WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



knowledged. Then attention was turned to the 

 season, manner, and Umits of their migrations, 

 and it was found that, taking advantage of favor- 

 able winds, immense flocks of swallows — and many 

 other birds of passage as well — flying very high, 

 passed each fall from the coast of England to the 

 coast of Africa, and from Continental Europe across 

 the Mediterranean direct, whence they spread 

 southward almost to the Cape of Good Hope, No 

 sooner had the spring fairly opened than they were 

 suddenly back again, very much exhausted at 

 first with their long-sustained effort, but speedily 

 recuperated and "diligent in business." Our own 

 migrants, as I have mentioned, winter in Central 

 America and the West Indies, or still farther south. 

 Their flight is rapid but unsteady, "with odd 

 jerks and vacillations not unlike the motions of a 

 butterfly," as White describes it; and continues: 

 " Doubtless the flight of all hirundines is influenced 

 by and adapted to the peculiar sort of insects which 

 furnish their food. Hence it would be worth in- 

 quiry to examine what particular genus of in- 

 sects affords the principal food of each respective 

 species of swallow." They are constantly on the 

 wing, skimming low over land and loch, pausing 

 not even to drink or bathe, but simply dropping 



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