290 THE SWALLOWS. 



emigrating, however, witli its young, to a more 

 congenial climate on the approach of win- 

 ter. It is then that they are met with at sea, 

 perching, in an exhausted condition, on the rig- 

 ging and decks of ships. Being interrupted by 

 adverse winds, they waver in their course, spent 

 with famine and fatigue, until the ship affords 

 them a temporary resting-place ; from which, 

 refreshed by a few hours' rest, they renew their 

 flight. They are said to arrive in Africa about 

 the commencement of October, having performed 

 their fatiguing journey in the space of seven 

 days. 



Daring a passage from England to New South 

 Wales, on the 27th of September, 1828, several 

 of these birds alighted in an exhausted condi- 

 tion on the rigging and deck of the ship, and 

 were readily captured. We were at that time 

 in latitude 13*^ 40' north, and longitude 23^ 20' 

 west. They were the Hirundo rustica of Lin- 

 naeus. 



These birds emigrate from one tropical country 

 to another ; and during a passage from Manilla to 

 Singapore, through the China sea, on the 20tli of 

 October, 1830, for several days a number of these 

 birds were flying about the ship ; and I am in- 

 clined to suppose, derived at that period suste- 

 nance from the flies which infested the ship, as 



