H I RU 



little with the character of the year. They generally 

 breed in considerable numbers in those spots which 

 afford them favourable nesting-places and abundance 

 of food ; but they cannot be said to be casual at 

 those times, as each pursues its own prey and retires 

 to its own nest. When, however, the labours of the 

 year are over, and they begin to prepare for their 

 juurney, they do associate in considerable numbers, 

 sitting on the house-tops, o.r skimming over the hurnid 

 meadows, in which the birds probably at that time, 

 contrary to their usual habit, roost upon the ground. 



The general colour of the swallow is black, with 

 reflections of greyish blue ; but in this respect they 

 are subject to some variations, for some are so pale 

 that, if colour alone were the criterion, they might be 

 taken for different species, and occasionally, thou 

 much more rarely, they are albinos. The throat anc 

 forehead are deep reddish brown, and there is a white 

 spot on the inner web of each of the tail-feathers 

 with the exception of two in the middle, which are 

 the shortest ; the lateral tail-feathers are very Ion 

 and this gives a remarkably forked appearance to 

 the tail, so much so, that " swallow-tailed" is a com- 

 mon name for any appendage which is divided in this 

 manner at the end. Swallows are very active am 

 interesting little creatures, whisking about over th 

 surface of the pools, and in other situations where 

 winged insects are numerous, on those days, and a 

 those times of the day, when all the children o 

 nature, except the insect tribes, are still. Thei 

 glide and dart about with great lightness, and appa 

 rently very little motion of the wings, so little indeed 

 that every single stroke appears to impel them on a; 

 if they were shot from a bow. Nor sire their turning: 

 on the wing less worthy of remark ; for they cai 

 double back, not merely at an angle, but at a ver\ 

 acute angle ; and though this is done with so mud 

 rapidity that one cannot observe the action of th( 

 different parts, yet there is a sort of twitching sound 

 as if some of their fan-feathers struck smarth 

 against each other ; but this twitching sound on th 

 turn must not be confounded with the snap of th 

 bill which the bird gives in catching its prey. 



THE HOUSE-MARTIN (H. urbicd]. This is perhap 

 the most interesting to man of the whole swallov 

 ttibe ; and though the house-sparrow is a much mor 

 constant attendant on human dwellings, it is no 

 nearly so interesting as this little periodical visiter 

 This is the "martlet" of the heralds, and was by them 

 described as footless, or a creature committed to thi 

 free air alone, and thus it became emblematic of thos 



N D O. 757 



ounger branches of families which the most absurd 

 nd unwise law of primogeniture cuts off from any 

 hare of the paternal estate. It is worthy of remark, 

 s concerns this same law, that there* is not the 

 lightest approximation to it on the part of any crea- 

 tire when in a state of nature ; and though we are 

 lot, of course, to take the example of any animal as 

 jur rule of action, yet, when the example, and the 

 voice of universal nature, are against us, we can hardly 

 >e right. Every one must remember the beautiful 

 allusion made by the gallant Banquo to the nests of 

 his bird found on the cornices of the castle of his 

 reacherous host ; and the reader who chooses to 

 turn to that exquisite passage, \\ill see with what 

 truth the poet has not only described the habits and 

 manners of the bird, but has shown the distinction 

 )etween it and its congener, the swift, with equal 

 force and truth : 



" This guest of summer, 

 The temple-haunting martlet, docs approve, 

 By his loved mansioury, that the heaven's breath 

 Smells wooingly here . no jutty, frieze, buttres.-. 

 Nor coigne of 'vantage, hut this bird hath made 

 His pendent bed and procreant cradle : where they 

 Most breed and haunt, I have observed, the air is delicate." 



Nothing can be more graphic than this ; for we 

 have observed that, in those uplands of the north, 

 which do not deserve the name of mountains, or 

 even of hills, but which often consist of a species of 

 clay-gravel, which is perfectly sterile, and in which 

 the stones are so impregnated with the cold salt of 

 iron, that they literally consume the earth around 

 them, as if every stone were a canker we have been 

 in the habit of observing, in such places, that there is 

 not a single swallow to be found ; but if some clear 

 stream, with alternate banks of dry sand ami soft 

 green sward, breaks the monotony of such a desert, 

 and if the lively " clack" of a mill, as is generally the 

 case, is heard, then the windows of the miller's house 

 have their swallow's nest in each corner, and may be 

 seen whisking across the mill-pond and along the 

 stream with so much industry and glee, that one feels, 

 or, which comes to the same thing, fancies that a 

 remarkable transition from the most chilling to the 

 most balmy atmosphere has been made in less than a 

 single furlong of ground. Nor is the distinction be- 

 tween the swallow and the swift less true to nature. 

 The latter birds couple on the wing, and perform 

 their rites in the air ; but the nest " the pe-.idait 

 bed and procreant cradle" is the place where the 

 swallow performs all the labours of the season. The 

 most wonderful circumstance connected with those 

 allusions is their perfect truth, at a time when books 

 written professedly on natural history, by men who 

 assumed the character of naturalists, were full of 

 gross and palpable absurdities-, and those exquisite 

 touches of' nature which this foremost of all poets 

 throws into his works, and throws in with apparent!? 

 no effort on his part, are given by him as trni: 

 known to those whose occupation cannot be con- 

 sidered as favourable to the professional study of 

 natural history. Banquo, who makes these beautifully 

 philosophical remarks on the house-swallow, was a 

 brave and gallant soldier, but nothing 



The house-martin finds out the abode of man in 

 almost every part of the world, at least in every 

 part where it has a chance of finding food for itself 

 and its young 1 ; and it is rarely found amid places 

 which are deserted and in ruins. It is probable that 



