398 



THE CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 



Hirundo rustica, LINN. 

 PLATE XXVII. 



Hirundo domestica, Witt. Ray. H. rustica, Linn. &c. 

 Chimney or Common Swallow of British authors 



THIS favourite bird is perhaps the most com- 

 mon and most equally distributed of our native 

 species. Its arrival in April is watched and 

 hailed as the precursor of summer, and as the 

 period when the piercing blasts of winter and 

 spring shall have ceased for a time. In this 

 country, and indeed in Europe, it is the constant 

 attendant on cultivation, and makes use of the 

 artificial structures of man as retreats for shelter 

 and breeding. We are not aware of any natural 

 breeding station for this bird, nor have we seen 

 any mentioned in the various ornithological works 

 to which we have access. Its most common and 

 favourite place here is in the interior of out- 

 houses, open barns, or sheds, where the nest, 

 composed of clay, and strengthened with straws 

 or slender roots, lined with feathers, and open at 

 the top, is placed against some of the rafters or 

 wood- work of the roof; the insides of chimneys, 

 ("whence its common name,) the eaves of houses, 



