SWALLOWS. 267 



the interior of the same country, beyond the reach of 

 these ice-blasts, they run no risks, and rear their broods 

 without difficulty. 



The quantity of insects devoured by Swallows is far 

 greater than most people imagine. On picking up a 

 Swift that had been shot, a number of minute flies or 

 beetles, some mutilated, and others scarcely injured, were 

 observed crawling out of the bird's mouth : the throat 

 and pouch seemed absolutely stuffed with them, and as- 

 many were collected as, when pressed close, could con- 

 veniently be contained in the bowl of an ordinary table- 

 spoon. If nearly examined, a great proportion of these 

 minute insects will be found of one particular sort ; and 

 it is a curious fact, that by far the greater part, indeed 

 we may say, from repeated examinations, all of those 

 which suddenly fly into our eyes, when walking or riding, 

 are of the same genus (Staphylinus), if not the same 

 species (Staphylinus brachypterus), devoured by Swal- 

 lows. Most persons may have noticed, in the Summer 

 season, a disagreeable-looking insect, running rather 

 briskly across a sand or gravel walk, which, if touched OF 

 disturbed, immediately throws up its tail, from whence 

 project two formidable-looking spines ; it appears to have 

 no wings, but it is provided, nevertheless, with a pair, 

 most beautifully folded up beneath two little short wing- 

 cases ; still, however, these wings are disproportioned to 

 the size of the insect, and we may, therefore, reasonably 

 conclude, that it is by no means so active on the wing as 

 others with a larger expansion, and consequently unable 

 so adroitly to guide itself, and avoid danger ; which may 

 account, at the same time, for its being more readily 

 seized by the Swallows, and also for its being carried 

 headlong into the eye, if the eye happens to be in the 

 line of its accidental course. Those who have expe- 

 rienced the annoyance of these minute intruders, will 

 well remember the extreme pain felt, as soon as the eye 

 closes upon its prisoner : this is occasioned, as the an- 

 nexed figure will show, by the irritation produced, when 



