■JO 2 Hoffmann, Summer Birds of the Rhine. \cm 



the marvelous dexterity of the Swallow proper, the Country 

 Swallow, to translate his Latin name, reminded me at every turn 

 of the Barn Swallows, which I had left behind me. The specific 

 name is, however, somewhat misleading, for the Swallows haunt 

 not only the grassy meadows, but the smaller towns as well, 

 where they are conspicuous in all the paved streets. They beat 

 the squares and gutters as regularly as a Marsh Hawk does a 

 meadow, flying up and down, sometimes hardly a foot above the 

 stones, turning the corners and coming down the other side, in 

 and out among the people and off at last to the nest. Swallows 

 breed in any sheltered corner, often in chimneys, whence the Ger- 

 man name, Smoke Swallow. I observed one passing to her nest 

 through a hole in a shed door. 



They linger till September or October, and gather in great 

 flocks utilizing the telegraph wires, as with us, till a favorable 

 night for their departure. Their return in April has long been 

 connected in proverb and song with the approach of warmer days. 



Martin (Hirundo urbica). 



This is a characteristic bird of the towns wherever the eaves 

 of buildings, preferably of stone, offer him a covering for his 

 cupshaped nest. I found them also in the mountains, where 

 there was too little grass-land for the Swallow. The Martin 

 is gregarious, and the hotels fronting on the Rhine were often 

 tenanted by colonies of one or two dozen. The birds avoided 

 the street, however, and hawked over the river, where their 

 glossy backs and white rumps flashed in and out among the 

 plain brown backs of their cousins, the Bank Swallows. Their 

 note is a single rough monosyllable, sprite, suggesting that 

 of the Cliff Swallow. They were still feeding young in the nest, 

 August 8, evidently the second brood. 



Chaffinch (Fringitta Calebs). 



This handsome and confiding bird was as characteristic of 

 the village street as either the Wagtail or the Redstart, and was 

 also common in every bit of woodland. The parks and groves 

 resounded, in early July, with his cheerful and vigorous song, 



