358 THE EAVE SWALLOW. 



energy are all in constitutional harmony with this fact. 

 There is a language of motion as well as of sound; hence, 

 like a strain in music, the flight of each bird conveys its 

 peculiar idea. There is majesty in the soaring of the 

 Eagle, alarm in the whir-r-r-r of the Partridge, haste in the 

 whistling strokes of the Duck, joy in the exulting curves of 

 the Goldfinch, and a happy contentment in the easy gyra- 

 tions of the Swallow. My mind goes into repose, and 

 drinks in the sweet spirit of contentment, defying galling 

 burdens and corrosive cares, as my eye follows the spirit- 

 like sweep of those sabre-shaped wings, each curve describ- 

 ing a happy thought on the sunny sky. 



And what a study might there be of marvelous adjust- 

 ment and conformity to mechanical laws, by which this 

 little creature makes its way through the trackless air with 

 such nice accuracy, that it can "pick up a flying gnat " 

 whilst moving " at the rate of more than a hundred miles 

 an hour." Or who can conceive how many tickling and 

 prickling annoyances of insect-life are prevented for us, 

 during the long summer days, by the semi-domestic services 

 of these Swallows, each one of which probably destroys at 

 least a thousand insects every day. 



For some time it has been a question with ornithologists 

 whether the Eave Swallow gradually extended its habitat 

 from Mexico through North America, as it was formerly 

 believed. The very best authorities now conclude that it 

 has always been " amenable to the ordinary laws of migra- 

 tion and spread over nearly all of North America, the South 

 Atlantic States, perhaps, excepted; " and that " the numerous 

 recorded dates of its appearance and breeding in particular 

 localities merely mark the times when the birds forsook 

 their natural breeding places and built under eaves, which 

 enabled them to pass the summer where fortnerly they were 



