MIGRATIO N. 
856 
my brother in Ar.dalufia has fully informed me. Of the 
motions of thefe birds he has ocular demonllration, for 
many weeks together, both fpring and fall: during which 
periods myriads of the fwallow kind traverfe the Straits 
from north to fouth, and from fouth to north, according 
to the leafon. And thefe vail migrations conlilt not only 
of hirundines, but of bee-birds, hoopoes, oro-pendolos, 
or golden thrullies, See. &c. and alfo of many of our foft- 
billed fummer birds of palfage ; and moreover of birds 
which never leave us, l'uch as all the various forts of 
hawks and kites. Old Belon, two hundred years ago, 
gives a curious account of the incredible armies of hawks 
and kites which he faw in the fpring-time traverfing the 
Thracian .Bofphorus from Afia to Europe. Betides the 
above-mentioned, he remarks that the procefiion is 
fwelled by whole troops of eagles and vultures. Now, it is 
no wonder that birds refiding in Africa Ihould retreat 
before the fun as it advances, and retire to milder re¬ 
gions, and efpecially birds of prey, whofe blood being 
heated with hot animal food, are more impatient of a 
ltd try climate: but then I cannot help wondering why 
kites and hawks, and fuch hardy birds as are known to 
defy ail the feverity of England, and even of Sweden and 
all northern Europe, Ihould want to migrate from the 
l'outh of Europe, and be dilfatisfied with the winters of 
Andalufia. 
“ It does not appear to me that much Itrefs may be laid 
on the difficulty and hazard that birds mull run in their 
migrations, by real'onof vail oceans, crofs winds, &c. be- 
caul'e, if we refledl, a bird may travel from England to the 
equator without launching out and expoiing itfelf to 
boundlefs feas, and that by croffing the water at Dover 
and again at Gibraltar. And I with the more confidence 
advance this obvious remark, becaufe my brother has 
always found that fome of his birds, and particularly the 
fwallow kind, are very fparing of their pains in croffing 
the Mediterranean : for, when arrived at Gibraltar, they 
do not, 
--rang'd in figure, wedge their way, 
•-- and let forth 
Their airy caravan high over feas 
.Flying, and over lands with mutual wing 
Ealing their flight; (Milton.) 
but fcout and hurry along in little detached parties of fix 
or feven in a company; and, Iweeping low, juft over the 
furface of the land and water, diredl their courfe to the 
.oppofite continent at the narrowell palfage they can find. 
They ufually Hope acrofs the bay to the fouth-well, and 
fo pals over oppofite to Tangier, which it feems is the 
narrowell fpace. 
“ In former letters we have confidered whether it was 
probable that woodcocks in moon-fhiny nights crofs the 
German Ocean from Scandinavia. As a proof that birds 
of lei's fpeedmaypafs thatfea, confiderable as it is, I lhall 
relate the following incident, which, though mentioned 
to have happened fo many years ago, was llridtly matter 
of fail: As fome people were Ihooting in the parilh of 
Trottor., in the county of Suffex, they killed a duck in 
that dreadful winter 1708-9, with a filver collar about its 
neck (I have read a like anecdote of a fwan), on which 
were engraven the arms of the king of Denmark. This 
anecdote the redtor of Trotton at that time has often told 
to a near relation of mine; and, to the bell of my remem¬ 
brance, the collar was in the polfeffion of the redtor. At 
prefent I do not know any body near the fea-fide that 
will take the trouble to remark at what time of the moon 
woodcocks firll come. One thing I ul'ed to obferve when 
I was a fportlinan, that there were times in which wood- 
.cocks were fo lluggilh and lleepy, that they would drop 
again when flufhed juft before the fpaniels, nay, juft at 
the muzzle of a gun that had been fired at them. Whe¬ 
ther this ftrange lazinefs was the effedl of a recent fati¬ 
guing journey, I lhall not prefume to fay. 
