THE SWALLOW 259 



mud mixed with a few bits of straw, and lined with 

 dry grass and feathers. The eggs, from four to six 

 in number, are pure white in ground-colour, thickly 

 sprinkled and spotted with rich coffee-brown and lilac- 

 grey. The Swallow is most tame at its nest, and 

 will continue to fly in and out of the building not- 

 withstanding our repeated visits, and to feed its 

 young within a few feet of where we may be stand- 

 ing. Two broods are reared in the season, the 

 eggs for the first being laid in May, those for the 

 second in July. The female sits the most, and the 

 male keeps her well supplied with focd during that 

 period. 



The food of the Swallow consists exclusively of 

 insects. Many of these — especially of the cole- 

 opterous class — are picked up from the ground. 

 Gnats are probably the favourite if not the principal 

 food of the Swallow in this country. The call-note 

 of this bird is a loud whet, sometimes rapidly re- 

 peated during moments of excitement. After the 

 breeding season, Swallows congregate in vast 

 numbers at certain well-recognized spots previous 

 to their departure south. By far the greater 

 number leave us in October, but it is no uncommon 

 thing to see odd birds in November, whilst they 

 have been recorded exceptionally in the three 

 following months. Regarding the presumptive 

 hibernation of this species we may refer any in- 

 terested reader to our work entitled The Migration 



