72 



BIEDS FINCHES DIAGKAM 4 



across 

 longer 



family to go in and out. All the swallows which live in the 

 same place appear to love their society, and render mutual 

 assistance when necessary, either to repair a nest which has been 

 partly destroyed, or to drive away a sparrow, which believing 

 himself stronger, has come to steal something from it ; all the 

 swallows begin to harrass him, and the robber is soon obliged to 

 fly. The swallows take great care of their young, and feed 

 them so well that they sometimes weigh as much as their 

 parents ; and then they teach them to fly. To entice the young 

 to fly and to leave the nest, the parents sometimes hold up 

 before them in their beak some insect of which they are very fond. 

 There are two principal kinds of swallows in this country. 

 The house martin is pure white on the lower part of its body, and 

 the upper part is of a shining black with blue reflections ; it 



is less familiar than the swallow 

 which has a dark band 

 the chest, and a much 

 tail, and it arrives a little later. 

 The latter makes its nest even in 

 stables, under sheds, and is some- 

 times found living in smithies 

 above the anvil, without the noise 

 of the hammers, and the red sparks, 

 Swallow. seeming to frighten it. 



The humming-birds are at the same time the smallest of all 



birds, and those 

 with the most 

 brilliant plumage. 

 They display me- 

 tallic reflections of 

 all hues, yellows, 

 blues, greens, 

 violets, and reds. 

 But the humming 

 Humminsr biid, natural size. birds do not live 



