272 



IllKUNDINID^:. 



twofold notoriety, being regretted at the season of its 

 departure, and welcomed at its return. These three circum- 

 stances, its migratory habits, its mode of flight, and attach- 

 ment to the dwellings of man, have been the cause why, in 

 all ages, it has been invested with especial interest. Its re- 

 turn is universally greeted as prophetic of summer weather ; 

 the very proverb that " one Swallow does not make a 

 summer," only indicates a popular belief; and its depar- 



THK SWALLUW. 



ture is among the first intimations of approaching winter. 

 The Swallow consequently is the type of migratory birds ; 

 if the Swallow is come, all take it for granted that the 

 other sununer birds have arrived, and when its twitter is 

 no longer heard, we know that all the other birds of pas- 

 sage are gone or going. Of the Swallow, therefore, it is said 

 pre-eminently, " God sends us the Swallow in the first days 

 of summer, to relieve us of the insects which the summer 



