48 BERTRAMS VISIT TO HER 



be the harbinger of summer, as they come here 

 from warmer climates. 



See from bright regions, borne on odorous gales, 

 The swallow, herald of the summer, sails. 



There is a remarkable conformity, my uncle 

 says, between the vegetation of certain plants 

 and the arrival of particular birds of passage. 

 Linnreus remarked, that in Sweden the wood 

 anemone blows on the arrriv 7 al of the swallow, 

 and the marsh marygold when the cuckoo sings ; 

 and a similar fact appears to have been observed 

 in other countries also, for the same Greek 

 word signifies both a cuckoo and a young fig> 

 from their appearing at the same time. 



These house swallows are the earliest of all the 

 various species, as well as the most common. 

 They build in barns, out-houses, and even in 

 chimneys, the warmth of which they like ; and 

 they are said to pass with surprising address up 

 and down the narrowest flues, to the depth of 

 perhaps six feet, without soiling their wings. 



All kinds of swallows, as they skim along the 

 surface of the water, sip without stopping ; but 

 the common swallow only washes while on the 

 wing ; gliding through the pools many times to- 

 gether without seeming to stop. 



2{st. After some little conversation about 

 the alluvial alterations of the coast, and the 



