40 SWALLOWS. 



As we are not writing a regular book upon the 

 natural history" of birds, but confining ourselves 

 chiefly to anecdotes connected with their habits, we 

 shall not pretend to enter into the many details, 

 which it might be otherwise necessary to mention, 

 and shall therefore merely remind our readers that 

 Swallows are the most conspicuous of our Summer 

 birds, that with their first appearance we are accus- 

 tomed to associate the departure of Winter, and the 

 forthcoming of Summer. 



"We have four sorts, a little brownish bird, called 

 the Sand-Martin (Hirundo riparia\ which leads the 

 way, and, if looked for about the first week in April, 

 may be seen hurrying over the surface of large sheets 

 of water, or rivers, near to which are banks of sandy 

 soil, in which they burrow, and build their nests ; 

 the Chimney-Swallow (Hiriindo rusticci), with his 

 red patch upon his throat, and the Martin (Hirttndo 

 urbica\ follow nearly together; the large screaming 

 Swallow or Swift (Hiru?ido apus\ being the last to 

 come, and the first to go. 



We hare already spoken of migration (vol. i. p. 

 101), and the little difficulty in accounting for it, 

 rapid as these birds are in motion, and fitted, by 

 their length of wing, for long- continued flight. Not- 

 withstanding which, many naturalists formerly, and 

 some few still, maintain that they do not desert 

 us entirely, but become dormant during the cold 

 weather, or, what is still more extraordinary, plunge 

 into water, and remain buried in the mud at the 

 bottom, till the warmth of Spring revives them, when 

 they awaken from their slumbers, and again become 

 tenants of the air. 



