26 
HIKUNDO PELASGIA. 
great noise. In Novemlter, 1791, the top of this trc* 
was blown down twenty feet below where the swallo^f* 
entered. There has been no appearance of the swallon'* 
since. Upon cutting down the remainder, an immens* 
quantity of e.xcrements, quills, and feathers were fouuA 
hut no appearance or relics of any nests. 
“ Another of these swallow trees wa.s at Bridpoft 
The man who lived the nearest to it gave this account’ 
The swallows were first observed to come out of th' 
tree in the spring, about the time that the leaves firs* 
began to appear on the trees; from that season the! 
came out in the morning about half an hour afte* 
sunrise. They rushed out like a stream, as big as tb* 
hole in the tree would admit, and ascended in a perpefl' 
dicular line, until they were above the height of th* 
adjacent trees ; then assumed a circular motion, per 
forming their evolutions two or three times, but ahvaV* 
in a lai-ger circle, and then dispersed in every directioi> 
A little before sun-down, they returned in immen-S* 
numbers, forming several circular motions, and the> 
descended like a stream into the hole, from whene* 
they came out in the morning. About the middle e* 
September, they were seen entering the tree for tW 
last time. These birds were all of the species calle* 
the house or chimney swallow. The tree was a lai'fi* 
hollow elm ; the hole at which they entered was aboii' 
forty feet above the ground, and about nine inches i" 
diameter. The swallows made their first appearance i" 
the spring, and their last appearance in the fall, in tb* 
vicinity of this tree ; and the neighbouring inhabitant 
had no doubt but that the swallows continued in r 
during the winter. A few years ago, a hole was ct* 
at the bottom of the tree ; from that time the swallon’ 
have been gradually forsaking the tree, and have no" 
almost deserted it.’’ 
Though Mr Williams himself, as he informs us, b 
led to believe, from these, and some other particular 
which he details, “ that the house swallow in this paT 
of America generally resides during the winter in tbj 
hollow of trees ; and the ground swallows (bank swa* 
