but it was anciently called veremouse, from the Anglo-Saxon hnenemur. Our blafoners alfo ufe this word. In the Greek and Latin, however, the name is taken from its appearing only during the night vunTepis & vefpertilio. “Seroque trahunt a vefpere nomen." Ov. Different fpecies, or varieties of bats, are found in moft quarters both of the old and new world; but for an enumeration of these I shall refer to Mr. Pennant's most excellent Synopfis of Quadrupeds, and after obferving, that fome of those in America are fuppofed to fuck the blood of perfons afleep, I fhall confine myself to thofe of our own island. That most able naturalift Mr. Ray takes notice of but one species, though Mr. Pennant conceives that we have four. Nothing can exceed both the diligence and accuracy of Ray, but the common averfion to thefe animals feems to have have prevented both him and others from either catching or examining many species. Having but two teats, it is fuppofed that they never produce more than two young ones, which, according to Pliny, they fly about with on their back. If this is true at all, I fhould fuppofe that it only takes place when the young are to be taught to fly, as they may be more eafily launched from their parents back into the air, than from any other place. They cannot rife at all from the ground, according to Linnæus; and in this fituation therefore they feem divefted of every pretenfion to be deemed birds, if their being viviparous, and having no beaks, did not fuf In this part of the natural hiftory of this animal, I am much indebted to the communication of a moft ingenious correfpondent, who knows where to find them torpid at any time during the winter, and more particularly in a large cavern near Torbay. The prevailing notion that they hang always in clusters touching each other is not true, as this depends entirely upon their having a proper opportunity of adhering to the place from which they are fufpended; they fometimes, therefore, are in contact, and often at confiderable diftances, but always fix themfelves by both their feet. Martial fays of the dormouse, that it is fatter during its ftate of torpidity than when it revives. I therefore begged to know from Mr. Cornish, whether this was the cafe with bats during the winter, who informs me that the fact does not hold with regard to the one or the other, and that bats mute whilft they are thus fufpended. Both dormice and bats lofe from five to seven grains in weight during a fortnight, whilft in a ftate of torpidity. Bats on the whole fare better during a hard than a mild winter, for warm weather not only awakens' them, them, but promotes their power of digeftion, whilft at the fame time they cannot procure the food of which they are in fearch. This holds likewife with regard to bees, which are better preferved in a dark room than if exposed to the air whilst torpid, because fometimes they are awakened by the mild temperature of the weather, when there are no flowers for their fupport. As bats mute whilft torpid, there is also a circulation of the blood, for Mr. Cornish having applied a thermometer to the body of one perfectly asleep, which ftood at 36, the heart beat 60 times in a minute; the fame bat being awakened fo as to fly weakly, the thermometer applied in, the fame manner rofe to 38, and the heart beat 100 times in a minute. They have been, however, obferved to continue in their torpid ftate when the thermometer, placed in the air, hath been at 48, which is ten degrees warmer than the animal when awakened according to this experiment. Most of the bats roused by irritation have not furvived more than three days, but then it is ftated that the weather became colder. Frequent attempts have been made to revive them after this feeming death, but they have all proved ineffectual. Having defired Mr. Comish to make fome experiments with an air-pump on torpid bats, he informs me that his apparatus for that purpofe is not fo good as it fhould be, but that he is of opinion, from fome imperfect trials, that they are not fo foon affected by want of air, as other animals, which do not fleep during the winter. That diftinguished anatomift Mr. John Hunter, having occafion to diffect bats during the winter, applied to me to procure him fome from Devonshire, knowing that I had a correfpondence with Mr. Cornifh, who could at any time refort to their lurking places. I accordingly requested Mr. Cornifh to fend up a dozen of bats in their ftate of torpidity, which he was fo obliging as to do by the next conveyance; but though he had packed them with the greatest care, they died, as Mr. Cornifh apprehended, before they reached London. The mo tion of the carriage probably oc cafioned this difappointment, as alfo that they did not hang in their ufual