SWALLOW 



119 



less red on the forehead and less black on the breast ; under parts 

 white ; outer tail-feathers shorter. Length, seven and a half 

 inches. 



The swallow, as we usually see him, gliding and doubling in the 

 air with a freedom surpassing that of other birds, has considerable 



FIG. 44. SWALLOW. natural size. 



beauty, being richly coloured and of an elegant figure, with sharply 

 forked tail and long, pointed wings. But this is not the reason of 

 the charm he has for us, since there are other more beautiful birds 

 that inspire no such feeling. He is loved above most species on 

 account of his domestic habits and familiarity with man. There 

 would be few swallows in a dispeopled and savage England, with 

 all its buildings crumbled to earth, for he would then be compelled 

 to return to the original habits of the wild swallow, and build his 

 mud cradle in rocky cliffs and caverns. As things are he is not 

 dependent on cliffs, for he has taken kindly to human habitations, 

 and increases with the increase of house-building, until he has 

 become one of the commonest and most generally diffused species. 

 And being a house-bird, and accustomed to the human form, when 

 our summer migrants return to us with the return of the sun, and 

 the others seek their customary homes in w T oods and groves by 



