SWALLOW 485 



make nests of mud lined with feathers, but the eggs may be cither 

 spotted or wholly white. 



In addition to the deeply forked tail, the distinctive characteristics 

 of the swallow are to be found in the chestnut forehead and throat, 

 the large white spot on each tail-feather, the continuation of the steely 

 blue of the back in a band across the breast, and the buff of the 

 remainder of the under-parts, except the chestnut tail-coverts. In 

 females the forking of the tail is not so marked, there is less 

 chestnut on the head, and the lower surface is paler. In young birds 

 the metallic sheen of the upper-parts is wanting, the forehead and throat 

 are pale chestnut, and the tail-spots have a reddish tinge. Wintering 

 in Africa and India, the swallow in summer ranges over the greater 

 part of Europe and Asia as far east as the valley of the Yenesei, 

 its breeding-range including the Himalaya. In the British Isles 

 swallows are found everywhere, but breed less commonly in the extreme 

 north than elsewhere ; as a rule they appear in April and take 

 their departure in October and November, the young birds outstaying 

 their parents. It has been ascertained that it takes one hundred and 

 five days for swallows to complete their migration throughout Europe, 

 that is to say, from Gibraltar in the south to Lapland in the north, 

 the young being fully fledged in the former locality by the time the 

 old birds have reached the latter. Even in central Europe the period 

 of arrival may, however, last as long as seventy days, the time that 

 the species spends in that part of the Continent averaging one hundred 

 and sixty-seven days. 



The general habits of the swallow need no description. In this 

 country, at any rate, the mud-walled and feather-lined nest is generall}' 

 placed on a beam or cross-tie between the rafters of a roof ; but 

 instances are now and then recorded of swallows making their nests 

 in trees, and strange situations are occasionally selected as building- 

 sites. From four to six is the usual number of eggs in a clutch ; 

 these having a creamy or porcelain white ground, upon which are 

 reddish or purplish brown spots, with underlying spots of violet. 

 Considerable individual variation in relative length is noticeable. Pure 

 white or pied examples of the swallow are comparatively common, 

 but a specimen from Kildare, Ireland, exhibited in the Natural 

 History Museum, presents a much more unusual type. Although this 

 bird has the pink eyes of a true albino, the plumage, instead of being 

 pure white, is a very pale greyish drab, darker where the feathers of 

 a normal specimen are darkest ; indeed, the only pure white areas 

 are the spots on the tail-feathers which show conspicuously on the 