“Nightingales not only never reach Northumberland 
and Scotland, but alfo, as I have been always told, D<s- 
vonfliire and Cornwall. In thofe two laft counties we 
cannot attribute the failure of them to the want of 
warmth; the defeft in the well is rather a preemptive 
argument that thefe birds come over to us from the conti¬ 
nent at the narrowell palfage, and do not llroll fo far 
weftward." Nat. Hill, of Selborne, Letter ix. 
a. The fecond notion (fays Mr. Pennant) has great an¬ 
tiquity on its fide. “ Ariftotle and Pliny give it as their 
belief, that fwallows do not remove very far from their 
fummer habitation, but winter in the hollows of rocks 
and during that time lofe their feathers. The former 
part of their opinion has been adopted by feveral inge¬ 
nious men ; and of late feveral proofs have been brought 
ol fome fpecies, at leaft, having been difeovered in a tor¬ 
pid Hate. Mr. Collinfon favoured us with the evidence 
of three gentlemen, eye-witnefles to numbers of fand- 
martins being drawm out of a cliff on the Rhine, in the 
month of March, 1762. And the honourable Daines 
Barrington communicated to us the following fa6l, on the 
authority of lord Belhaven; that numbers of fwallows 
have been found in old dry walls and in land-hills near 
his lordlhip’s feat in Eall Lothian; not once only, but 
from year to year; and that, when they were expolbd to 
the warmth of a fire, they revived. We have alfo heard 
of the fame annual difcoveries near Morpeth in Nor¬ 
thumberland, but cannot fpeak of them with the fame 
affu ranee as the two former: neither in the two laft in- 
ltanbes are we certain of the particular fpecies. 
“ Other witneffes crowd on us to prove the refidence of 
thofe birds in a torpid Hate during the fevere feafon. 
Firll, In the chalky cliffs of Suffex; as was feen on the 
fall of a great fragment fome years ago. Secondly, In a 
decayed hollow tree that was cut down near Dolgelly in 
Merionethlhire. Thirdly, In a cliff near Whitby, York- 
fliire ; where, on digging out a fox, whole bulhels of fwal¬ 
lows were found in a torpid condition. And, lallly, The 
Rev. Mr. Conway of Sychton, Flintlhire, was fo obliging 
as to communicate the following fail: A few years ago, 
on looking down an old lead-mine in that county, he ob- 
ferved numbers of fwallows clinging to the timbers of the 
fliaft, feemingly alleep; and on flinging fome gravel on 
them, they juft moved, but never attempted to fly or 
change their place: this was between All Saints and 
Chrillmas. Thefe are doubtlefs the lurking-places of the 
later hatches, or of thofe young birds which are incapable 
of diftant migrations. There they continue infenfible 
and rigid; but, like flies, may fometimes be re-animated 
by an unfeafonably-hot day in the midll of winter: for 
very near Chriftmas a few appeared on the moulding of a 
window of Merton-college, Oxford, in a remarkably-warm 
nook, which prematurely let their blood in motion, hav¬ 
ing the fame effedl as laying them before a fire at the 
fame time of year. Others have been known to make 
this premature appearance; but, as foon as the cold natu¬ 
ral to the feafon returns, they withdraw again to their 
former retreats. 
“ The above are circumftances we cannot but affent to, 
though feemingly contradidlory to the common courfe of 
nature in regard to other birds. We mull, therefore, 
divide our belief relating to thefe two fo-different opi¬ 
nions ; and conclude, that one part of the fwallow-tribe 
migrate, and that others have their winter-quarters near 
home. If it Ihould be demanded, why fwallows alone 
are found in a torpid Hate, and not the other many fpe¬ 
cies of foft-billed birds, which likewile difappear about 
the fame time, reafons might be affigned.” Brit. Zool, 
vol. ii. 
3. The third opinion we lhall Hate and fupport in the 
words of Mr. Kalm. “ Natural hiltory (fays he), as all 
other hiitories, depends not always upon the intrinlic de¬ 
gree of probability, but upon facts founded on the tefti- 
mony of people of noted veracity. Swallows are feldom 
feen finking down into water; fwallows have not fuch 
organs as frogs or lizards, which are torpid during win • 
2f t€i ^ 
