320 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



her, and, notwithstanding the noise and violence attending the enlarge- 

 ment of the aperture of her nest-hole, she will sit resolutely on, and 

 allow herself to be taken in the hand with scarcely a struggle or sign 

 of resistance even of life, sometimes. The young are fed with the 

 large insects which the parents catch, particularly those sub-aquatic . 

 sorts which hover near the surface of still water ; and White mentions 

 instances where young swallows were fed with dragon-flies nearly as long 

 as themselves. The young do not leave the nest until they are about 

 ready to take full care of themselves. Finally, they are pushed ofl" 

 by the parents to make way for the second brood, and, inexperienced 

 in the use of their wings, many fall a prey to crows and small hawks 

 that lie in wait ready to pounce upon the first poor little fellow that 

 launches upon the untried air. Those that manage to run the gant- 

 let of the hawks, collect in small companies by themselves and have a 

 good time liunting by day, and roosting at night among the river-reeds, 

 until the autumn migi-ation. "At this time Salerne observes," says 

 Latham, " that the young are very fat, and in flavor scarcely inferior 

 to the ortolan.'''* Sometimes the pai*ents forsake their progeny in the 

 nest, and seem generally to cai'e less for them than is usual among 

 swallows. 



But not the young alone are exjDOsed to enemies. It would seem 

 as though the situation of the nest precluded invasion, yet if they are 

 near the haunts of the house-sparrow they are sure to be dispossessed 

 of their homes by that buccaneer. Snakes, too, can sometimes reach 

 their holes ; weasels, like that one Mr. Hewitson tells us of, are often 

 sharp enough to make their entree from above : school-boys regard the 

 pink-white eggs a fine prize; and, last and worst of all, the bank-swal- 

 lows are many times utterly worried out of their galleries by fleas and 

 young horse-flies, which swarm and increase in their nests until the 

 bird finds endurance no longer a virtue, and digs a new latehra 



-*- 



EECENT POLAR EXPLORATIONS. 



TRANSLATED FEOM THE FEENCfl, BY EMMA M. CONVEKSE. 



THE regions called circumpolar, during the last six or seven years, 

 have been the theatre of numerous explorations that have enriched 

 our geographical maps with many new outlines. Doubtless, the recent 

 discoveries have not succeeded in penetrating the mystery that envelops 

 the arctic world, but, by strength of will, and thanks also to the con- 

 nivance of chance sometimes propitious to navigators important 

 points of departure have been obtained from extreme latitudes. It is 

 well known that there are four distinct routes for approaching the 

 basin of the Arctic Ocean : One, by Behring Strait, is formed by the 



