82 THE SWALLOW 
alone it probably found a sheltered retreat in the face of the cliff, 
and sallied forth whenever the weather was inviting, making the 
most of the short days, and, on the finest, contenting itself with a 
scanty meal. The temperature of the west of England in winter 
it is quite able to bear; in fact, it is not uncommon there for a 
whole winter to pass without any weather so severe as that which 
has characterized the whole of the present April (1860), though 
Swallows have returned, and contrive to find food enough to keep 
themselves alive. If, therefore, the bird which I saw managed toa 
live on till Christmas Eve, there is no reason why it should not 
survive the whole of the winter. But as ‘one Swallow does not 
make a spring ’, so neither is one sufficient to upset a theory. There 
remains, therefore, the rule with the one exception to prove it, that 
Swallows do migrate. A full account of all that has since been learnt 
of the Swallow’s history will be found in Yarrell’s British Birds. 
For the sake of reference only I will add a short summary of what 
I may term its statistics. The Swallow is a migratory bird wherever 
it is found, that is in most of the countries of Europe, Asia, 
and Africa. The first Swallows arrive in this country about the 
eleventh of April, and are followed by others at various intervals, 
until the middle or end of May. On their arrival, they resort to 
those places which, being most sheltered, abound most in winged 
insects, these being frequently the courses of rivers and canals. 
As the season advances, they spread themselves more generally 
over the country, still, however, being most numerous in the vicinity 
of water. In May they build their shallow open nests of mud and 
straw lined with feathers, a few feet down a chimney, in an outhouse, 
a bell-tower, the shaft of a deserted mine, or any other place which 
is at once dry and dark, rarely in more exposed places. They lay 
four or five eggs, and rear two or three broods in a season. The 
young being, from the usual situation of the nest, unable to leave 
their nursery until they are fully fledged, require to be fed a long 
time, but they continue to be, partially at least, dependent on the 
parent birds for many days after they have learnt to hawk for 
themselves. The process of feeding is carried on while both old 
and young are on the wing; or the young, perched on the top of 
a house or the branch of a tree, receive in turn the morsels which 
their more skilful parents have caught for them. In autumn, 
many days before migration is actually about to take place, Swal- 
lows, old and young, assemble in large flocks, especially towards 
evening, and roost on trees in the vincinity of water. At this season 
they seem to be more socially disposed, even during the day, than 
at any other period of theirsojourn withus. In October they take 
their departure collectively, and so strongly is the migratory instinct 
then in force, that it overcomes parental affection, powerful though 
this feeling is in the Swallow ; some of the late broods being left 
behind, 
