Swallow

SWALLOW. Mention is made of the If. xxxviii. 14.Swallow in Isaiah; Like a Crane or a Swallow, Jer. viii. 7.so did I chatter. And in Jeremiah; The Stork in the Heaven knoweth her appointed Times, and the Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow observe the Time of their Coming.Tob. ii. 11. It is observed in Tobit, that the Dung falling from a Swallow’s Nest into the Eyes of this holy Man, was the Occasion of the Loss of his Sight. The Hebrew Word Sis, which is translated by a Swallow, according סיםSis. עגור Hagur.to some Interpreters, signifies a Crane;¹ and that which is join’d along with it in Isaiah and Jeremiah, that is, hagur, according to the same Interpreters, stands for a Swallow. The Chaldee and Symmachus translate this Passage of Isaiah thus; I cried as the Swallow which is taken. And Aquila; as the Horse Agur.

The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and Bochart, think that Sis signifies a Swallow. But as for Hagur, the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and Symmachus have took it for a Verb. Bochart thinks it signifies a Crane. It is plain from Jeremiah, that these two Words signify two different Birds. Here are the Reasons that may convince us, that Sis signifies a Swallow. First, The antient Greek Interpreters took it in this Sense. Secondly, The Name Sis answers to the Cry of the Swallow; and the Goddess Isis, as they say, was changed into this Bird. Thirdly, The Swallow is a plaintive Bird, and a Bird of Passage, which perfectly agrees with the Meaning of Isaiah and Jeremiah. As to that Place in Tobit, it is universally agreed to signify a Swallow.

This Bird is black, with some Spots of a dirty Black under her Belly; its Flight is very unequal, and its Sight is very quick. It appears in Spring and Summer, and is gone in Autumn. ‘Tis thought that it passes the Sea, and withdraws into hotter Climates, where it either hides itself in Holes in the Earth, or even in Marshes, and under the Water, where sometimes great Lumps of Swallows have been fish’d up, fix’d one to another by the Claws and Beak; and when they are laid in a warm Place, they move and recover, tho’ before they seem’d to be dead. ‘Tis call’d Chelidon in Greek, whence comes the Name of the Herb Chelidome, in English, Celandine, or Swallow-wort, because it is pretended, that with this Herb the Swallow opens the Eyes of her young ones, tho’ they should even be made blind on purpose. We see by the History of Tobit, how dangerous the Fumes or Dung of the Swallow is to the Eyes. We are assured, that the Flesh of these Birds burnt to Ashes, is excellent for Distempers of the Eyes.

We are told by the Fable, that Philomela or Progne, the Wife of Tereus, was transformed into a Swallow, and that by her Note, which is a very mournful one, she bewails the Loss of Atys, whom she loved. The Swallow is good for nothing; she cannot be kept either in a Cage or an Aviary. She is said to breed twice a Year; once in the Climate to which she transports herself while the Winter governs here, and again in those six Months that she continues in this Country. Their chief Food are the Flies that they catch as they fly. They commonly make their Nests in Chimneys, and every Year return to the same Place. Their Nests are made of Clay or Dirt, with little Bits of Straw or Chaff mingled with it.

The Martins that build their Nests in the Windows of Houses and Churches, are a Species of Swallows; but their Flesh is better, and they are whiter under the Belly than Swallows are.

The River-Swallow makes its Nest in Holes that it finds in the Banks of Rivers.

The great Swallow, or Martin, or the Eaglet, lies in great Holes, or in lofty Buildings, where it lays its Eggs. It feeds upon Flies, Butterflies, May-buggs, which it gobbles up as it flies. Bellon says, that its Eye-sight is so quick, that it perceives a Fly at the Distance of a thousand Paces. There are also Sea-Swallows. I do not find that Moses declares himself concerning the Swallow, whether it is to be reputed clean or unclean.

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