THE SWALLOW TEIBE. 333 



tation wlilch a month's growth would not repair. 

 The swallow never touches our fruits, nor asks 

 one grain of the ripening corn, or the store of the 

 granary. " The immense quantity of flies," says 

 the author of the Journal of a Naturalist, " which 

 are destroyed in a short space of time by one 

 individual bird, is scarcely to be credited by those 

 who have not had actual experience of the facts. 

 I was once present when a swift was shot, — I may 

 as well confess the truth — I was myself (then a 

 thoughtless youth) the perpetrator of the deed: 

 I acknowledge the fault in contrition, and will 

 never be guilty of the like again. It was in the 

 breeding season, when the young were hatched; 

 at which time the parent birds, as is well known, 

 are in the habit of making little excursions into 

 the country, to a considerable distance from their 

 breeding places, for the purpose of collecting flies, 

 which they bring home to their infant progeny. 

 On picking up my hapless and ill-gotten prey, 

 I observed a number of flies, some mutilated, 

 others scarcely injured, crawling out of the bird's 

 mouth; the throat and pouch seemed absolutely 

 stuffed with them, and an incredible number was 

 at length disgorged. I am sure I speak within 



