WHITE-RUMPED SWALLO^V^. 577 



melody. It is often emitted at intervals while the bird is on 

 wing in the neighbourhood of its nest, and is sometimes heard 

 more continuously, in fact for ten minutes or more, when 

 perched on the roof of a house or other elevated place. 



It is always amusing to watch a group of Swallows in active 

 pursuit of their tiny prey. Let us stand for a little while at the 

 end of this pond, and observe them. Both species are seen, the 

 Window Swallow and the Chimney Swallow, the former more 

 numerous. Their flight and actions however are precisely 

 similar. Selecting an individual, you see it advance over the 

 surface of the pool, at a height perhaps of two inches, its wings 

 slightly raised, to prevent their hitting the water. It picks up 

 an insect, proceeds, suddenly stops, stretches up its wings almost 

 perpendicularly, dips its breast, seizes a fly, advances again, 

 secures an insect on wing, and now comes up, but, on perceiv- 

 ing you, wheels away, and with devious and random flight 

 passes over the corn-yard, then curves toward the farther end 

 of the pond, skims along, and performs the same actions as be- 

 fore. They seldom make much noise on such occasions, a few 

 chits now and then being all that you hear. 



Although the feet of this bird are very small, it can settle 

 without difficulty on a wall top, a roof, the branch of a tree, or 

 on the ground, and is capable of walking, although in an uneasy 

 and rather ungraceful manner. Unlike the Swift, both spe- 

 cies rise without difficulty from a flat surface. 



The White-rumped Swallow begins to build or repair its 

 nest about the middle or towards the end of May. It is, or 

 has been, a common, but erroneous belief, that Swallows collect 

 the materials of which their nests are composed when on wing ; 

 that they skim over w^ater, dip into it, and then drop in like 

 manner over a dusty road ; that thus they gather mud, which 

 they remove from their breast with their bill, form into pellets, 

 and ajDply to their nest. All this is mere fancy. Swallows 

 shot in the early or middle part of summer have the feathers 

 on their breast perfect, and in no degree exhibiting indications 

 of having been soiled by mud; they dip into the water solely 

 for the purpose of taking up insects, as I have satisfied myself 

 by close observation ; and, lastly, they obtain mud in quite a 

 VOL. in. p P 



