SWALLOWS. 155 



Some few pairs haunt the new and open streets of London 

 next the fields, but do not enter, like the house-marten, the 

 close and crowded parts of the city. * 



Both male and female are distinguished from their con- 

 geners by the length and forkedness of their tails. They are 

 undoubtedly the most nimble of all the species ; and when the 

 male pursues the female in amorous chase, they then go beyond 

 their usual speed, and exert a rapidity almost too quick for 

 the eye to follow. 



After this circumstantial detail of the life and discerning 

 (frogy/i of the swallow, I shall add, for your farther amusement, 

 an anecdote or two, not much in favour of her sagacity : 



A certain swallow built, for two years together, on the 

 handles of a pair of garden shears, that were stuck up against 

 the boards in an out-house, and therefore must have her nest 

 spoiled whenever that implement was wanted. And, what is 

 stranger still, another bird of the same species built its nest on 

 the wings and body of an owl, that happened by accident to 

 hang, dead and dry, from the rafter of a barn. This owl, with 

 the nest on its wings, and with eggs in the nest, was brought 

 as a curiosity worthy the most elegant private museum in 

 Great Britain. The owner, struck with the oddity of the 

 sight, furnished the bringer with a large shell, or conch, desiring 

 him to fix it just where the owl hung. The person did as he 

 was ordered ; arid the following year, a pair, probably the same 

 pair, built their nest in the conch, and laid their eggs, f 



The owl and the conch make a strange, grotesque appear- 

 ance, and are not the least curious specimens in that wonderful 

 collection of art and nature. 



* In 1819, we noticed the nest of a chimney-swallow, under the coping 

 of a stack of chimneys, in Hyde Street, Bloomsbury, the very heart of 

 London. ED. 



f The following interesting circumstance is mentioned in Kalm's 

 Travels: " A pair of swallows built their nest in the stable belonging 

 to a lady ; the female laid eggs in the nest, and was about to breed them. 

 Some days after, the people saw the female sitting on the eggs, but the 

 male flying about the nest, and, sometimes sitting on a nail, he was heard 

 to utter a very plaintive note, which betrayed his uneasiness. On a nearer 

 examination, the female was found dead in the nest, and the people flung 

 her body a\\ r ay. The male went to sit upon the eggs ; but, after being 

 about two hours on them, and perhaps finding the business too trouble- 

 some, he went out, and returned in the afternoon with another female, 

 which sat upon the nest, and afterwards fed the young ones, till they were 

 able to provide for themselves." There seems to have been displayed in 

 this a degree of intelligence higher than mere instinct. ED. 



Sir Ashton Lever's Museum. 



