The Swallow and the Sparrow 



of the Sparrow. What will the Swallows 

 tell us in their turn? Two species fre- 

 quent our dwellings : the Window-swallow 

 (Hirundo urbica) 1 and the Chimney-swal- 

 low (H. rustica), both of whom are very 

 badly named, both in the scientific and the 

 everyday language. Those epithets of 

 urbica and rustica, which make a town- 

 dweller of the first and a villager of the 

 second, can be applied indifferently to 

 either, since they both take up their abode 

 at one time in the town, at another in the vil- 

 lage. The terms window and chimney pos- 

 sess a precise meaning which is rarely con- 

 firmed and very often contradicted by the 

 facts. For the sake of clearness, the su- 

 preme condition of all tolerable prose, and 

 to confine myself to the habits peculiar to 

 the two species in my part of the world, I 

 will call the first the Wall-swallow and the 

 second the Domestic Swallow. The shape 

 of the nest constitutes the most striking dif- 

 ference. The Wall-swallow gives his the 

 form of a ball, with a round aperture just 

 large enough to admit the bird. The Do- 

 mestic Swallow fashions his into a cup with 

 a wide opening. 



1 Also known as the House-swallow, or House-martin. 

 Translator's Note. 



141 



