CHIMNEY SWALLOW.^ 



When I went to Egypt I expected to have seen our common 

 Swallows wintering there, but I only saw the Oriental sort, with 

 chestnut-coloured breasts. There were also Martins, much the 

 same as those that come here. I have seen in a French bird book 

 (the name of whose author I forget) that our Chimney Swallow 

 goes south of the equator in winter. 



The Chimney Swallow is common in Algeria, and comes 

 there in spring somewhat earlier than it does to England. It is 

 very tame. I have seen a pair in a peasant's house building 

 their nest. The people told us the same pair had returned to 

 the same place several times. One of them had a pale chestnut 

 breast, which they recognised it by. It looked as if it were 

 half an Oriental. Sometimes when we were travelling in out-of- 

 the-way places during a tour in Algeria, Swallows would fly 

 about in our bedroom, and one roosted on a white pith helmet 

 hanging on the wall. It looked like an emblem of summer. 



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