272 On the Swallow. 
low was joined by its mate, and during the conflict by several of 
their comrades. The sparrow, however, determinedly resisted, and 
successfully defended herself against the joint and repeated ef- 
forts of the assembled swallows to dislodge her. Finding them- 
selves completely foiled in their endeavours to regain possession, 
they, after some consultation, had recourse to an expedient of a 
most extraordinarynature and singularly revengeful, and one which 
showed that it proceeded from a deliberate determination of the 
whole group that nothing short of the death of the intruder 
could satisfy them, or atone for this usurpation of a property un- 
questionably the legitimate right of its original constructor. The 
swallows for a time departed, leaving the sparrow apparently in 
the full enjoyment of her conquest. This prospect of repose, how- 
ever, was only delusive; for the swallows returned with accumu- 
lated numbers, each bearing a beak full of building materials ; 
and without any further attempt to disturb or heat out the spar- 
row, they instantly set to work and built up the entrance into 
the nest, inclosing the sparrow within the clay tenement, and 
leaving her to perish in the garrison she had so bravely defended. 
In my expectations in the present instance, however, I was 
disappointed. The sparrow had but recently taken possession, 
had laid no eggs, and having less to contend for was sooner dis- 
lodged, but not without considerable resistance ; the noise of 
which, with the beating of their wings against the glass, waked 
me in the morning, and gave the first notice of their arrival, on 
which I got out of bed and witnessed the termination of the 
action. } 
The bustle of regaining possession being over, a general ex- 
amination of all the old nests in the different windows took place, 
the partial injuries sustained during the past winter were repaired 5 
the insides cleaned out, each nest new furnished and feathered ; 
and the old pairs were no sooner settled in quiet possession of 
their former abode, than they began assisting the young of the 
former year in choosing secure situations for new habitations for 
themselves, and joined in the labour of building them. The con- 
struction of the swallow’s nest is never executed by the solitary 
labour of the single pair destined to occupy it, but by the joint 
labour of the community, as shall be noticed in the sequel; and 
is moreover a work of extreme nicety and great entertainment to 
an attentive observer, considering with what method and regu- 
larity these little animals conduct the whole process. 
But not to lose sight of the main object of this communica- 
tion—the sudden and early departure of the white-tailed swal- 
lows, whose former migrations were always in unison with the other 
classes of the species. They arrived with the others: it was these 
that were found contending with the sparrow for the nest, which 
they 
