A Letter to the Honourable J. Th. Klein, Secretary to the City of Dantzick, from Mr. PeterCollinson, F. R. S. concerning the Migration of SwallowsAuthor(s): Peter CollinsonSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 51 (1759 - 1760), pp. 459-464Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/105386 .

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P A R T IX

For the YEAR I760.

,

XL. SLenter to theHoxoarable J. Th. Kleins Secretar3 to the City of Dantzick,from Mr. Peter Collinfon, F. R. S. concerning the Migratior of SzrJallwws.

Read March 9sT Do not know a^rhich to admire moft I758 1 in my dear friend Klein, his learningX

or his judgmen-t, in compiling fo many ingenious and infirudive books in natural hiRory.

But I mufl; beg leave to diffent from my learned friend, in an article he takes great pains to efiablifh; which is, thae fwallows are not birds of paSage; but at the time of their going away, retire under watera and live therein, all the winter. This I cannot com- prehend, being fo contrary to nature and reafon; for as

they cannot liere in that Itate, without fome degree of breathing, this requires the circulation of the blood, ho^rever vreak and languid. Now, as reEpiration is abSolutely neceSary for circulation, how is it poffible to be carried on for fo many months ullder water, without the riSque of fuffocation ?

0L. LI. Ooo Befidea,

[ 459 ]

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[ 460 ] Befides, if fo remarkable a change was intended,,

the great wifidom of the Almighty Creator woluld, undoulDtedly, be Seen in fome particultr contrivance, in the IEruEture of the organs of the heart of this bird, to enab]e st to undergo fo very remarkable ae change of elements: and my learned friend has not attempted to osr any thing of this nature, in order to confirm his fyllcm.

An ealy experitnetlt may tllrow fome light on this doubtful affair At the tirne of their going away, take a rwallo^, and confine it in a tub under water: if it relnains t}lere for a week or two alive, without any remarkable inconvenience, then there may be fome probability for its continuing fo many months in that Ilate.

The conclufions, that are drawn fsom fome of the tribe of infedrs fubfiIting under water, are far from beIng corlclufive, to found an analogy ppon; as in- Seds differ from other animals in fo many particu- lars, that very little or nothing can be concluded, or inferred, of the one, from what we obServe in the other.

Towards the end of September, tile rwalIows af- femble on the reeds in the iflands in our river Thames, and have, no doubt, fo done for ages paR; and yet I never heard, or read, of any filherman, or oth¢r perSon, that has ever found in the winter months a fwallow under water, in a torpid living Rate; for if fuch a marvelous thing had elrer happened, it would have been foon communicated to the public. Befides, as thefe iflands of reeds and willows are annually cut down, for feveral uSes, and yet not a fwallow has beca diicovered in his aquatic abode i and, conlider-

ing

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r 46I ] ing the-multitudes I have feen on thefe reeds and willows iIl thW autumil; if they took their winterws reI}dence under water, it is moflt realonable to think; in a risrer fo -ftsquented, and in fo long a courfe of years, fome vvould have been found in that fituation Another circumRance I muIl add; in great towns remote from water, where rivers and reeds are not near, I have frequently o'oferved that) a iittle before the fwallows depart, they, every morning early, gather together on the roofs of large houSes, expofed to tlze morning fun: this they daily do for fome time, to colledc themfelves before they take their flighe.

-Next, to confirtn my opinion, that the migration of fome fpecies of fwallows is certain, I think I have fome undoubted proofs.

I have often heard Sir Cllarles Wager, firflc lord of the admiralty, relate that, in one of his voyages homey in the fpring of the year, as he came into foundings in our channel, a great flock of fwallows came and fettled on all his rigging: every rope was covered, they hung on one another like a fwarm of beeS; the decks and carvings were filled with tlaem; they fiemed almoIt fpent and famifhed, and were only feathers aIld bones; but, being recruited with a night's rell, they took their flight in the morning.

Capt. Wriglzt, a very honeR man3 whom I could depend on, told me, the like happenJed to him, in a voyte from Philadel-phia hitiler.

