Birds of Britain 



is especially indulged in during the early hours of dawn, while 

 waiting for the sun to call to life the flies and gnats on which 

 they breakfast. Choosing a beam in a barn or outhouse, or a 

 projecting brick in some old chimney as support, they build 

 a neat cup-shaped nest of mud strengthened with straw to 

 bind it together, and line it with bents, dry grass, and feathers. 

 The eggs, generally six in number, are of a white ground 

 colour dotted or blotched with reddish brown. The duties of 

 incubation devolve on the hen, who is frequently fed by her 

 mate, but soon after the young are hatched and she is free 

 once more to seek her own food, both parents take their share 

 in the duties of housekeeping. 



This bird, eminently adapted for flight, with long pointed 

 wings and short feeble legs, is hardly ever still. Round and 

 round he circles, sometimes high, sometimes low, wherever 

 food is most abundant, only perching for a few moments on 

 some bare twig or telegraph wire to warble his twittering 

 little song, and then once again to glide with graceful ease 

 through the pathless air. Two families are generally brought 

 to maturity, but he is in no hurry to leave his home and so 

 he stays on well into the autumn. 



Previous to his departure, however, we will see them 

 collecting in large flocks at certain places, and for once they 

 seem eager to economise their strength, spending much of the 

 day sitting and resting. This goes on for a few days and 

 then suddenly they all disappear, and we shall see them no 

 more till next spring. Where have they gone, and how ? 

 By what instinct will they find their way over hundreds of 

 miles of sea, perhaps, for the first time, and yet again in 

 due season return to their birthplace ? By what power will 



no 



