SWALLOW. 343 



tions. Many more exceptional sites used by the Swallow 

 have been observed — a bracket, a picture-frame and a bell- 

 crank among others. A nest built on the wings and body of 

 a dead Owl, hanging from a rafter in a barn, as mentioned 

 by White, was long preserved in the Leverian Museum, and 

 afterwards became the Author's property,* while an instance 

 almost exactly similar is recorded by Thompson. The half- 

 open drawer of a table, and the loop of a chain in a boat- 

 house, have equally given the needful accommodation, as well 

 as ships, from Cleopatra's galley (according to Plutarch) 

 to the steam-tug of our own times, if we may believe news- 

 paper stories ; but perhaps the most unwonted site known to 

 have been chosen was on the bough of a sycamore hanging 

 low over the moat, at Penshurst in Kent, in 1832, as 

 represented in the vignette from a drawing by Mr. Cooke, 

 R.A., executed at the request of Mr. Wells of Redleaf. 

 Blytli states that he had known an instance of this species 

 building in a hole of a tree, about thirty feet from the ground. 

 Couch says (Mag. N. H. v. p. 735) that he had seen it 

 ■visiting a cave near Polperro in such a way as to suggest 

 its using the place for breeding, and Mr. Edward asserts 

 (Zool. p. 6842) that it breeds on the Banffshire coast 

 Avherever there is a suitable cave or projecting rock; but 

 confirmation of each of these statements is desirable, since 

 no similar instances seem to have presented themselves to 

 other observers in the United Kingdom or indeed in Western 

 Europe. 



Wheresoever placed, the nest is formed of small lumps of 

 moist earth, which the bird may be seen collecting on the 

 ground at the water's edge, and tempering (it is believed) with 

 its saliva. These are carried in its bill to the chosen spot, 

 there to be modelled with short straws and sticks into the 

 required shape, which is generally that of half a saucer, 



* The Editor was told by Mr. Yarrell shortly before his death that this 

 historical specimen was still in his possession, but at the sale of his effects it was 

 not forthcoming. White says that the Owl and its burden being brought away, 

 a conch-shell was fixed in the same place and the next year a Swallow's nest was 

 built in it. 



VOL. 11. > Y Y 