attitude, nor in the proper temperature of air. If they had continued to live, Mr. Cornish informed me, that though one could perceive no motion in them, yet if placed in contact with a proper crevice, they would however fix themselves by their claws. Thefe bats were kept for fome time by Mr. Hunter before he would abfolutely pronounce them to be dead, and afterwards, at Sir Afhton Lever's, before they were fet up; but though they never fhewed any figns of life, yet their bodies did not putrify. The fame thing I had occafion to obferve with regard to fome torpid martins which were fent to me from Somerfetfhire, and which I wished Mr. Hunter to diffect." These birds alfo did not revive, but no figns of putrefaction appeared, though they where kept a confiderable time. And And here it may be obferved, that a moderate heat, fuch as the bofom or hand, is the most likely to bring torpid animals to life, which are often killed by being placed too near the fire, from the common prejudice, that one cannot have too much of a good thing. For a more immediate teft of life in the animal, it will fhrink either upon the touch, or holding a lighted candle near` it. On the Torpidity of the Swallow Tribe when they disappear. From the fame Author. Ih N the foregoing treatise upon the migration of birds, the appearance and disappearance of the fwallow-tribe hath neceffarily been touched upon; but I think it better to referve, for a feparate differtation, what more particularly relates to their being during the winter in a state of torpidity. I have for many years attended carefully to the motions of these birds from the latter end of March to the latter end of April, at which time I have travelled into, or returned from, North Wales. For the last twelve years the fpring feafons in that part of Great Britain have been generally dry, the east winds prevailing during the month of April. that on The confequence hath been, my journey towards Wales, or upon my arrival in the principality, I have perhaps feen a ftraggling fwallow or fwallows; but upon the weather growing more fevere, they have dilappeared perhaps for a fortnight or VOL. XXIV, more, fo that I never have been able to procure any, though I have fent people out with guns to fhoot them. My inducement was to examine them upon their first appearance, and to fee in what plight they might be, both as to cafe and plumage; as also what they might feed upon before many winged infects are to be found. Upon my return towards London I have commonly feen five or fix skimming over the river Clwyd, near the gate of the town of Ruthin; which is called Porthydwr. After this, it hath commonly happened, that I have not ob ferved any of this tribe of birds but at the distance of 20, 30, or 40 miles, and this always depending upon the approach to rivers or ponds, fo that I could be tolerably certain where I might expect to obferve them. These circumftances feem to me very decifive, that fwallows are concealed near the place where they begin to appear; and on first confideration of these facts it may be perhaps inferred, that there birds are all to be found under. the water; it must however be recollected, that they, probably procure more food in fuch fitua tions when on the wing, whatever may have been their winter refidence. By the latter end of April the fwallow-tribe appears in numbers. I fhall now ftate fuch facts as I have myself obferved, or received from ingenious correfpondents, in relation to each fpecies of fwallow, and without hesitation make my own inferences, leaving them to be corrected by thofe who may be more fortunate in collecting more decifive inftances. F I fhall I fhall begin with the fallow, as Mr. Pennant does in his British Zoology; and premife that I mean the fpecies whofe tail is moft forked, and which is marked with a red fpot on the forehead and chin. This bird appears the first of its tribe, and (as I conceive at leaft) hides itself under water during the winter, becaufe, in the few instances where the relater hath been able to particularize the fpecies thus found, it hath happened to be a swallow. There is fcarcely a treatise on ornithology, written in the Northern parts of Europe, which does not allude to the fubmerfion of fwallows during the winter, as a fact almost as well known as their peopling the air during the fummer; and because the name of Linnæus is refpected by most of the incredulous on this head, I copy from him the following words in the defcription of the bird. "Hirundo [Ruftica}, habitat in Europa domibus intra tectum, unaque cum urbica demergitur, vereque emergit." It is alfo clear from the expreffion of demergitur (though perhaps not claffical) that this naturalift conceived thefe birds hid themselves under water during the