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On our British Sivalloivs.



Swallows are not nervous birds ; even the Sand-Martin, though

it does not make its home amongst human beings, not infrequently

chooses a railway hank as the site for its burrows, where it must be

constantly shaken and half-deafened by the passage to and fro of

trains. On the other hand, the Swallow and House-Martin seem to

delight in the close companionship of mankind, and thus endear

themselves to all lovers of birds. Whittaker, in his ‘ Birds of

Tunisia,’ vol. i, p. 183, observes : “ In some of the Tunisian villages

I have seen Swallows nesting, and evidently quite at home, in the

smallest and most crowded houses, circling round and round the

interior of the rooms in their chase after flies, and darting in and out

through the open doorways as unconcernedly as possible. I have

myself slept in one of these rooms, with a Swallow’s nest over the

head of my bed, my first thought on waking at daybreak being to

throw open the door, the only aperture the room had, in order to

release the owners of the nest.”


Swallows are faithful to their mates until separated by death,

and they appear to nidificate year after year in the same localities,

even utilising the same nest if it is in good condition. I have known

the same nest of a Chimney-Swallow to he used tw r o or three years

in succession, and presumably by the same birds, since it has been

clearly proved by marking pairs that they have returned year after

year to the same hreeding-place.


The emigration of these charming visitors from our islands

begins in August, and, according to Dr. Ticehurst (‘ Birds of Kent,"

p. 132), “ it is not at all unusual for stragglers to be observed

migrating in small parties as late as the 20th of November, and I

have five or six records of single birds being seen in the county as

late as the first week in December, the latest being December the 11th

at Walmer.”


The speed of these birds upon the wing is considerable, and

they appear to fly without effort. Of course, the velocity of their

flight is considerably less than that of the Common Swift, and in no

respect comparable with that of the Alpine Swift, which passes one

like a bullet from a rifle ; indeed, Jerdon, in his ‘ Birds of India,’

says of it: “I saw, on several occasions, large flocks of them flying

eastward towards the sea from the rocky hills near Madura about



