64 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called ladu swala, 

 the barn swallow. Besides, in the warmer parts of Europe 

 there are no chimneys to houses, except they are English- 

 built : in these countries she constructs her nest in porches, 

 and gateways, and galleries, and open halls. 



Here and there a bird may affect some odd, peculiar 

 place ; as we have known a swallow build down the shaft 

 of an old well, through which chalk had been formerly 

 drawn up for the purpose of manure : but in general with 

 us this hirundo breeds in chimneys ; and loves to haunt 

 those stacks where there is a constant fire, no doubt for the 

 sake of warmth. Not that it can 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 differ- 

 ence, that whereas the shell of the martin is nearly hemi- 

 spheric, 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 shows 

 all day long in ascending and descending with security 

 through so narrow a pass. When hovering over the mouth 

 of the funnel, the vibrations of her wings acting on the 

 confined air occasion a rumbling like thunder. It is not im- 

 probable 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 chimneys, 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 pro- 



