42 THE ARCHITECTURE OP BIRDS. 



drudge on to no purpose from summer to summer, 

 without changing their aspect or house. It is a 

 most piteous sight to see them labouring when half 

 their nest is washed away. r * 



The swallow is a general favourite. He comes 

 to us when nature is putting on her most smiling 

 aspect, and he stays with us through the months 

 of sunshine and gladness. " The swallow," says 

 Sir H. Davy, " is one of my favourite birds, and a 

 rival of the nightingale ; for he glads my sense of 

 seeing as much as the other does my sense of 

 hearing. He is the joyous prophet of the year, the 

 harbinger of the best season ; he lives a life of 

 enjoyment among the loveliest forms of nature; 

 winter is unknown to him, and he leaves the green 

 meadows of England in autumn, for the myrtle and 

 orange groves of Italy, and for the palms of Africa." 



A remarkable contrast to the snug little clay nest 

 of the swallow is presented by the massive, Egyp- 

 tian-like edifice of a very singular bird, who builds, 

 however, with somewhat similar materials the 

 flamingo or crimson-wing of the ancients (Phceni- 

 copterus ruber, LINN.). The increase of population 

 seems to have partly banished this species, with 

 many other birds, from the shores of Europe to 

 the less frequented waters of America and Africa, 

 where it may be seen, as Campbell describes it, 



" Disporting like a meteor on the lakes." 



Roberts, a traveller who viewed the bird through a 

 plain prosaic medium, compares a line of them to 

 a brick wall, for which, he says, their colour and 

 attitude may cause them to be taken. Indeed, the 

 appearance of this bird has led to many misconcep- 

 tions. During the French revolutionary war, when 

 the English were expected to make a descent upon 

 St. Domingo, a negro, having perceived, at the dis- 

 tance of some miles, in the direction of the sea, a 



* White's Selborne, i , 272. 



