In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called Ladu 

 swala, the barn-swallow. Besides, in the warmer 

 parts of Europe there are no chimneys to houses, 

 except they are English built : in these countries she 

 constructs her nest in porches, and gateways, and 

 galleries, and open halls. 



Here and there a bird may affect some odd, 

 peculiar place ; as we have known a swallow build 

 down a shaft of an old well, through which chalk 

 had been formerly drawn up for the purpose of 

 manure : but in general with us this hirundo breeds 

 in chimneys ; and loves to haunt those stacks where 

 there is a constant fire, no doubt for the sake of 

 warmth. Not that it can subsist in the immediate 

 shaft where there is a fire ; but prefers one adjoining 

 to that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual 

 smoke of that funnel, as I 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 mid- 

 dle of May, which consists, like that of the house- 

 martin, 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 whereas 

 the shell of the martin is nearly hemispheric, that of 

 the swallow is open at the top, and like half a deep 

 dish : this nest is lined with fine grasses, and feathers 

 which are often collected as they fioat in the air. 



Wonderful is the address which this adroit bird 



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