the SwdUow and the Partridge. 291 



ped to bait his liorses at the village of Larbert, the snow still 

 lying there. While his horses were feeding, he walked along 

 the lane towards Carron, where the works were in full activity, 

 six or seven furnaces being then in constant employment. As 

 he approached the works, the effects of the heated air from the 

 furnaces became very apparent ; and when he came to the great 

 Mill Pond, he found the snow entirely gone ; the air swarming 

 with gnats and other insects, and numbers of swallows skim- 

 ming over the mill-pond. On remarking this to one of the 

 workmen whom he met, the man answered, " Oh aye, sir, we 

 seldom miss the swallows here."" 



For some years after he settled at Granton, swallows con- 

 stantly built in the corners of his windows, which, of course, 

 they dirtied and obscured. This was a great obstruction to 

 the view of the Forth. At last, it occurred that they might be 

 prevented from building, by rubbing the corners of the windows 

 with oil or soft soap. This was accordingly done early in the 

 next season. The swallows began to build as usual ; but as 

 fast as they attempted to attach their materials to the stone, 

 they slipped off. They renewed their attempts for some days ; 

 and then gave the matter up ; and, what is very remarkable, 

 although the oiling has never been renewed, and the effects of 

 it must have long ago ceased, not a single swallow has ever at- 

 tempted, since that time, to build on the windows here, not even 

 in those which had not been oiled. Nay, they do not even 

 build in the mock windows ; though one constantly builds in 

 the coal cellar, to which it can only get by diving under an open 

 doorway, and where the servants are breaking coals every hour 

 of the day. 



At Tyninghame, the seat of the Earl of Haddington, the kit- 

 chen is in a building separated from the main house by an open 

 court, but connected with it by a covered passage, supported 

 by posts, and open to the south. In the corner of the passage, 

 close to the kitchen door, a bracket is placed for holding a 

 lamp, which is taken down to be trimmed every day, and light- 

 ed every evening. On that bracket a swallow, and it is believed 

 the same swallow, built her nest for three or four years, quite 

 regardless of the removal or light of the lamp, and the constant 

 passing and repassing of the servants. 



