SWALLOWS. 
43 
Again, about half a dozen Swallows were found a 
few years ago, in a torpid state, in the trunk of a 
hollow tree, by a countryman, who brought them to 
a respectable person, by whom they were deposited 
in a desk, where they remained forgotten till the 
following Spring, when, one morning, on hearing a 
noise, he opened the desk, and found one of them 
fluttering about ; the others also began to show signs 
of life, and, upon being placed out of doors in the 
sun, speedily arranged their plumage, took wing, and 
disappeared. 
On the second of November, 1829, at Loch Ransa, 
in the island of Arran, a man, while digging in a 
place where a pond had been lately drained off, 
discovered two Swallows in a state of torpor: on 
placing them near the fire, they recovered. One 
unfortunately escaped, but the other was kept by 
the man for the purpose of showing it to some 
scientific persons. 
In addition to these cases relating to Swallows, we 
have two instances of dormant Corncrakes, which are 
also migratory Summer birds. A farmer at Aiker- 
ness, in Orkney, about mid-winter, in demolishing a 
mud-wall, there called a hill-dike, found a Corncrake 
in the midst of it — a bird which is plentiful in Sum-, 
mer, but departs, like Swallows, at the close of that 
season. It was apparently lifeless, but being fresh 
to the feel and smell, it was placed in a warm situa- 
tion. In a short time it began to move, and, in a 
few hours, was able to walk about, and lived for two 
days in the kitchen ; but, refusing all food, it died. 
The other occurred at Monaghan, in Ireland, 
where a gentleman, having directed his labourers in 
