H I R U N O. 



' The earliest period of the year that I noticed the 



appearance of swallows was on the 12th of July, 1803 



when I saw two ; but I remarked several towards 



the end of the same month, the following year (1804) 



The latest period I observed them was on the 30th o 



May, 1806, when a number of them were twittering 



and flying high in the air. When I have missec 



them at Paramatta I have sometimes met with them 



among the North Rocks, a romantic spot about two 



miles northward of the former place. The natives 



call the swallow Sernn-nin; they told me it built its 



nest in the hollow limbs of white gum-trees, using 



bark, grass, hair, or similar substances ; but when it 



built in old houses, it made use of mud. These old 



houses are the deserted huts of settlers who have 



abandoned their worn-out farms ; and the nests are 



constructed on the wall-plates, as they are called in 



the colony. Of the nests, which have been brought 



to me, I have observed that the outside was made of 



mud, and the inside lined with feathers. Though I 



have seen swallows more or less throughout the year, 



yet it is my belief that they are migratory. The eyes 



are black." 



The American species, as we have already re- 

 marked, are swallows or martins, rather than swifts ; 

 and though in their habits they bear a very close 

 resemblance to the species of the eastern continent, 

 and some of them get similar names from the Euro- 

 pean settlers, it is doubtful whether any of them are 

 exactly the same species. They are very numerous 

 in some parts of the country, and they follow the 

 common seasonal migration of American birds, pro- 

 ceeding northwards in the spring, and returning south- 

 ward in the summer. 



THE AMERICAN CHIMNEY SWALLOW (H. pelcugio'), 

 though sometimes called a swift in the United States, 

 very closely resembles our chimney swallow in some 

 of its characters ; but it is rather a smaller bird, and 

 remarkable for the length of its wings, the stretch of 

 which when spread out is twelve inches, while the 

 length is only about four and a half. The sexes very 

 closely resemble each other in colour, being sooty 

 brown, with the exception of the chin, and a streak 

 over the eyes, which are dull white. The naked skin 

 from the bill to the eye is black ; the bill is extremely 

 short, hard, and black ; the nostrils are placed in a 

 slightly elevated membrane ; the legs are covered 

 with a loose skin of a purplish colour, the thighs are 

 of the same colour and naked ; the feet are very mus- 

 cular ; the three fore toes are very nearly of the same 

 length ; the claws extremely sharp ; when the wing 

 is closed it extends an inch and a half beyond the tip 

 of the tail, which is rounded, and consists of ten fea- 

 thers very little longer than the coverts ; their shafts 

 extend beyond the vanes, they are strong, sharp- 

 pointed, and extremely elastic. 



The following quotation from Wilson's account of 

 this species will show the habits of this bird, and also 

 what are the resources of chimney- building swallows 

 where the country contains no chimneys in which they 

 can build. " One of the first settlers' in the state of 

 Kentucky," says Wilson. " informed me that he cut 

 down a large hollow beech tree, which contained forty 

 or fifty nests of the chimney swallow, most of which, 

 by the fall of the tree cr by the weather, were lying 

 at the bottom of the hollow, but sufficient fragments 

 remained adhering to the sides of the tree to enable 

 him to number them. They appeared, he said, to be 

 of many years' standing. The present site which they 



have chosen must, however, hold out many more ad- 

 vantages than the former, since we see that, in the 

 whole thickly settled parts of the United States, these 

 birds have uniformly adopted this new convenience, 

 not a single pair being observed to prefer the woods. 

 Security from birds of prey and other animals, from 

 storms that frequently overthrow the timber, and the 

 numerous ready conveniences which these new situa- 

 tions afford, are doubtless some of the advantages. 

 The choice they have made certainly bespeaks some- 

 thing more than mere unreasoning instinct, and docs 

 honour to their discernment. The nest of this bird 

 is of singular construction, being formed of very small 

 twigs, fastened together with a strong adhesive glue 

 or gum which is secreted by two glands, one on each 

 side of the hind head, and mixes with the saliva. 

 With this glue, which becomes hard as the twigs 

 themselves, the whole nest is thickly besmeared. The 

 nest itself is small and shallow, and attached by one 

 side or edge to the wall, and it is totally destitute of 

 the soft lining with which the others are so plentifully 

 supplied. The eggs are generally four, and while. 

 They generally have two broods in the season. The 

 young are fed at intervals during the greater part of 

 the night; a fact which I have had frequent opportu- 

 nities of remarking both here and in the Mississippi 

 territory. The noise which the old ones make in 

 passing up and down the funnel has some resemblance 

 to distant thunder. When heavy and long continued 

 rains occur, the nest, losing its hold, is precipitated 

 to the bottom ; this disaster frequently happens ; the 

 eggs are destroyed, but the young, though blind 

 ^ which they are for a considerable time), sometimes 

 scramble up along the vent, to which they cling like 

 squirrels, the muscularity of their feet and the sharp- 

 ness of their claws at this tender age being remarkable. 

 In this situation they continue to be fed for perhaps 

 a week or more. Nay, it is not uncommon for them 

 voluntarily to leave the nest long before they are able to 

 3y, and to fix themselves on the wall, where they are 

 :ed until able to hunt for themselves. When these 

 jirds first arrive in spring, and for a considerable time 

 after, they associate together every evening in one 

 general rendezvous, those of a whole district roosting 

 :ogether. This place of repose, in the more unsettled 

 jarts of the country, is usually a large hollow tree, 

 open at top ; trees of that kind, or swallow trees, as 

 they are usually called, having been noticed in vari- 

 ous parts of the country, and generally believed to be 

 he winter quarters of these birds, where, heaps upon 

 leaps, they dozed away the winter in a state of tor- i 

 )idity ; here they have been seen on their rcsurrec- 

 ion in spring, and here they have again been remarked 

 descending to their death-like sleep in autumn." 



PURPLE MARTIN (H. purjntred). This is also an j 

 American species, and in its manners it bears no 

 nconsiderable resemblance to the house-martin of 

 Europe, frequenting, like that bird, the habitation of 

 man in preference to more lonely and sequestered 

 places. It is very abundant in the United States ; 

 nd a solitary instance of dislike to it, recorded by 

 Wilson, is so characteristic, that we cannot resist 

 quoting it. " I never met," says lie, " with more than 

 one man who disliked the marl ins, and would not 

 )ermit them to settle about his house. This was a 

 )enurious close-fisted German, who hated them be- 

 cause, as he said, ' they ate his peas? I told him he 

 must certainly be mistaken, as I never knew an 

 nstance of martins eating peas , but he replied, \viik 



