THE SWALLOW 



HIRUNDO RUSTICS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed summer visitor, of almost universal occurrence. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Swallow is a common summer visitor to all 

 suitable parts of the Metropolitan area. There can be no 

 doubt that years ago the bird nested very much nearer to 

 St. Paul's than it does now. There are spots to which 

 it yearly resorts to nest within the four-mile radius, but 

 these are few. It is recorded as having bred in 1884 on 

 St. Luke's Church at Battersea, and undoubtedly does so 

 in the Dulwich and Hampstead districts. It is more 

 commonly dispersed in the outlying suburbs, and breeds 

 from a radius which includes Tooting, Streatham, Barnes, 

 Chiswick, Acton, Willesden, Highgate, Hornsey, Wood 

 Green, Leyton, Stratford, Wanstead, Greenwich, and 

 Sydenham to the extreme boundaries of the Metropolis. 

 During spring and autumn the Swallow often visits the 

 more central localities. I have seen it flying over the 

 City, and it frequently resorts to the urban parks. I have 

 watched it hawking for insects above the Serpentine, 

 the lake in St. James's Park, the ornamental water in 

 Regent's Park, and the Thames between Battersea and 

 Westminster. Years ago it might often be seen flitting 

 above the filtering-beds near Battersea Park Station, and 

 may be now. 



If the atmosphere of inner London could be made 

 purer and better adapted for insect life there can be little 

 doubt that the Swallow would return to many long- 

 deserted haunts and rear its young within them. All 

 other conditions are suitable, for there are many towns 

 in England where the Swallow may be seen threading 



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