70 SWALLOWS. 



although really only black, wtiite, and brown, is so covered with blue 

 reflections, that it appears quite dark blue on the upper parts, and the 

 brown chin may be almost called dull red. The wings are so long and 

 tapering, his motions on the wing are so easy and graceful, and he is 

 formed after such a delicate manner, that he may be regarded as the 

 handsomest of his tribe, taking all things into consideration, lie very 

 seldom alights, but when he does it is usually on a chimney, whence he 

 has been called the Chimney Swallow; he also often builds in chimneys, 

 but not exactly in the flue where a fire is kept; indeed, in the summer 

 time, this would be difficult, unless he chose that proceeding from the 

 kitchen. Some skill is requisite in ascending and descending the shaft, and 

 it not unfrequently happens that the young birds, if they are not perfect 

 masters of their wings before they leave the nest, fall down into the 

 room below. 



The nest of this little bird is formed of mud, mingled with short straws 

 or bits of grass to give it consistence; it is shallow and open at the top; 

 in this are usually found five eggs, which are long and white, elegantly speckled 

 with red. The same nest is usually renovated, and accommodates a second 

 brood, which may be seen essaying on, as yet, imperfect wing, when the 

 bulk of the tribe has departed for other shores. It not unfrequently 

 happens that Swallows build in barns; from this circumstance, in Sweden, 

 they are called Barn Swallows. The most unlikely places have been used 

 by them for the purposes of nidification, such as the back of a dried Owl 

 hung up in an old garden house, a shell, the handles of a pair of garden 

 shears, and the like; they will also build under a verandah, but here 

 they are seldom allowed to remain, as the litter they make underneath is 

 by no means compatible with the neatness of a mansion's approach. 



These pretty little creatures are perpetually on the wing, and the 

 number of miles which they must traverse during a long summer's day 

 must be immense. It is the habit of this species to fly very low along 

 paths in meadows, and by thi3 peculiarity they may most readily be 

 distinguished. Their song is very inward, but when sitting preening their 

 feathers in the sun, and twitting from some chimney or other elevated 

 point, it is very harmonious; he is indeed the only one of the genus which 

 has any song, properly so called; his call is short, and has a soft sound; 

 but when a bird or animal of prey appears it increases to a scream of 

 the most expressive warning. 



The next most familiar of the tribe is the Martin, or Window Swallow, 

 (Uirundo urbica.) Now this, when viewed in the hand, is a delicately 

 beautiful little bird; his plumage consists of a mouse-colour, black, and 

 white merely, but then this is so prettily arranged in contrast. His head, 

 back, wings, and tail are black, subsiding to a soft brown at the nape, 



