SWALLOWS. 
45 
shaken off, by active exertion, inevitably ends in 
death. If man is subject to this effect, as well as 
some animals, why may not Swallows ? Two of 
these birds were, a Summer or two ago, caught, and 
placed for twenty-four hours in a cage suspended in 
an ice-house ; at the expiration of this time, one was 
found dead, hut the other was alive, and, when re- 
leased, flew away in perfect vigour. In this case, 
therefore, nothing was learned from the experiment ; 
but the constitution of the bird may he different 
towards the close of the season, and better pre- 
pared for a Winters sleep. And that this, to a 
certain degree, is the case, may he collected from 
the following statement: — “ On the 22nd of Sep- 
tember, at about seven o’clock in the morning, 
with a drizzling cold rain, and wind easterly, a 
vast number of Chimney-Swallows were observed 
hovering over, or resting on a house, in the South 
of England : in the course of the morning large 
flocks continued to join this main body. The ap- 
pearance of the whole was, however, very lethargic 
and moping, and so tame were many, that they were 
taken by hand from the window-sills, on which 
they had perched. For experiment sake, our in- 
formant put his arm out of an attic-story window, 
and in a short time one of them settled on his hand ; 
he withdrew it, expecting the bird would fly off, but 
there it remained, giving him ample time to examine 
it more narrowly. Its eyes appeared nearly shut, 
its wings and tail drooping, and its whole frame in 
a torpid state ; finding some force necessary to take 
it from his hand, he had the curiosity to whirl it 
round several times, but to no purpose, the only ex- 
