OF SELBORNE 137 



subsist in the immediate shaft where there is a fire ; but prefers 

 one adjoining to that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual 

 smoke of that funnel, as I have often observed with some degree 

 of wonder. 



Five or six or more feet down the chimney does this little 

 bird begin to form her nest about the middle of May, which 

 consists, 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 permanent ; with this difference, that whereas the 

 shell of the martin is nearly hemispheric, that of the swallow is 

 open at the top, and like half a deep dish : this nest is lined 

 with fine grasses, and feathers which are often collected as they 

 float in the air. 



Wonderful is the address which this adroit bird shews all day 

 long in ascending and descending with security through so narrow 

 a pass. When hovering over the mouth of the funnel, the vibra- 

 tions of her wings acting on the confined air occasion a rumbling 

 like thunder. It is not improbable that the dam submits to this 

 inconvenient situation so low in the shaft, in order to secure her 

 broods from rapacious birds, and particularly from owls, which 

 frequently fall down chimnies, perhaps in attempting to get at 

 these nestlings. 



The swallow lays from four to six white eggs, dotted with 

 red specks ; and brings out her first brood about the last week in 

 June, or the first week in July. The progressive method by 

 which the young are introduced into life is very amusing : first, 

 they emerge from the shaft with difficulty enough, and often fall 

 down into the rooms below : for a day or so they are fed on the 

 chimney-top, and then are conducted to the dead leafless bough 

 of some tree, where, sitting in a row, they are attended with 

 great assiduity, and may then be called perchers. In a day or 

 two more they become flyers, but are still unable to take their 

 own food ; therefore they play about near the place where the 

 dams are hawking for flies ; and, when a mouthful is collected, 

 at a certain signal given, the dam and the nestling advance, 

 rising towards each other, and meeting at an angle ; the young 

 one all the while uttering such a little quick note of gratitude and 

 complacency, that a person must have paid very little regard to 

 the wonders of Nature that has not often remarked this feat. 



The dam betakes herself immediately to the business of a second 

 brood as soon as she is disengaged from her first ; which at once 

 associates with the first broods of house-martins ; and with them 



