SWALLOW. 157 



Cottingham (Field, 8th October 1887) ; and at Wilstrop two 

 nests were built under the eaves of an outhouse against a wall, 

 and without any supporting ledge ; whilst at the same place 

 other two were in a shed built against the inner walls and 

 about a foot below the angle of the roof (Nat. 1890, p. 258). 



Late nests are not infrequent, therefore one or two 

 instances only need be cited ; one at Starbeck had young 

 in October 1884, the old birds being observed feeding them 

 during a snowstorm at the end of that month ; and in the 

 following year several were reported, one, near Rotherham, 

 having young as late as the loth of October. 



White varieties occur almost every season ; of Yorkshire 

 examples the earliest and latest known may suffice : One 

 in the Tunstall collection was shot at Bradford-on-Tees 

 (Tunst. MS. p. 76), and the latest was noted at Market 

 Weight on in 1896. A dun coloured specimen was observed 

 at Beverley in 1866, and at King's Mill, near Huddersfield, 

 one of a pale drab plumage is recorded. 



The folk lore of this county abounds with superstition 

 connected with this favourite bird ; it is deemed to be a 

 very good omen if a pair take possession of a place and build 

 a nest against it, while it is unpropitious for them to 

 forsake a place they have once tenanted. Terrible penalties, 

 we are told in the North Riding, are paid by the rash hand 

 that destroys or robs a Swallow's nest ; rain will continually 

 descend on his crops for a month, or his cows will cease to 

 give milk, or else give it mixed with blood. In the West 

 and East Ridings punishment is considered certain to follow 

 the ruthless act in one form or other, either death or some 

 great calamity will fall upon the family. A farmer's wife 

 near Hull told how some young men, sons of a banker in that 

 town, pulled down some Swallows' nests about a little farm 

 he possessed. " The bank broke soon after," she said, 

 " and, poor things, the family have had nought but trouble 

 since." (Henderson's Folk-lore.) The descent of a Swallow 

 down a chimney, as in the case of a Jackdaw, portends the 

 speedy decease of the inmates of the house. 



A country rhyme runs : 



