SIDE IvIGHTS ON BIRDS 



swallow build down the shaft of an old well, but in 

 general with us this hirundo breeds in chimneys 

 and loves to haunt those stacks where there is a 

 constant 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 adjoining to that of the 

 kitchen and disregards the perpetual smoke of that 

 funnel, as I have often observed with some degree of 

 wonder. Five or six, or more feet down the chim- 

 ney does the little bird begin to form her nest. 

 Wonderful is the address which it shows all day 

 long in ascending and descending with security 

 through so narrow a pass. When hovering over the 

 mouth of the funnel the vibration of the wings 

 acting on the confined air occasions a rumbling like 

 thunder." 



It certainly cannot be said that the chimney is 

 the normal site of the swallow to-day. Personally 

 we have never seen an instance, though of course 

 they may still exist. 



Mr. A. H. Patterson, in ' ' Notes of an East Coast 

 Naturalist" published in 1904 writes : " For some 

 years there has been noticed here, as in many other 

 localities, a steady falling off in the number of 

 swallows frequenting Great Yarmouth, certain old 

 chimneys peopled by successive generations even 

 having been deserted. 



The facts seem to point to the slow and gradual 

 discontinuance of an ancestral habit, and it is quite 

 possible in the coming time, the present decade may 

 be pointed to as the period when this ancient custom 

 finally disappeared. 



Decorative Sense in Birds 

 Is it true that animals, especially birds, have a 

 sense of artistic value, and that when they build 

 their homes they are moved, not alone by the idea 



34 



