ROUND ABOUT THE HOMESTEADS. 19 



ments, however, it differs considerably, and always 

 prefers a covered site for its nest. This is gene- 

 rally in a shed, a barn, or an outhouse, or even a 

 wide old-fashioned chimney. I have often known 

 the bird select a site under an archway or in a 

 passage. The Swallow is just as trustful as the 

 Martin, perhaps even more so, and will some- 

 times make its nest within reach of the hand of 

 every passer-by. The nest is more open than the 

 Martin's, yet composed of similar materials a 

 shell of mud, lined with dry grass and feathers. 

 The eggs are four or five in number, white in 

 ground colour, spotted and blotched with coffee- 

 brown and violet -gray. The Swallow begins 

 nesting in May, and the young are abroad early 

 in July. These latter are fed by their parents in 

 the air for long after they leave the nest, whither, 

 by the way, they usually repair at night to roost. 

 I do not find that the Swallow ever uses the old 

 nest twice, although the bird unerringly returns 

 to the same shed or building, and makes a new 

 one close by. The young male Swallows, readily 

 identified by their shorter tails, are often heard to 

 sing in autumn as they fly to and fro. 



Popular opinion closely associates the SWIFT widely 

 (Cypselus apus) with the Swallows, and certainly 

 so far as habits and outward appearance go, there 

 seems much in favour of the supposition. But 

 the Swift is not a Passerine bird at all, and 

 belongs to the great order PICARI^, a group which 

 contains among others the Goatsuckers, the King- 

 fishers, the Woodpeckers, and the Humming Birds. 

 Indeed, the Swift is more closely related to the 

 latter than is generally supposed. The wide 

 gape resembles that of the Swallows, but the 



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