THE SWALLOW. 



139 



" I only observed this bird in the interior, and as far as I can learn, it has not been 

 seen to the westward of York : I am told it is merely a summer visitor. It is a very 

 wandering species, never very numerous, and is generally seen in small flocks of from ten 

 to twenty in number, flying about, sometimes in company with the other Swallows for 

 about ten minutes, and then flying right away. I noticed this singular habit every time 

 I had an opportunity of observing the species. It usually flies high, a circumstance 

 which renders it difficult to procure specimens. Its flight more nearly resembles that of 

 the Swift than the Swallow; its cry also at times very much resembles that of the former. 

 Its food principally consists of minute black flies. 



This bird chooses for its nest the deserted hole of either the Dalgyte (Perameles 

 lagotis), or the Boodee (a species of Bettongia), in the sides of which it burrows for about 

 seven or nine inches in an horizontal direction, making no nest, but merely laying its eggs 

 on the bare sand. 



The White-breasted Swallow is termed by the colonists the Black-and-white Swallow, 

 in allusion to the bold contrasts of the colours with which its plumage is decorated, and 

 the natives know it under the title of Boo-de-boo-de." 



SWALLOW. Hirundo Rustica. 



THE elegantly shaped and beautifully coloured SWALLOW may be readily distinguished 

 from any of its British relations by the very great elongation of the feathers which edge 

 its tail, and which form nearly two-thirds of the bird's entire length. 



It is the most familiar of all the Hirundinidse of England, and from its great 

 familiarity with man, and the trustfulness with which it fixes its domicile under the 

 shelter of human habitations, is generally hold as an almost sacred bird, in cornmpn with 

 ihe robin and the wren. In eastern countries, the protection of man is extended towards 

 this beautiful little bird even more extensively than in England, where too often it is 

 killed or wounded by the unfeeling possessor or hirer of a gun merely by way of practice 

 in " shooting flying." 



Independently of any question of humanity or the barbarity of a disposition which 

 can find amusement in the death and cruel maiming of beings full of life and enjoyment, 

 it is a matter of very bad policy to shoot a swallow. There are some birds which afford 

 some excuse to their destroyers by reason of their fondness for grain and fruit, but the 

 Swallow is exclusively an insect-eating bird, and plays a most important part in preserving 

 the balance between the various departments of the animal kingdom. There are many 

 noxious insects which are most valuable in themselves, and which, until the conditions 



