LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



25 



blind and a considerable time elapses before they 

 can see are remarkable, and the houseless young 

 frequently scramble up the sides of the vent, to 

 which they cling like squirrels, and are often fed 

 by the parents for a week or more while so sit- 

 uated. 



Mr. Churchman, a correspondent of Wilson, 

 counted more than two hundred go in of an even- 

 ing into one chimney of a mansion. Once he 

 saw a cat come upon the house, and place herself 

 near the chimney, where she strove to catch the 

 birds as they entered, but without success. Puss 

 then climbed the chimney-top, and there took her 

 station. The birds, nothing daunted, descended 

 in gyrations without seeming to regard her, 

 though she made frequent attempts to grab them. 

 "I was pleased," adds good Mr. Churchman, 

 " to see that they all escaped her fangs." Wil- 

 son, who was a close observer, says that he never 

 knew these birds to resort to kitchen chimneys 

 where fire was kept in summer. He thought he 

 had noticed them enter such chimneys for the 

 purpose of exploring, but he observed also that 

 they immediately ascended, and went off, on find- 

 ing fire and smoke. 



Then there is " the purple martin,"* a gen- 

 eral favorite with the Anglo-Americans, and even 

 with the Indians. Boxes are placed for the wel- 

 come birds in the homesteads, and in these com- 

 fortable lodgings four spotless white eggs, very 

 small for the size of the bird, are deposited. 



He well repays the hospitality. 



The purple martin,, (says the author last quoted,) 

 like his half-cousin the king-bird, is the terror of 

 crows, hawks, and eagles ; these he attacks when- 

 ever they make their appearance, and with such 

 vigor and rapidity that they instantly have recourse 

 to flight. So well known is this to the lesser birds 

 and to the domestic poultry, that as soon as they 

 hear the martin's voice engaged in fight, all is 

 alarm and consternation. To observe with what 

 spirit and audacity this bird dives and sweeps upon 

 and around the hawk or eagle is astonishing ; he 

 also bestows an occasional bastinading on the king- 

 bird when he finds him too near his premises, 

 though he will at any time instantly cooperate with 

 him in attacking the common enemy. 



Byron, who then rarely, if ever, tasted meat, 

 sitting one day opposite to Moore, who was dis- 

 cussing a beef-steak with hearty good will, inquired 

 whether the diet did not make him savage? The 

 stimulating food of the pugnacious purple martin 

 differs from all the rest of the American swallows ; 

 wasps and beetles, particularly those called by the 

 boys, " Goldsmiths," are his favorite prey. Wil- 

 son took four of these large beetles from the 

 stomach of one of these birds. 



But we must leave the other American Hirun- 

 dinidee, though the temptation be strong ; for it is 

 impossible not to be struck with the migration 

 which is at this moment in progress all over the 

 world. For example, we have it on undoubted 

 authority that from the twenty-first day of March 



* Hirundo purpurea, Linn. ; Progne purpurea, Bole. 



to the first day of May, at least one hundred mil- 

 lions of birds enter Pennsylvania from the south 

 part on their way further north, and part to 

 reside during the season. Wilson ascertained 

 during his residence with Mr. Bartram, in the 

 summer of 1811, that in the Botanic Garden and 

 the adjoining buildings, comprehending an extent 

 of little more than eight acres, not less than fifty- 

 one pairs of birds took up their abode and built 

 their nests. 



Return we then to our own happy land, and 

 our own swallows. 



^Elian and Plutarch declare that the fly and 

 the swallow are the only animals which cannot be 

 tamed. Pliny gives it another " indocible" com 

 panion, in his forty-fifth chapter setting forth 

 " what birds are not apt to loarnc, and will not ba 

 taught." 



And now, (says the Roman zoologist, speaking 

 through the mouth of the venerable Philemon Hol- 

 land) and now that we are in this discourse of wit 

 and capacitie, I must not omit to note that of birds 

 the swallow, and of land beasts the mouse and the 

 rat, are very untoward, and cannot be brought to 

 learn ; whereas we see great elephants ready to do 

 whatever they are commanded ; the furious lions 

 brought to draw under the yoke ; the seals within 

 the sea, and so many fishes grow to be tame and 

 gentle. 



Whether, as time has rolled on, swallows have 

 become more civilized and docile, or man has 

 arrived at greater excellence in the art of domes- 

 ticating and taming animals, are questions which 

 are not for discussion here ; but certain it is that 

 swallows become very familiar in confinement, 

 and to the observations made in this state we owe 

 the knowledge that their moult takes place in 

 January and February, for they have been so 

 kept for many months. 



In September, 1800, the Rev. Walter Trevel- 

 yan wrote from Long Witton, Northumberland, 

 in a letter to the editor of Bewick's British Birds, 

 the following narrative, which is so simply and 

 beautifully written, and gives so clear an account 

 of the process of taming, that it would be unjust 

 to recite it in any words but his own for the edifi- 

 cation of those who may wish to make the experi- 

 ment : 



About nine weeks ago, (writes the good clergy- 

 man,) a swallow fell down one of our chimneys, 

 nearly fledged, and was able to fly in two or three 

 days. The children desired they might try to rear 

 him, to which I agreed, fearing the old ones would 

 desert him ; and, as he was not the least shy, they 

 succeeded without any difficulty, for he opened his 

 mouth for flies as fast as they could supply them, 

 and was regularly fed to a whistle. In a few days, 

 perhaps a week, they used to take him into the 

 fields with them, and as each child found a fly and 

 whistled, the little bird flew for his prey from one 

 to another ; at other times he would fly round about 

 them in the air, but always descended at the first 

 call, in spite of the constant endeavors of the wild 

 swallows to seduce him away : for which purpose 

 several of them at once would fly about him in all 

 directions, striving to drive him away when they 



