BRITISH BIRDS. 
25I 
the time they were in a deep moult, during a fe- 
ver e froft, when the fnow was on the ground. Mi- 
nutes of this circumftance were entered in the 
books of the fociety. Thefe birds died at lafl 
from neglect during a long illnefs which Mr Pear- 
fon had ; — they died in the fummer. Mr P. con- 
cludes his very interelling account in thefe words : 
a Jan. 20, 1797* — I have now in my houfe, No. 
21 , Great Newport-ftreet, Long- Acre, four Swal- 
lows in moult, in as perfect health as any birds e- 
ver appeared to be in when moulting.” 
The refult of thefe experiments pretty clearly 
proves, that Swallows do not in any material in- 
ffance differ from other birds in their nature and 
propenfities ; but that they leave us, like many o- 
ther birds, when this country can no longer furnifh 
them with a fupply of their proper and natural 
food, and that confequently they feek it in other 
places, where they meet with that fupport which 
enables them to throw off their feathers. Swallows 
are found in every country of the known world, 
but feldom remain the whole year in the fame cli- 
mate ; the times of their appearance and departure 
in this country are well known ; they are the con- 
ftant harbingers of fpring, and on their arrival all 
nature affumes a more chearful afpeft. The bill 
of this genus is fhort, very broad at the bafe, and a 
little bent ; the head is flat, and the neck fcarcely 
vifible ; the tongue is fhort, broad, and cloven ; tail 
moftly forked ; wings long ; legs fhort. 