winter; and it is to be obferved, that he feeins to have flated it after a proper examination, becaufe in the Fauna Suecica, publifhed five years before, he omits the mention of this circumftance. As the inftances of finding fwallows under water are most common in the Northern parts of Europe, I fhall begin with the tefti mony of the inhabitants of that part of the globe. Mr. Peter Brown, a Norwegian and ingenious painter, informs me, that from the age of 6 to 17, whilst he was at school near Sheen, he with his companions hath conftantly found fwallows in numbers torpid under the ice, which covered bogs, and that they have often revived upon being brought into a warm room. Baron Rudbeck, a Swedish gentleman, who was not long fince in England, hath affured me that this fact was fo well known in Sweden as to leave no doubt with any one. Mr. Stephens, A. S. S. informs me, that when he was 14 years of age, a pond of his father's (who was vicar of Shrivenham in Berkfhire) was cleaned during the month of February, that he picked up himself a clufter of three or four fwallows (or martins) which were caked together in the mud, that the birds were carried into the kitchen, on which they foom afterwards flew about the room, in the presence of his father, mother, and others, particularly the Rev. Dr. Pye. Mr. Stephens alfo told me that his father observed at the time, he had read of fimilar inftances in the Northern writers. Though I have stated these birds to have been either fwallows or martins, I rather fuppofe them to have been the former, from their being found under water. The compilers of the Encyclopedie (art. Mort.) have inferted the following obfervation and fact in relation to fwallows difcovered in the fame fituation. 66 Plufieurs oifeaux pafsent auffi tout l'hyver fous les eaux, telles font les birondelles, qui loin d'aller fuivant l'erreur populairs fort accreditée, dans les climats plus chauds, fe precipitent au fond de la mer, des lacs, & des rivieres, &c." It is there alfo ftated, that Mr. Falconet, a phyfician, living at Paris, had feen in one of the provinces, " une maffe de terre que les pecheurs avoient tirée de l'eau; apres avoir lavée & debronillée, il appercut que ce n'etoit autre chofe qu'un amas d'hirondelles," which, on being brought to the fire, revived, the fishers declaring that this was not uncommon. The late ingenious Mr. Stillingfleet informs us, that one fwallow's being found at the bottom of a pond in winter, and brought to life by warmth, was attefted to him by a gentleman of charac ter. Some years ago the moat of Aix-la-Chapelle was cleaned during the month of October, and the water let out for that purpose, when on the fides of the moat, and much below the parts which had been covered with water, a great number of fwallows were feen to all appearance dead, but their plumage not impaired. Du Tertre mentions, that a Ruffian of credit had told him, that, a piece of ice in a village of Mufcovy having been brought into a houfe with fwallows in it, they all revived." There are feveral reasons why fwallows thould not be frequently thus found; ponds are feldom cleaned in the winter, as it is fuch cold work for the labourers, and the fame inftinct which prompts the bird thus to conceal itself, inftructs it to choose fuch a place of fecurity, that common accidents will not discover it. But the strongest reason for such accounts not being more numerous, is, that facts of this fort are fo little attended to; for though I was born within half a mile of the pond near Shrivenham, and have always had much curiofity with regard to the natural hiftory of animals, yet I never heard a fyllable about this very material and interefting intelligence till very lately. To thefe inftances I muft alfo add, that fwallows may be conftantly taken in the month of October, during the dark nights, whilft they fit on the willows in the Thames; and that one may. almoft inftantaneoufly fill a large fack with them, because at this time they will not ftir from the twigs, when you lay your hands upon them. This looks very much like their beginning to be torpid before they hide themfelves under the water. A man near Bren: ford fays, that he hath caught them in this ftate in the cyt oppofite to that town, even fo late as November. I fhall conclude the proofs on this first head by the dignified teftimony of Sigifmond King of Poland, who affirmed, on his oath, to Cardinal Commendon, that he had frequently feen swallows which were found at the bottom of lakes. I fhall now proceed to the fe cond fpecies of the swallow-tribe, called a martin, which hath no colours but black and white, hath a fhorter tail than the preceding, and builds commonly under the eaves of houses. I may be miftaken, but I fhall F 2 here |