his conside- 
ration, should have hazarded the assertion contained in the preceding para- 
grajdi. Dr. Reeve has certainly read of other birds besides the swallow, the 
cuckoo, and the woodcock, which are said to have been found in a torpid state. 
And ought he not to have mentioned these birds '!* 
'• In uiy ' Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania,' I have men- 
tioned tlie common humming-bird {^Trochllas coluhri.s') as one of those American 
birds which do occasionally become torpid. 
111 regard to the swallows, I shall say but little at present- I have, at this 
time, iu the press, a memoir on the migratiiin and torpidity of these birds. / 
am cojijideiil (hut I shall he ahlc to convince cvcnj caiiditl ji^iilosdjilicr, thrd 
great iiumljej'S cjf &w allows, of different sjiecies, do occasionally jiass into a state 
of lorjjiditij , more or less profound, not merely 'in some remote quarter of 
America,' but in the vicinity of our capital cities, where there are some men 
of genuine observation and inquiry', and who are as little propense to believe 
the marvellous iu natural histor}^ as any philosophers elsewhere. 
" I do not suppose that all the swallows of North America, become torpid. 
It is my present opinion, and it was my opinion when I published the ' Frag- 
ments' in 1799, that the swallows, in general, are migratory birds. But sub- 
sequent and eery extensive inquiries have convinced me, that the instances of 
torpid swallows are much more frequent than I formerly supposed they werej 
and that there are two species of the genus Ilirundo, which are peculiarly dis- 
posed to pass the brumal season in the cavities of rocks, in the hollows of 
trees, and in other similar situations, where they have often been found in a 
soporose state. These species are the Ilirutido rijjarid, or sand swallow; and 
the //. pelasgia, which we call chinniey swallow. There is no fact in orni- 
thulogy Letter estahlished than THE FACT of the occasional torpidity of these two 
species of Ilirundo !" * 
It is not strange that the " very extensive" inquiries of our learned professor 
should have had a result so different from those of Wilson, an ornithologist 
infinitely better qualified than himself to investigate a question of this kind, by 
his zeal, his capacity, and his experience. Who those men o? genuine olserva- 
tion and inrpiiry were, who resided in the vicinity of our capital cities, he did 
not condescend to inform us ; if he had done so, we should be enabled to de- 
termine, whether or not they were capacitated to give an opinitjn on a subject, 
which requires f[ualifications of a peculiar kind. 
At the time in wdiich the professor wrote the above-cited letter, I know of 
but two naturalists in the United States whose opinions ought to have any 
weight on the question before us, and these were William Bartram and Alex- 
ander Wilsi.tn, both of whom have recorded their testimony, in the most posi- 
tive manner, against torpidity. * 
* Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, voL 35, p. 241. 
" Naturalists," says Dr. Barton in another plaec, " iiave not always been philosophers. 
The di(iht and snperjieial manner in which they have oxamincrl many of the subjects of 
their science ; the credulity which has accompanieil them in their researches after truth ; 
and the precipitancy willi whicli tliei/ have decided upon ma^iy questions of importance ; are 
proofs of this assertion." Memoir concerning the fascinating faculty of serpents. 
