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LIFE OF WILSON. 
Dr. Reeve, in treating of the migration of birds, makes the 
following judicious observations: "^It is singular that this subject 
should still admit of doubt, when it seems so easy to be decided ; 
yet every month we see queries and answers about the migration 
of Swallows ; and every year our curiosity is tempted to be amused 
with marvellous histories of a party of these birds diving under 
water in some remote quarter of America. No species of birds, 
except the Swallow, the Cuckoo, and the Woodcock, have been 
supposed to remain torpid during the winter months. And what 
is the evidence in favour of so strange and monstrous a supposi- 
tion ? Nothing but the most vague testimonies, and histories re- 
pugnant to reason and experience. 
“ Other birds are admitted to migrate, and why should Swal- 
lows be exempt from the general law of their nature ? When food 
fails in one quarter of the world, their instinct prompts them to 
seek it in another. We know, in fact, that such is their natural 
habit : we have the most unexceptionable proofs that Swallows do 
migrate; they have been seen at sea on the rigging of ships ; and 
Adanson, the celebrated naturalist, is said to have caught four 
European Swallows fifty leagues from land, between the coast of 
Goree and Senegal, in the month of October. 
“ Spallanzani saw Swallows in October on the island of Lipa- 
ri, and he was told that when a warm southerly breeze blows in 
winter they are frequently seen skimming along the streets in the 
city. He concludes that they do not pass into Africa at the ap- 
for seventeen hours, they were exposed to the sun for several hours, but they gave no signs of 
life. 
Upon a re-perusal of Franklin’s “ Observations upon the Prevailing Doctrines of Life and 
Death,” in which the story of the flies is inserted, it appears obvious to me that the flies which 
“ fell into the first glass that was filled,” were either accidentally thrown into it, or had been in 
it unperceived, and on this supposition a recovery from suspended animation would have no- 
thing in it which might be thought marvellous. 
