Stoal- 



* The swallow, though called the chimney swallow, 



by no means builds altogether in chimneys, but often 

 within barns and out-houses, against the rafters. 



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. 



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. 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 con- 

 ducted 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 fliers, 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 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. 



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-martins, and with them 

 congregates, clustering on sunny roofs, towers, and trees. This 

 swallow brings out her second brood towards the middle and end of 

 August. 



157 



