38 



PASSERES. HIRUNDINID.E. 



country about the 13th of April, and withdraws 

 about the beginning of October, though strag- 

 glers often appear before, and linger after these 

 periods. It builds with us, for the most part, 



CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 



in chimneys, but occasionally also it attaches its 

 clay-built structure to the rafters of barns and 

 outhouses, or within the shaft of an old well, or 

 of an unworked coal-pit. " Five or six feet down 

 the chimney does this little bird begin to form 

 her nest, about the middle of May, which con- 

 sists, like that of the House Martin, of a crust 

 or shell composed of dirt or mud mixed with 

 short pieces of straw to render it tough and per- 

 manent; with this difference, that whereas the 

 shell of the Martin is nearly hemispheric, that 



