RED-FRONTED SWALLOW. ."iGl 



of towns, villages, and flirm-buildings. Its food, like that of 

 all the other species, consists of small insects, which it seizes 

 almost exclusively on wing. Its mouth is bedewed with a pro- 

 fuse clammy secretion, to which the insects adhere as they are 

 caught ; and on shooting a swallow, you often find half a dozen 

 or more in its mouth. This happens early in the season, when 

 as yet it has not built its nest, as well as after its young have 

 burst the shell, and indeed at all times during its residence 

 with us ; so that it seems in this manner to collect a number 

 sufficient to make a morsel, and not to swallow each insect 

 individually. It also probably collects insects thus for its 

 young, as indeed do many other birds, such as the Robin, the 

 Hedge Chanter, the Sylvianae in general, and many of the 

 Deglubitores ; for although, when flying about in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of their nests. Swallows seem to carry each insect 

 as it is caught to their young, yet we often find them during 

 the breeding season flying at the distance of miles from any 

 place where there are nests, and in this case it is not reasonable 

 to suppose that they would return with a single insect. 



During flight, the tail is generally little expanded, but in exe- 

 cuting sudden turns, especially those of ascent and descent, it is 

 sometimes spread out to its full extent, so as to disclose the white 

 spots. It seems to glide through the air with the most per- 

 fect ease, in continuous sweeps, without the undulatory motion 

 which most small birds exhibit. In fine weather it generally flies 

 high, but in rain or during cold easterly winds, when the insects 

 keep low and in the shelter of trees and walls, it comes nearer 

 the ground, and may often be seen skimming along the tops 

 of the herbage. When busily engaged in chasing its prey, 

 it seldom utters any note, although at times it emits a low 

 chatter. 



Many prognostics of the weather are derived from this and 

 the other species ; but most of them are erroneous, and some 

 apparently fabricated by persons who have not studied their 

 motions. Swallows fly low or high according to the flight of 

 insects, which is influenced by the state of the atmosphere ; 

 but little judgment can be formed of the future by attending 

 to their motions. Thus, they fly low when there is a smart 



VOL. III. o 



