SWALLOWS. 37 



GENUS HlRUNDO. (LlNN.) 



The Swallows and Martins are distinguished 

 from the Swifts by the following characters: 

 the toes are directed, as in most Passerine birds, 

 three forward and one backward; the feet are 

 slender and comparatively weak, as are also the 

 claws ; the tail consists of twelve feathers, and 

 is for the most part forked, often to a great ex- 

 tent ; the wings have the first quill-feather the 

 longest. 



The Chimney Swallow (Hirundo rustica, LWN.) 

 with its burnished upper plumage of steel-blue, 

 its forehead and throat of chestnut-red, and its 

 long forked tail, is well known ; and its headlong 

 flights and rapid evolutions as it plays over the 

 stream or rushes through the streets of the town, 

 are hailed as the attendants of summer. Who 

 does not know the pleasant associations of the an- 

 nouncement, " The Swallows are come ! " " The 

 Swallow,". says Sir Humphrey Davy, " is one of 

 my favourite birds, and a rival of the Night- 

 ingale ; for he glads my sense of seeing as much 

 as the other does my sense of hearing. He is 

 the joyous prophet of the year, the harbinger of 

 the best season; he lives a life of enjoyment 

 among the loveliest forms of nature ; winter is 

 unknown to him, and he leaves the green meadows 

 of England in autumn for the myrtle and orange 

 groves of Italy, and for the plains of Africa." 



In the " Natural History of Selborne," the 

 economy of this, as well as of our other species of 

 Hirundinidte, is detailed in an interesting manner. 

 The Chimney Swallow usually arrives in this 



