On the Swallow. 275 
cility have found these old nests ; neither would they undisturbed 
go so immediately about their labour, amidst a crowd of people 
- often passing through the group at arms Jength, perching upon 
the wringers and poles within a couple of yards of the servants, 
chanting their little song, and looking at the men and women 
with all the familiarity and confidence of old friends. This was 
as much the case the day of their arrival as it had been at any 
period before their departure the preceding year. These must 
unquestionably be the identical swallows we have had in former: 
years. The rattling of wringers, the thumping of buttles, the 
noise of wheels and pumps, nor the steam of the boilers ever an-. 
noy them, which would not likely be the case with strangers. - 
Although the whole group of mingled men and women may be 
collected inside or outside the door, langhing and making sport, 
the swallow will pass in and out, sometimes fly through the crowd, 
andsometimes over and almost touching their heads, without show- 
ing the least symptom of dread, any more than if the space was 
unoccupied. No violence is allowed to be offered to them, and 
nothing gives them the least uneasiness but the appearance of a 
hawk or a cat. When a swallow observes either of these animals, 
particularly the cat, an alarm is instantly given by a particular 
sharp call, when a number assemble, flying about, darting at 
puss with such celerity and from so many points at once, as to 
distract, tease, and vex her, till the heart-sick tabby is fain to 
seek shelter under the nearest cover. 
What may be termed the domestic habits of the swallow are 
highly amusing, and often afford no small entertainment, parti- 
cularly in such situations as ours, where all their little manoeu- 
vres and gambols are open to view; and the whole colony is in 
" intimate habits of association with the inmates, with whose ap- 
pearance I am fully satisfied they really become perfectly ac- 
quainted, aud do distinguish the approach of strangers. One 
instance may be narrated:—A pair of chimney swallows annually 
build in the evaporating shed, often so low that the man who 
attends the pans can, by raising himself a-tiptoe, look into the 
nest. His inclination is to protect them, and his instructions are 
to allow nothing whatever to molest them: they are so very fa- 
miliar with this individual, and those in the daily habit of look- 
ing over and assisting him, that they build and trim their nests, 
set, and feed their young, without showing the least uneasiness, 
although he, or any with whom they are acquainted, stand and 
look so near as to blow their breath into the nest. Passing the 
shed-door one day, the swallows were heard in the greatest state 
of alarm, their cry indicating the utmost terror. My brother 
called, ‘* Clunie, what is the matter with the swallows? look and 
see that no cat is near them,”’ Not receiving so ready an an- 
52 swer 
