48 SWALLOWS. 



August; every breeze from which sweeps over the 

 land, chilling the insects and driving them to shelter; 

 and when this happens, the Swallows suffer severely, 

 and many of their young perish. Whereas, in the 

 interior of the same country, beyond the reach of 

 these ice-blasts, they run 110 risks, and rear their 

 broods without difficulty. 



The quantity of insects devoured by Swallows is 

 far greater than most people imagine. On picking 

 up a Swift that had been shot, a number of minute 

 flies or beetles, some mutilated, and others scarcely 

 injured, were observed crawling out of the bird's 

 mouth; the throat and pouch seemed absolutely 

 stuffed with them, and as many were collected, as 

 when pressed close could conveniently be contained 

 in the bowl of an ordinary table-spoon. If nearly 

 examined, a great proportion of these minute insects 

 will be found of one particular sort; and it is a 

 curious fact, that by far the greater part, indeed we 

 may say, from repeated examinations, all of those 

 which suddenly fly into our eyes when walking or 

 riding, are of the same genus (Staphylinus), if not 

 the same species (Staphylinus brachypterus\ de- 

 voured by Swallows. Most persons may have noticed, 

 in the Summer season, a disagreeable looking insect, 

 running rather briskly across a sand or gravel walk, 

 which, if touched or disturbed, immediately throws 

 up its tail, from whence project two formidable-look- 

 ing spines; it appears to have no wings, but it is 

 provided, nevertheless with a pair, most beautifully 

 folded up beneath two little short wing-cases; still, 

 however, these wings are disproportioned to the size 

 of the insect, and we may therefore reasonably con- 



