SWALLOW. 327 



is rarely that one detects a bird in the act of conveying 

 any of those lighter articles ; but I once saw a pair 

 playfully contending on the wing for the possession of a 

 large white feather, which was dropt again and again, 

 and as often seized by one or other of the birds ere it 

 floated to the ground, and was at length safely deposited 

 within the chimney shaft. 



Of the two broods which they rear in their brief 

 sojourn amongst us, the first, if the parents have 

 been undisturbed, are flyers by the middle of June, 

 the latter-hatch about the middle of August. How 

 pretty it is then to watch the untiring labours of 

 the old birds. Sometimes ranged in a row on the 

 parapet of a house, four or five little fluttering creatures 

 sit side by side, already slight traces of the chesnut 

 gorget leaving no doubt as to the species. How did 

 they get there? Did they tumble down or, stronger 

 in faith than in quill feathers, believe the "all right" 

 of their fond parents, and pluckily launch themselves 

 from the summit of that stack of chimnies? Any- 

 how, there they are, and now both trembling wings and 

 open beaks dispel all doubts as to these feathered babies 

 being perfectly capable of "taking notice." Pausing 

 for an instant in its upward flight, an old bird hovers, 

 with expanded tail before the favoured nestling, and 

 with soft loving notes fills the little outstretched throat 

 with food, then off for more, and each in turn, by either 

 parent, is thus fed incessantly. When further fledged, a 

 favourite resting place for the young swallows is on the 

 dead branches of some lofty tree, whose summit has, 

 perhaps, been scorched by lightning., and here both old 

 and young at intervals will sun themselves for hours, 

 the latter now darting off to meet their parents, and 

 receive in mid air the expected feast. The popular 

 belief, however, in some parts of the country, that 

 swallows only settle on dead wood is not founded 



