140 SWALLOW. 



notwithstanding that the Swallows kept up a good resistance, 

 and even brought others to assist them. The intruders were 

 left in peaceable possession of thj nest, till the two old birds 

 were obliged to quit it to provide food for their young. They 

 had no sooner departed, than several Swallows came and broke 

 down the nest, and I saw the young Sparrows lying dead on 

 the ground. As soon as the nest was demolished, the Swallows 

 began to rebuild it.' 



Every one must have observed that on a sudden 'note of 

 exclamation,' given by a single Swallow, the whole flock, which 

 may have been previously congregated on some spot near, on 

 a sudden dash off in a strange and unaccountable manner. 

 'A Swallow, apparently at some height in the air, utters two 

 shrill notes; on hearing which the whole of the flock quit 

 the water, and rise into the air, so as almost to disappear 

 from the sight. . After a short time they return to hawk for 

 flies, and touch the surface of the river at exactly the same 

 place they had just before quitted.' 'On mentioning this 

 circumstance to an observant friend, he informed me that 

 when he was lately at Malvern, he had observed the effect of 

 the two notes I have just described. A large number of 

 Swallows had congregated on the roof of a house at that place. 

 The preceding evening had been cold and somewhat frosty, so 

 that early in the morning the Swallows were so torpid that 

 he caught two or three of them in his hand, as they rested 

 on the roof near the window of the room in which he slept. 

 While they were in this state, he heard two shrill notes from 

 a Swallow, and in an instant the whole of them took wing 

 simultaneously, and having made two or three circuits in the 

 air, disappeared altogether. He fancied that these circuits were 

 preparatory to their migration, but they were more probably 

 a notice that food was at hand. At all events it seems clear 

 to me, that there is a master or leading Swallow who guides 

 the movements of the rest.' 



Swallows may often be seen pursuing birds of prey, and on 

 returning from a chase of this kind, 'unite in a song, 

 (apparently,) of exultation.' Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, records 

 two curious instances, one of them witnessed by himself, of 

 their flying up and down to and from the top of a very tall 

 chimney. 'There was a constant stream of birds ascending 

 and descending; their flight had a most singular appearance, 

 from the circumstance of their flying upwards from the ground 

 to the chimney top almost in a vertical line, and coming down 



