SO * THE SWALLOW 
stantly repeating its short, little varied, but far from unpleasing 
song, every now and then interrupted by the pursuit and capture 
of some passing insect. It issaid also to be very noisy and clamorous 
when its nest is approached. It quits our shores in September. 
FAMILY HIRUNDINIDZ 
THE SWALLOW 
HIRUNDO RUSTICA 
Forehead and throat chestnut-brown ; upper parts, sides of the neck, and a 
bar across the breast black, with violet reflections ; lower parts dull red- 
dish white; tail very long and forked. Female—with less red on the 
forehead and less black on the breast; under parts whiter; outer tail- 
feathers shorter. Length six inches and a half, width thirteen inches and 
a quarter. Eggs white, spotted with brown and dark red. 
THERE are many features in the life of the Swallow so prominent, 
that no undomesticated bird is more thoroughly known. Like 
the Sparrow, it accompanies man wherever he fixes his dwelling ; 
but, unlike the Sparrow, it is liable to be mistaken for no other bird ; 
its flight is peculiar and all but ceaseless ; at least, it is rarely seen 
except in motion; and it is absent during the greater portion of 
the year,so giving to itself a twofold notoriety, being regretted at 
the season of its departure and welcomed at its return. These 
three circumstances, its migratory habits, its mode of flight, and 
attachment to the dwellings of man, have been the cause why, in 
all ages, it has been invested with especial interest. Its return 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 departure 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 summer birds have arrived, and when its twitter is 
no longer heard, we know that all the other birds of passage 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 suns are calling into life. The 
home of the Swallow is all the habitable earth; it knows nothing 
of winter or winter’s cold.” In remote ages the Swallow was con- 
sidered to be endowed with supernatural intelligence; it refused 
to build its nest in a certain town because it was polluted with 
crime ; in another, because it had been frequently burnt down ; it 
foretold tempests ; and, above all, it was noted for having taught 
men the healing properties of a certain herb, by employing it to 
41 Chelidonium: Celandine or Swallow-wort, from xe\duv, ‘a Swallow’. 
