236 The Natural History of Selborne 



warmth. Not that it can subsist in the immediate shaft 

 where there is a fire ; but prefers one adjoining to that 

 of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual smoke of 

 that funnel, as I have often observed with some degree of 

 wonder. 



Five or six or more feet down the chimney does this little 

 bird begin to form her nest about the middle of May, which 

 consists, like that of the house-martin, of a crust or shell 

 composed of dirt or mud, mixed with short pieces of straw 

 to render it tough and permanent ; with this difference, that 

 whereas the shell of the martin is nearly hemispheric, that of 

 the swallow is open at the top, and like half a deep dish : 

 this nest is lined with fine grasses, and feathers, which are 

 often collected as they float in the air. 



Wonderful is the address which this adroit bird shows all 

 day long in ascending and descending with security through 

 so narrow a pass. When hovering over the mouth of the 

 funnel, the vibrations of her wings acting on the confined 

 air occasion a rumbling like thunder. It is not improbable 

 that the dam submits to this inconvenient situation so low 

 in the shaft, in order to secure her broods from rapacious 

 birds, and particularly from owls, which frequently fall down 

 chimneys, perhaps in attempting to get at these nestlings. 



The swallow lays from four to six white eggs, dotted with 

 red specks ; and brings out her first brood about the last 

 week in June, or the first week in July. The progressive 

 method by which the young are introduced into life is very 

 amusing; first, they emerge from the shaft with difficulty 

 enough, and often fall down into the rooms below : for a 

 day or so they are fed on the chimney-top, and then are 

 conducted to the dead leafless bough of some tree, where, 

 sitting in a row, they are attended with great assiduity, and 

 may then be called perchers. In a day or two more they 

 become flyers , but are still unable to take their own food ; 

 therefore they play about near the place where the dams are 

 hawking for flies ; and, when a mouthful is collected, at a 

 certain signal given, the dam and the nestling advance, rising 



