172 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



look *< as if they had been just come out of the sea." 

 This impression, too, is increased from the fact that there 

 are no heralds of the northward-moving mass of swallows 

 of this kind. One and all, they come together. Yes- 

 terday, not one was to be seen ; to-day, the entire com- 

 munity are settled in their old haunts, and ready for 

 housekeeping. Their migrations are continued through 

 the night, and either by starlight or moonlight, as the 

 case may be, they are guided to their several haunts of 

 the preceding summer. 



I am very positive that they arrive during the night, 

 and I lay unusual emphasis on this fact because the ap- 

 pearance of such a flight of swallows the morning follow- 

 ing their arrival would be apt to give an impression of 

 aquatic hibernation, if such an idea had ever been ex- 

 pressed in your hearing. Not the entire colony will im- 

 mediately seek the nests of the past summer, for there 

 will be many young birds who have as yet not built 

 nests, and there will also be birds yet to choose their 

 mates. Now, such birds will sit in long rows on tele- 

 graph wires, on fences, and, if the water be near, be very 

 sure that they will congregate about it. Thus congre- 

 gated about a pond early in the morning, perhaps after a 

 heavy dew, and you can readily see that they will be " as 

 wet as if they had been just come out of the sea ! " 



In the reference made by Kalm to swallows, he speci- 

 fies the barn-swallow as being that which he saw on the 

 10th of April (new style), 1750, in a wet, spiritless condi- 

 tion, sitting on posts and planks. Now, in this case, we 

 have a species of swallow that differs greatly in its habits 

 from the preceding. While sociable, and willing that a 

 neighbor should dwell near by, they are by no means 

 gregarious ; and it is often observed that but a single nest 

 will be in a building, however large it may be. Unlike 





