106 UTILITY OF THE SWALLOW. 



Summer, winter in Egypt and on the northern 

 shores of Africa ; but the fact may be new to some 

 of our readers, that the four* species of swallows 

 we possess, are found among many others, which, 

 though apparently equally powerful of wing, and 

 capable of flight, do not appear to leave their 

 native country. In the swallow tribe, the double 

 purpose seems fulfilled, of devouring the numerous 

 colonies of insects that breed with us in the hotter 

 months of the year, and also of securing a proper 

 climate and country for their own nidification ; 

 but in the case of other birds of passage, such as 

 the Goatsucker (Caprimulgus) and the Cuckoo, 

 though they feed also on insects, yet their num- 

 bers are so confined, as to lead us to presume that 

 the purpose of their coming to our shores, must 

 be altogether confined to their own preservation 

 and increase. It is also curious, that though 

 Bees are so numerous in England, through care 

 and domestication, yet that the bird (the Merops 

 apiaster) whose natural prey they are, is so sel- 

 dom found here ; whereas, it seems a general law 

 of nature, that ee where the carcass is, there the 

 eagles are gathered together;" and that animals 

 never fail to frequent those places where is the 

 food convenient for them. 



* The Swift, the Swallow, the Martin, the Sand- Martin. A 

 fifth species, " the Austrian Praticole," has been shot in England. 



