254: FRIENDS WORTH KNOWING. 



lieu of a better place ; and at St. Paul I have seen them 

 penetrating solid, but soft, sand-rock. 



" How long does it take the bird to dig his cavern under 

 ordinary circumstances ?" is a question which it would seem 

 hard to answer, considering the cryptic character of his 

 work. Mr. W. H. Dall says four days suffice to excavate 

 the nest. Mr. Morris, a close observer of British birds, says, 

 per contra, a fortnight ; and that the bird removes twenty 

 ounces of sand a day. Male and female alternate in the 

 labor of digging, and in the duties of incubation. 



When the female is sitting you may thrust your arm in 

 and grasp her, and, notwithstanding the noise and violence 

 attending the enlargement of the aperture of her nest-hole, 

 she will sit resolutely on, and allow herself to be taken in 

 the hand with scarcely a struggle or sign of resistance 

 even of life, sometimes. The young are fed with large in- 

 sects caught by the parents, particularly those sub-aquatic 

 sorts which hover near the surface of still water; and 

 White mentions instances where young swallows were fed 

 with dragon-flies nearly as long as themselves. The young 

 do not leave the nest until they are about ready to take 

 full care of themselves. Finally, they are pushed off by 

 the parents to make Way for a second brood, and, inex- 

 perienced in the use of their wings, many fall a prey to 



