that at
Schlehitten, near a house of the Earl of Dohna, he saw two Swallows just
come out of the waters, that could, scarcely stand, being very wet and
weak, with their wings hanging on the ground; and that he observed the
Swallows to be often weak for some days after their appearance."[113]

The Academy of Upsal received the winter submersion of the Swallows as
an undoubted fact, and even Cuvier admits as "well authenticated, that
they fall into a lethargic state during winter, and even that they pass
that season at the bottom of marshy waters."[114] One would think that a
zoological statement which Linnaeus and Cuvier accepted, must be fact;
yet it remains utterly improbable. In Germany, a reward of an equal
weight in silver was publicly offered to any one who should produce
Swallows found under water, but we are assured that no one was found to
claim the money.

We may safely dismiss the notion of submersion till better
authenticated; but that of torpidity is still open to examination.
Statements to the effect that quantities of Swallows in a death-like
condition have been found in hollow trees, holes in cliffs, banks, &c.,
are even more common than those of their submersion; and they seem to
obtain credence in all the temperate or cold regions where the Swallows
are found. It is hard to think that a persuasion so widely diffused can
be wholly groundless.

Peter Collinson, the friend and correspondent of Linnaeus, communicated
to the Royal Society the following statement by M. Achard:--"In the
latter end of March I took my passage down the Rhine to Rotterdam. A
little below Basel, the south bank of the river was very high and steep,
of a sandy soil, sixty or eighty feet above the water.

"I was surprised at seeing, near the top of the cliff, some boys tied to
ropes, hanging down doing something. The singularity of these
adventurous boys, and the business they so daringly attempted, made us
stop our navigation, to inquire into the meaning of it. The waterman
told us they were reaching the holes in the cliffs for Swallows or
Martins, which took refuge in them, and remained there all the winter,
until warm weather, and then they came abroad.

"The boys being let down by their comrades to the holes, put in a long
rammer, with a screw at the end, such as is used to unload guns, and,
twisting it about, drew out the birds. For a trifle I procured some of
them. When I first had them, they seemed stiff and lifeless; I p