SWALLOW. 145 
same Swallow, it is believed, which had formerly built on the 
bracket for the lamp, built a nest for several years, and 
never was in the least disturbed by the ringing of the bell, 
or the rattling of the rope. A figure is given of the nest, 
in the form of a cornucopia—both ends affixed to the roof 
of the cover. 
The eggs are usually from four to six in number, white, 
much speckled over with ash-colour and dark red, or brown 
and rufous. 
Two broods are frequently hatched in the year, the first of 
which flies in June, and the second the middle or end of 
August. When the young are fledged, they may often be 
seen perched in a row on the edge of the chimney top, pluming 
themselves, and waiting for, and watching their parents’ 
return with food for the supply of their wants. When they 
have advanced a step to some neighbouring bough or building, 
they still are dependent on them; and, even when they can 
fly, are still fed by them in the most dexterous, and almost 
imperceptible manner on the wing. The old birds supply 
them with food once in every three minutes, during the 
greater portion of the day. Think of this, and, in the words 
of the ‘Wanderings,’ a book I love, applied to our present 
subject, ‘Spare, O spare the unoffending’ Swallow! 
The glossy purple of the upper part of the plumage of the 
Swallow is only to be perceived upon a close inspection, or 
when you have the advantage of looking down upon the 
bird as it skims from under some bridge in the light of the 
sun, or beneath some other such elevation, from whence you 
have a commanding view of it. Male; length, eight inches 
and a half or three quarters; bill, small and black, the ridge 
elevated, the space between it and the eye, black; iris, dark 
brown; forehead, chesnut; crown, side of the head, neck, and 
nape, very glossy dark blue; chin and throat, chesnut, below 
which is a bluish black band, which ends in a straight line 
across the breast, which is buff white, more or less tinged 
with brown; back, glossy blue. 
The wings, which expand to the width of one foot two . 
inches, and reach to about the middle of the tail, are long 
and pointed, reaching beyond the end of the second tail 
feather; the first and second quill feathers are nearly equal 
in length, but the first rather the longer of the two. Greater 
and lesser wing coverts, glossy blue; primaries, dull black, 
with bronze reflections and pale brown edges; secondaries, the 
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