The Swallow ;^t, 



The favourite haunts of the Swallow are country villages, hamlets, or even 

 isolated houses, and cottages ; but it rarely penetrates far into the larger towns. 

 It places its nest in various situations- — on joists of barns, out-houses, boat-houses, 

 in which case the form of the nest varies from an oval to a half-, or quarter-cup ; 

 against perpendicular walls under eaves of barns * ; inside chimne3's, wells, and 

 mines ; in corners of pillared porticoes to large houses ; under rustic bridges ; cases 

 have even been recorded of nests built in a hole in a tree about thirty feet from 

 the ground, and in the forking branch of a s3'camore. In its wild state in 

 mountainous or rocky localities this bird naturally builds against the sides of cliffs 

 under overhanging ledges of rock, or in caves ; but in Great Britain it usually 

 seeks the habitations of men for nesting-sites. 



The nest is always open above ; the walls thick, and formed of mud-pellets 

 mixed with straw, ha}', or hair ; the lining consists of fine grass-stems, usually 

 almost concealed b}' a quantity of feathers, though in some instances these are 

 absent. 



As is usually the case with nests more or less exposed to light from above, 

 the eggs are not wholly white and immaculate, the ground-colour is pure white, 

 appearing rosy when not incubated ; speckled, spotted, and occasionally heavily 

 blotched with deep pitchy brown, often intermixed with sienna reddish spots, and 

 with lavender-grey shell-spots ; in some eggs the spots are small and tolerably 

 evenly distributed over the entire surface, sometimes they are larger, and principally 

 collected at the larger end ; sometimes there is an imperfect zone of spots, and 

 even large blotches near the larger end : some eggs are elongated ovals, others 

 short and well-formed. 



The Swallow when approaching its nest always utters a plaintive warning 

 note, the intention of which doubtless is, to call the attention of its 3'oung to its 

 advent ; but this call is uttered even before the eggs are deposited, and is continued 

 after the nest has been robbed : this has given the impression to unobservant 

 persons that the parents mourn over the loss of their possessions. 



Seebohm asserts that the Swallow builds a fresh nest every j^ear ; but I have 

 proved conclusively that, when built under the shelter of a portico, where it is 

 protected from wet, the same nest is sometimes used for three consecutive years ; 

 indeed I have in my collection a nest with the clutches of eggs which it contained 

 in June 1881 and 1883 : in 1882 I was forbidden to touch the eggs because the 

 lady of the house said "the poor birds cried every time they approached the nest"t 



* Seebohm had an idea that this method of building was couliucd to the Contiuent, but I have fouud it 

 equally common in Kent. 



t In my "Handbook of British Oology," I spoke of iu'O successive years, forgeltiui,' that an interval had 

 elapsed between the taking of the two clutches; but an examination of the dates on the eggs reminded me 

 of the fact. 



Vol. II. K 



