THE SWALLOW. 



PLATE XXXII. 



Class Aves. Order II. Passeres: Birds of passage. 

 Family II. Hirundinae. Species Various. 

 I LOVE to hear, says Mr. Jesse, the screams of the restless 

 swift, on one of our calm delightful summer evenings. I love 

 to watch its night, its various evolutions, and the boldness 

 w T ith which it unexpectedly passes close to me j secure in the 

 strength of its wings and the rapidity of its motions. 

 Though I cannot say that 



" The tittering swallow skims the dimpled lake," 



yet it is continually flitting past me as it hawks for flies some- 

 times lightly touching the water, and then, describing one of 

 its rapid and elegant circles on its banks. I delight in the 

 Swallow. Its appearance tells me that fine weather is ap- 

 proaching, and there is an apparent hilarity and independence 

 in its motions, which I always admire : 



" The swallow for a moment seen, 

 Skims in haste the village green." 



Sir Humphrey Davy has recorded his admiration of this 

 bird in language almost poetical. " The Swallow." he says, 

 "is one of my favorite birds, and a rival of the nightingale, for 

 he cheers my sense of seeing as much as the other does my 

 sense of hearing. He is the glad prophet of the year the 

 harbinger of the best season he lives a life of enjoyment 

 amongst the loveliest forms of nature winter is unknown to 

 him ; and he leaves the green meadows of England in au- 

 tumn for the myrtle and orange groves of Italy, and for the 

 palms of Africa ; he has always objects of pursuit, and his 

 success is secure. Even the beings selected for his prey 

 are poetical, beautiful and transient. The ephemerae are 



