[ 2 9° J 
Oibeck afterwards, in the courfe of his voyage, 
mentions, that a fwailow (indefinitely) followed the 
fhip, near Java, on the 24th of July, and another 
on the 14th of Auguft, in the Chinefe fea, as he 
terms it. 
After what I have obferved before with regard to 
other inftances of the fame fort, I need fcarcely fay 
that this naturalifi: does not ftate of what fpecies thefe 
fwallows were; and that, from the latitudes in which 
they were feen, they mull have been fome of the 
Afiatic kinds. 
I cannot, however, difmifs this article of the fwai- 
low, without adding fome general reafons, which 
feem to prove the great improbability of this or any 
other bird’s periodically migrating over wide tra&s of 
lea ; and I the rather do it in this place, becaufe 
There are feveral reafons why fwallows Ihould not be fre- 
quently thus found ; pends are feldom cleaned in the winter, 
as it is fuch cold work for the labourers ; and the fame Inftin«5t 
which prompts the bird thus to conceal itfelf, inftruils it to 
choofe fuch a place of fecurity, that common accidents will not 
difeover it. 
But the ftrongeft reafon for fuch accounts not being more 
numerous, is, that fails of this fort are fo little attended to ; for 
though I was born within half a mile of this pond, and have 
always had much curiofity with regard to fuch fails, yet I never > 
heard a fyllable about this very material and interefting account, 
tiil very lately. 
To this fail I mud alfo addj that fwallows may be con- 
ftantly taken in the month of Oitober, during the dark nights, 
whilft they fit on the willows in the Thames, and that one may 
almoft infiantaneoufly fill a large fack with them, becaufe at this 
time they will not frir 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, th'at he hath caught them in this 
date in the eyt oppofite to that town, even fo late as November. 
the 
