Mr. W. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 377 



in different languages*. White remarks in his * Natural History of 

 Selborne' (letter 18), that " in general with us this Hirundo breeds 

 in chimneys ; and loves to haunt those stacks where there is a con- 

 stant fire, no doubt for the sake of warmth. Not that it can subsist 

 in the immediate shaft where there is a fire ; but prefers one adjoin- 

 ing to that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual smoke of the 

 funnel, as I have often observed with some degree of wonder." It 

 appears singular that in certain countries the Hirundo rustica should 

 thus be partial to chimneys, which however I cannot think with 

 White, are preferred for heat. In Sweden it is called Ladu Swala, 

 or barn swallow, from selecting the barn for its nest ; and in south- 

 ern countries as in Italy it prefers similar sites, as we have indeed 

 learned from Virgil, and to the correctness of which I can ^nyself 

 bear testimony f. 



One or two peculiar instances of the nidification of the swallow in 

 the neighbourhood of Belfast may be mentioned. In the summers of 

 1831 and 1832, a pair of these birds built their nest in a house at Wolf- 

 hill, although the door by which alone they co^lld enter was locked 

 every evening, and not opened before six in the morning ; being an 

 early-rising species, they must consequently have thus lost for no in- 

 considerable part of the season fully three hours every day. A si- 

 milar fact is mentioned in Capt. Cook's ' Sketches in Spain' (vol. ii. 

 p. 275), where it is stated that " in the southern provinces they 

 [swallows] sometimes live in the posadas, their nests being built on 

 the rafters, where they are shut up every night." 



Under a very low shed in the hawk-yard at the Falls near Belfast, 

 where my friend John Sinclaire, Esq., keeps his trained peregrine fal- 

 cons {F.peregrinus), a pair of swallows, regardless of the almost con- 

 stant presence of four of these birds, constructed a nest in the sum- 

 mer of 1832. The man in charge of the hawks tore down the partly 

 formed nest several times, but the swallows were not to be so de- 

 terred, and persisted in completing it within about three yards of a 

 block, on which one of the hawks constantly perched : in due time 

 the young appeared and got off in safety. Although such places as 

 the swallow usually prefers for its nest are not only contiguous to, 

 but especially numerous in, the immediate vicinity of the hawk-yard, 

 and all the other sheds and office-houses are considerably higher 



* Chimneys are stated in general terms by authors * to be usually resorted 

 to in England for this purpose. The sites preferred in Scotland, according 

 to Sir Wm. Jardine and Mr. Macgillivray, are similar to those above stated 

 to be selected in Ireland. What Mr. Hepburn says of East Lothian exactly 

 applies to the north of Ireland. He remarks that the nest "is built under 

 arches, gateways, caves and waterspouts, against the beams, rafters and lin- 

 tels of outhouses, and under wooden bridges." — Macgillivray*s Brit. Birds, 

 vol. iii. p. 569. 



t In the Morea likewise, within the town of Patras, I remarked in June 

 1841, that they selected similar places to what they do in the north of Ire- 

 land, their nests being built under the rude porticos iu the streets. 



1 White, Pennant, Bewick, Montagu (who adds, that " it is not unusual to 

 find the nest in outhouses, upon beams or rafters"), Selby, Yarrell, &c. 



Ann^^Mag.N.HisU Volix, 2C 



