NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 65 



gressive 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 assi- 

 duity, 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 congregates, clustering on 

 sunny roofs, towers, and trees. This hirundo brings out 

 her second brood towards the middle and end of August. 



All the summer long is the swallow a most instructive 

 pattern of unwearied industry and affection ; for, from 

 morning to night, while there is a family to be supported, 

 she spends the whole day in skimming close to the ground, 

 and exerting the most sudden turns and quick evolutions. 

 Avenues, and long walks under hedges, and pasture-fields, 

 and mown meadows where cattle graze, are her delight, 

 especially if there are trees interspersed ; because in such 

 spots insects most abound. When a fly is taken a smart 

 snap from her bill is heard, resembling the noise at the 

 shutting of a watch-case ; but the motion of the mandibles 

 are too quick for the eye. 



The swallow, probably the male bird, is the excubitor 

 to house-martins and other little birds, announcing the 

 approach of birds of prey. For as soon as a hawk appears, 

 with a shrill alarming note he calls all the swallows and 



VOL. II. I 