But a yet hronber ccynfirnfation of the fwallosvs being birds of pciEagW is the obfervation in Mr Adan- fon's-hiflory of Senegal, lately publitlIed; zrhich isX as neat as may be literally trannated, from evhe asr1lorts otrn werds; syz. " The fixth of the fame month

O o o X (' (Odcober)

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[462 3

fc (Odober) at half an hour paflc fix in the eveningfi *' being about fifty leagues from the coaflc, (between < the iiland of Gorea and Senegal) four rwallows

" came to take up their night's lodging on the Ship, ' and alighted on the fhrouds. I eafily caught all " four, and knew them to be the true European 's fwallows. This lacky accident confirmed me irs '4 the opinion I llad formed, that thefe birds paSs the 's feas, to get into the countries of the torrid sone, at 4 the approach of winter in Europe; and, to that

purpofe, I have fince remarked, that they do not " appear-at Senegal but in that feafon. A circum- < ltance no lefs worthy of note is, that at Senegal

the fwallows do not build neRs, as itl LER:uro?¢; but " lie every night by pairs, or fingle, in the nd upon 4' the fea-{horie, where they rather chuSe to fis their " habitation, than up in the country." HiJ. da Senegal, p. 67.

This obServation (as it comes from a profeSed na- turaliIS, an one, who went into thofe countries on pu;rpofe to colleEt what was curious in that way) feems to put the matter out of doubt; and the hear- fay llories of ignorant peafants and credulous people are by no means to be put in competition with it.

I have, -for many years, been very vvatchful in taking notice of the times when the fwallows leave us, and harre twice feen them undoubtedly talring their flight. At two different years, on the z7th and

9th of SeptemberE walking inN my garden at noon, very clear funShiny days) and looking up into the

D ys at a very great height I-diRindly faw an innu- rable number of fwallows, foanng round- and rosund, higher and higher, uniil my eyes were fo

pained

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L 463 pained with looking, that I could no longer dircern them.

But, as my friend Klein feems to be fo poEltive, that the hirundo riparia, or fand mattin, at the ap- proach of willter, retires into t}le lwolts, in wllich tllat fpecies breed up their young, and made tlleil fumtner's refidence} and there paEs that cold feafon in a dor_ mant Ilate, as fnakes, lizards, and fome other ani- mals do, I Ilave been the more follicitous to come at the truth. But as thefe fandy precipices, in which thefe martins build, are moIlly inaccefl5lble, fome years 11ave pafled, before I could filld a fituation where the experiment could be fairly tnade, vithout difficulty or danger. Such a fand-hill I found iI] t}le

parilh of Byfleee in Surry. The clergyman being my friend, and well qualified to make tlle expelimellt,

at my requeR, was fo obliging to underealee it. 1 lhall give his letter to me, in his own vords.

" Dear Sir, 4; Byflcet, O&tober zz, x757. " I took a fquare of about twelsre feet, over that

" part of the clift where the holes were thtckefts <' which, in going down from the frface, I judge.l " would take in about forty holes. I fet to workX

and came to the holes; but found no martiIlss 4' nothing but old neflcs in t:he furthe{t end of the

" 11oles, which were from a foot and half to two " feet and half deep from the entrance. We care- " fully fearched forty holes, but found no birds,

but at leaI} thirty of them had neRs. The pafl age " to them was very near in a Ilraight horizontal line .> " the neIt was funk about an inch and half below

the level of the paXage; the matorials next tl]: ic botton

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[ 464 ] ¢' bottom were lRraws) then coarfe and fine grEes j " the whole Itrudcure of no great elegance The few- " eggs, that were left behind, were of a clear un

potted white, the flze of a robbin-red-breaR's."

This fair trial bbing 1nade by a gentleman of ve- racity and ability is rrery concluf1ve; for it certainly proves, that the farld martins do not take 1lp their winter abode in their fummer dwel'ings. There- fore, there is fuiciellt reafon to believe, from tlje beforerecited obServatiorls on the cofnmon wallov1s) and this fo recently made on the Jand ?nartins, that they are all loirds of paSage.

A D D I T I O N A L R E M A R t.

There are four diRindc fpecies of birds, that go under the general name fwallow; si. the fwift or black tnartin; 2* the fwallow,thatbuilds in chimneys; 3. the martin, that builds againi} houSes; 4. the fand martinf that builds in farsd-banks. 1 hope, that X have clearly pro^7ed, that fome of theSe fpecies are birds of paSage. But liome of my friends aXert, that they paSs the winter in clifts or caverns of the earth,, in banks or precipices. What is much to be regretted is, that the gentlemen were not curious enough to diRinguilh the particular fpecies, which they found in a torpid Ilate. lHonf. Adaxfon, in his account of Senegal, has omitted this. So that nothing certain can yet be pronouIlced.> which ipecies Rays, or which goes.

NLT, Obpera

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