BIUD9. 2S0 



ened with water, for the better adhesion ; and still farther kept 

 firm, by long grass and fibres : witliin it is lined with goose- 

 feathers, which are ever the warmest and the neatest. The 

 martin covers its nest at top, and has a door to enter at ; the 



apppiirance of discord or quarrelling takes place iii this peaceful and affec- 

 tionate community." Wilson was in error when he supposed that the 

 chimney-swallow is distinguished from his barn.swallow by never huildiuy 

 in barns and outhouses. In Scotland, ou tlie contrary, these are its chosen 

 haunts, and there it more rarely builds in chimneys than in England. In 

 Sweden it is the same, and hence it is called the Barn-swallow {I.aiiu sipa- 

 la) ; wliile in tlie south of Europe, where chimneys are rare, it builds in 

 gateways, porches, and galleries, or against the riifters of outhouses, as in 

 Virgil's time : 



" Ante 



Garrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirimdo." 



When a chimney is selected, it seems to prefer one where there is a con- 

 stant fire, most probably for the sake of warmth. " Not," remarks White, 

 " that it can subsist in the immediate shaft, where there is a fire, but pre- 

 fers one adjoining to that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual smoke 

 of that fimnel, as 1 have often observed with some degree of wonder. Five 

 or six or more feet down the chimney, does this little bird begin to form her 

 nest about the middle of Blay, which consists, like that of the window- 

 swallow, of a crust or shell composed of dirt or mud, mixed with short 

 pieces of straw to render it tough and permanent ; with this difference, that 

 whereiis the shell of the former is nearly hemispheric, that of the latter is 

 open at the top, and like half a deep dish : this nest is lined with fine grat'ses 

 and feathers, which are often collected as they float in the air. Wonderful 

 is the address wluch this adroit bird shows all day long in ascending and de- 

 scending with security through so narrow a pass. When hovering over the 

 mouth of the funnel, the vibrations of her wings, acting on the confined air, 

 occasion a rumbling like thunder. It is not improbable that the dam submits 

 to this inconvenient situation, so low in the shaft, in order to secure her 

 broods from rapacious birds, and particularly from owls, which frequently 

 fall down cliiraneys, perhaps in attempting to get at these nestlings." It 

 might not he readily supposed that a bird, thus building iu an elevated chim. 

 ney, would have thought of going under ground for a nestling place ; yet 

 they very commonly build iu the shafts of coal-pits. 



The window-swallow is no less celebrated than the chimney-swallow, for 

 selecting singular situations. M. Hebert saw a pair build on the spring of 

 a bell, the bottom of the nest resting on the spring, while the upper semi- 

 I'irciilar brim leaned against the wall by its two ends, three or four inches 

 below the eave. The two birds, during the time they were employed in the 

 construction, passed the nights on the iron spike to which the spring was 

 fastened. The frequent concussion given by the spring could not fail to 

 disturb the action of nature in the developement of the young, and the 

 hatch, accordingly, did not succeed ; yet would not the pair forsiike their 

 tottering mansion, but continued to inhabit it for the rest of the season. 

 The semicircular form, which on this occasion was given to the nest, proves 

 III. 2 U 



