SWALLOWS 105 



that on Dec. 3 his son found a Swallow's nest 

 containing four eggs which were slightly incu- 

 bated. Two and even three broods are reared. 



Some curious sites for Swallows' nests have been 

 recorded, e.g. one built of the usual materials was 

 placed on the slender branch of a horse-chestnut, 

 about twenty feet from the ground, at Sibsey Vicar- 

 age, Boston, Lincolnshire (Besant, Field, Sept. 5, 

 1885; Zool, 1886, p. 486). Another built on a 

 spray of jasmine, about eight feet from the ground, 

 against the house, but a foot away from the wall^ 

 and anchored to some sprays of Japanese honey- 

 suckle, at Iden Parsonage, Rye, Sussex (Bates, 

 Field, Sept. 12, 1885). In both these cases the 

 young were reared. A nest built in a tree at Mag- 

 hull, Lancashire, was formed like the nest of a 

 Chaffinch amongst the twigs (Mitchell, " Birds of 

 Lancashire," 2nd edit, p. 56). Gilbert White men- 

 tions a Swallow's nest that was built on the wings 

 and body of an owl that hung dead and dry from 

 the rafter of a barn, and another that was placed on 

 the handles of a pair of garden-shears that were 

 stuck up against the boards in an outhouse (Letter 

 xviii. to Daines Barrington). Swallows' nests have 

 also been found on a hook hanging in a shed ; on a 

 curtain-pole in a house {Zool., 1888, p. 355) ; on a 

 hanging lamp (Zool., 1886, p. 416), and on a lamp- 

 bracket (Stanley, "Familiar Hist. Birds," p. 250); 

 against (glass (Jesse, " Gleanings in Nat. Hist.," 

 ii. p. 157), and inside a schoolroom where nearly a 

 hundred children were in daily attendance. For 



