The Natural History of Se I borne 237 



towards each other, and meeting at an angle ; the young one 

 all the while uttering such a little quick note of gratitude and 

 complacency, that a person must have paid very little regard 

 to the wonders of Nature that has not often remarked this 

 feat. 1 



The dam betakes herself immediately to the business of a 

 second brood as soon as she is disengaged from her first, 

 which at once associates with the first broods of house-mar- 

 tins, and with them congregates, clustering on sunny roofs, 

 towers, and trees. This hirundo brings out her second brood 

 towards the middle and end of August. 



All the summer long is the swallow a most instructive pat- 

 tern of unwearied industry and affection ; for, from morning 

 to night, while there is a family to be supported, she spends 

 the whole day in skimming close to the ground, and exerting 

 the most sudden turns and quick evolutions. Avenues, and 

 long walks under hedges, and pasture- fields, and mown 

 meadows where cattle graze, are her delight, especially if 

 there are trees interspersed ; because in such spots insects 

 most abound. When a fly is taken a smart snap from her bill 

 is heard, resembling the noise at the shutting of a watch-case ; 

 but the motion of the mandibles is too quick for the eye. 



The swallow, probably the male bird, is the excubitor to 

 house-martins and other little birds, announcing the approach 

 of birds of prey. For as soon as a hawk appears, with a 

 shrill alarming note he calls all the swallows and martins 

 about him, who pursue in a body, and buffet and strike their 

 enemy till they have driven him from the village, darting 

 down from above on his back, and rising in a perpendicular 

 line in perfect security. This bird also will sound the alarm, 

 and strike at cats when they climb on the roofs of houses, 

 or otherwise approach the nests. Each species of hirundo 

 drinks as it flies along, sipping the surface of the water ; but 

 the swallow alone, in general, washes on the wing, by dropping 



1 It needs so quick an eye to observe this habit, however, that many 

 people accustomed to note facts of such an order may easily overlook 

 it. ED. 



