318 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE, 



It can scarcely be attributed to accident, and does not 

 admit of mal-observation. My informant says : — 



Two swallows^ were building a nest in the verandah of a 

 house in Victoria, but as their nest was resting partly on a bell- 

 wire, it was by this means twice pulled down. They then 

 began afresh, making a tunnel through the lower part of the 

 nest, through which the wii-e was able to act without doing 

 damage. 



Another gentleman writes me of another use to which 

 be has observed swallows put the artifice of building 

 tunnels. Being molested by sparrows which desired to 

 take forcible possession of their nest, a pair of swallows 

 modified the entrance of the latter, so that instead of 

 opening by a simple bole under the eaves of a house, it 

 was carried on in the form of a tunnel. 



Linnaeus says that the martin, when it builds under the 

 eaves of houses, sometimes is molested by sparrows taking 

 possession of the nest. The pair of martins to which the 

 nest belongs are not strong enough to dislodge the in- 

 vaders ; but they convoke their companions, some of whom 

 guard the captives, whilst others bring clay, close up the 

 entrance of the nest, and leave the sparrows to die miser- 

 ably. This account has been to a large extent indepen- 

 dently confirmed by Jesse, who seems not to have been 

 acquainted with the statement of Linnaeus. He writes : — 



Swallows seem to entertain the recollection of injury, and 

 to resent it when an opportunity ofiers. A pair of swallows 

 built their nest under the ledge of a house at Hampton Court. 

 It was no sooner completed than a couple of sparrows drove 

 them from it, notwithstanding the swallows kept up a good re- 

 sistance, and even brought others to assist them. The intruders 

 were lefc in peaceable possession of the nest, till the two old 

 birds were obliged to quit it to provide food for their young. They 

 had no sooner departed than several swallows came and broke 

 dow^n the nest ; and I saw the young sparrows lying dead on 

 the ground. As soon as the nest was demolished, the swallows 

 began to rebuild it.^ 



The same author gives the following and somewhat 



similar case : — 



' Gleanings, vol. ii., p. 96. 



