158 WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW. 



for a bird of its kind, so that it is called by some the Sing- 

 ing Swallow. 



The flight of the Swallow is one of the wonders of 

 nature. Achieving in its ordinary flight at least a mile in a 

 minute, the Barn Swallow "has been known to leave Hali- 

 fax, Nova Scotia, at sunset, for the South, and to reach the 

 Islands of Bermuda, 800 miles due south, by sunrise the 

 next morning." (Tristram.) Thus, in comparatively a few 

 hours, it can pass from the Arctic snows to the tropics. 

 Wilson estimating the flight of the Swallow at a mile in a 

 minute, its time spent on wing per day to be ten hours, and 

 its length of life at ten years, shows that it would thus pass 

 round the globe eighty-seven times. 



The White-bellied Swallow is especially swift and grace- 

 ful in flight. Behold it "skating on the air." How it 

 dashes along, seemingly almost without-exertion, capturing 

 its food or dipping its bill into the glistening stream to 

 drink, or washing itself "by a sudden plunge," all of which 

 scarcely retards its onward movement. In a moment it is 

 out of sight, or else rising nearly perpendicularly, it will 

 suddenly shoot across the tree-tops with almost lightning 

 speed, performing the most wondrous aerial evolutions as 

 easily as if it were tossed by the winds themselves. The 

 whole domain of air is the Swallow's home. No path of 

 insect is beyond its reach, and what bird of prey can over- 

 take it? Here is freedom, indeed, and a life that is one 

 continual recreation. 



The White-bellied Swallow is associated with the days of 

 my childhood in Nova Scotia. Many a nest did I find in 

 the hollow stumps of the low pastures. A few dried grasses 

 compose the outside, the inside being a considerable mass 

 of large, downy, white feathers of the tame Goose, so laid 

 that the tips curl inward, and almost cover the eggs when 



