192 THE RED-FRONTED (OR CHIMNEY) SWALLOW. 



From this we see that Nature balances her own exuberance of 

 life without the need of so-called keepers of game, and some- 

 times destroys both cure and disease, insect and swallow, 

 grouse and hawk, blossom and fruit, mouse and man, in her 

 own universal balance of all, quite independent of unjust game 

 laws, for, as Burns truly says — 



" The best-laid schemes o' mice and men 

 Gang aft a-gley, 

 And leave us nought but grief and pain 

 For promised joy." 



Miss Ormerod, in the Cheshire Agriculturist, respecting the 

 general and severe attack on grain crops by myriads of insects 

 — so great that the deficiency was estimated at 33 percent. — in 

 1888, says:— 



"The insects on the wheat are plant-lice or aphides. They do mischief 

 in all stages by drawing away the sap with their suckers, and also by the 

 great number of holes that these suckers make. In their young state, these 

 grain plant lice most especially attack the upper part of the blade, which 

 accounts for the discolouration produced. As the plant hardens they take 

 what is soft enough for them to live upon. I see them of all ages on the 

 wheat ears you sent me. It is specially with regard to attacks of this sort 

 that it is so important not to allow the martins and the swallows to be driven 

 away, as is so much the case in some districts, by the sparrows. The 

 martins and swallows clear myriads of insects constantly, and if they are 

 allowed to be driven away we shall suffer woefully." 



Like all the swallows, the legs and feet of this beautiful 

 species are very short, the tarsus being shorter than the hind 

 toe with its claw, plainly indicating that Nature never intended 

 it to " dwell upon the earth," while its slender, elegant form, 

 extreme length of wings, and long forked tail, as plainly tells 

 that skimming through the air was its mission, as Burns said 

 the farmer's auld mare Maggie's was to run, for 



" When she was corn't and he was mellow, 

 They took the road aye like a swallow." 



The plumage is very soft, richly blended, and highly glossed. 

 The forehead and throat are deep chestnut red ; all the upper 

 plumage is glossy steel blue, changing to purple. The lower 

 parts are reddish white, from a yellowish tinge to a beautiful 

 pale red ; the quills and tail greenish black. The tail feathers 

 have a large spot of white on the inner web, which is seen when 

 the birds are flying. The outer feathers of the tail are very long 

 in the old birds, making it deeply forked. The side feathers 

 are narrow and long, exceeding the middle ones by 1J inches, 

 sometimes by more than 3 inches. The bill is black, the iris 

 light brown. There is little difference between the male and 



