OF SELBORNE. 263 



the trampling of the horses' feet : when the wind blows 

 hard, without this expedient, they are often forced to 

 settle to pick up their lurking prey. 



This species feeds much on little Coleoptera, as well 

 as on gnats and flies; and often settles on dug ground, 

 or paths, for gravels to grind and digest its food. Before 

 they depart, for some weeks, to a bird, they forsake 

 houses and chimneys, and roost in trees ; and usually 

 withdraw about the beginning of October ; .though some 

 few stragglers may appear on at times till the first week 

 in November. 



Some few pairs haunt the new and open streets of 

 London next the fields, but do not enter, like the house 

 martin, the close and crowded parts of the city. 



Both male and female are distinguished from their 

 congeners by the length and forkedness of their tails. 

 They are undoubtedly the most nimble of all the spe- 

 cies; and when the male pursues the female in amorous 

 chase, they then go beyond their usual speed, and exert 

 a rapidity almost too quick for the eye to follow. 



After this circumstantial detail of the life and dis- 

 cerning oropyjf of the swallow, I shall add, for your 

 farther amusement, an anecdote or two not much in 

 favour of her sagacity : 



A certain swallow built for two years together on the 

 handles of a. pair of garden shears, that were stuck up 

 against the boards in an outhouse, and therefore must 

 have her nest spoiled whenever that implement was 

 wanted : and, what is stranger still, another bird of the 

 same species built its nest on the wings and body of 

 an owl that happened by accident to hang dead and 

 dry from the rafter of a barn. This owl, with the nest 

 on its wings, and with eggs in the nest, was brought as 

 a curiosity worthy the most elegant private museum in 

 Great Britain. The owner, struck with the oddity of 

 the sight, furnished the bringer with a large shell, or 

 conch, desiring him to fix it just where the owl hung: 

 the person did as he was ordered, and the following 



