' BIRDS. 361 



were at rest, and the sea remained smooth and calm. This 

 period was therefore called by Pliny and Aristotle the Halcyon 

 days, and as such is frequently mentioned or referred to by 

 the poets. Thus 



"All nature seemed 



Fond of tranquillity; the glassy sea 



Scarce rippled the Halcyon slept upon the wave; 



The winds were all at rest." THE STORM. 



The Goatsuckers ( Caprimulgidce), to whose habits reference 

 has already been made (p. 344), form another family of this 

 tribe. Though abundant in certain situations they are not 

 generally diffused; and about Belfast their occurrence is so 

 very rare that we have never seen one alive. We shall 

 therefore devote all our available space to the remaining 

 family, that of the Swallows (Hirundinidce) . 



"The Swallow, " says Sir Humphrey Davy, in his Salmonia, 

 " is one of my favourite birds, and a rival of the Nightingale, 

 for he cheers my sense of seeing as much as the other does 

 my sense of hearing. He is the glad prophet of the year 

 the harbinger of the best season; he lives a life of enjoyment 

 amongst the loveliest forms of nature; winter is unknown to 

 him; and he leaves the green meadows of England in autumn 

 for the myrtle and orange groves of Italy, and for the palms 

 of Africa." The bird does not winter in Italy;* but in other 

 respects, " this is, in truth," to use the words of Mr. Yarrell, 

 " a brief but a perfect sketch of the history of the Swallow." 



The Swallow (Hirundo rustica) arrives in these countries 

 about the 10th of April, and remains about six months. It 

 builds in the shafts of unused chimneys, and under the shelter 

 afforded by the roofs of out-houses, preferring such situations 

 as are in the vicinity of water, and where its insect prey may 

 be regarded as most abundant. The chestnut and blue of the 

 breast, the black legs and toes, and the larger size distinguish 

 it from the species next to be mentioned. 



The House-martin, (H. urbica). In this bird the chin and 

 all the under part of the body is white, and the legs covered 

 with short downy white feathers. It appears a few days 

 later than the Swallow. It is this species which the poet 

 has so beautifully pictured (p. 360); and whose nest every 



* " Swallows leaving Italy, which they all do in autumn, go off in the 

 direction of Egypt, and have been seen in Egypt going still farther south." 

 Yarrell, vol. ii. 



