188 SWALLOWS. 



hirundo brings out her second brood towards the 

 middle and end of August. 



All the summer long is the swallow a most instruc- 

 tive pattern of unwearied industry and affection ; for, 

 from morning to night, while there is a family to be 

 supported, she spends the whole day in skimming 

 close to the ground, and exerting the most sudden 

 turns and quick evolutions. Avenues, and long walks, 

 under hedges, and pasture-fields, and mown meadows 

 where cattle graze, are her delight, especially if there 

 are trees interspersed ; because in such spots insects 

 most abound. When a fly is taken, a smart snap 

 from her bill is heard, resembling the noise at the 

 shutting of a watch-case; but the motion of the man- 

 dibles is too quick for the eye. 



The swallow, probably the male bird, is the excu- 

 bitor to house -martins, and other little birds, announc- 

 ing the approach of birds of prey. For as soon as an 

 hawk appears, with a shrill alarming note, he calls all 

 the swallows and martins about him ; who pursue in 

 a body, and buffet and strike their enemy, till they 

 have driven him from the village, darting down from 

 above on his back, and rising in a perpendicular line 

 in perfect security. This bird also will sound the 

 alarm, and strike at cats when they climb on the roofs 

 of houses, or otherwise approach the nests. Each 

 species of hirundo drinks as it flies along, sipping the 

 surface of the water ; but the swallow alone, in gene- 

 ral, washes on the wing, by dropping into a pool for 

 many times together : in very hot weather, house - 

 martins and bank-martins dip and wash a little. 



The swallow is a delicate songster, and, in soft 

 sunny weather, sings both perching and flying ; on 

 trees in a kind of concert, and on chimney tops ; is 

 also a bold flier, ranging to distant downs and com- 

 mons even in windy weather, which the other species 

 seem much to dislike ; nay, even frequenting exposed 



