THE NEST OP THE SWALLOW. 123 



Wilson, upon whose accuracy of observation we can 

 safely rely, considers one mile in a minute as a true 

 estimate of the ordinary speed of this bird ; and upon 

 this he bases a calculation to show over what extent 

 of ground in a straight line our little friend would 

 glide during his short life, allowing ten hours of each 

 day as the time occupied by the bird in performing 

 his evolutions. According to this estimate, he will, 

 during the ten years of his existence, have passed 

 over the incredible space of 2,190,000 miles, or 87 

 times the circumference of the globe. 



The form of the nest built by the different species 

 of Swallow varies much. "We are all familiar with 

 the frail tenement of sticks in which the Chimney 

 Bird deposits her snow-white eggs, and the neat and 

 comfortable nest of the Barn Swallow, which it 

 perches upon a projecting rafter near the peak of the 

 barn. But the nest of the Cliff Swallow is of re- 

 markable construction, being shaped like a gourd 

 with a neck, and is composed of little pellets of mud, 

 deposited by the bird one after another, until the 

 required shape and size are attained. These nests 

 are generally attached to the sides of a rock or pro- 

 jecting cliff, or to the walls of a building, sometimes 

 as many as hundreds together. Their thus congre- 

 gating and living in flocks or families has given 

 them in some localities the name of Republican 

 Swallows. 



In the islands of Java and Ceylon, and many 

 othera adjacent, is found a species called the Edible 



