NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 141 



next the fields, but do not enter, like the house-martin, the 

 close and crowded parts of the city. 



Both male and female are distinguished from their conge- 

 ners by the length and forkedness of their tails. They are 

 undoubtedly the most nimble of all the species : and when 

 the male pursues the female in amorous chase, they then go 

 beyond their usual speed, and exert a rapidity almost too 

 quick for the eye to follow. 



After this circumstantial detail of the life and discerning 

 crropyij of the swallow, I shall add, for your farther amuse- 

 ment, an anecdote or two not much in favor of her sagacity : 



A certain swallow built for two years together on the 

 handles of a pair of garden-shears that were stuck up against 

 the boards in an out-house, and therefore must have her nest 

 spoiled whenever that implement was wanted : and, what is 

 stranger still, another bird of the same species built its nest 

 on the wings and body of an owl that happened by accident 

 to hang dead and dry from the rafter of a barn. This owl, 

 with the nest on its wings, and the eggs in the nest, was brought 

 as a curiosity worthy the most elegant private museum in Great 

 Britain. The owner, struck with the oddity of the sight, fur- 

 nished the bringer with a large shell, or conch, desiring him 

 to fix it just where the owl hung : the person did as he was 

 ordered, and the following year a pair, probably the same pair, 

 built their nests in the conch, and laid their eggs. 



The owl and the conch make a strange, grotesque appear- 

 ance, and not the least curious specimens in that wonderful 

 collection of art and nature. 



Thus is instinct in animals, taken the least out of its way, 

 an undistinguishing, limited faculty; and blind to every cir- 

 cumstance that does not immediately respect self-preservation, 

 or lead at once to the propagation or support of their species. 



I am, with all respect, etc., etc. 



