SWALLOW NESTS. 61 



have been decreasing in numbers, in the most un- 

 accountable manner, not only in England, but in 

 almost every part of the Continent. 



The same church-steeple, which has enabled us 

 year after year to watch the Starlings'"", was formerly 

 a source of equal interest respecting Swallows; 

 nests were snugly concealed in sheltered nooks, the 

 belfry itself being a favourite resort, notwithstanding 

 the frequent peals, which might have shaken the 

 nerves of less determined birds; and a few days 

 before their final departure, it was pleasant to watch 

 them, marshalling their newly-fledged broods along 

 the projecting dripstones and mouldings on the 

 eastern side of the old gray tower, enjoying the 

 morning sun. As the numbers collected seemed far 

 to exceed those which were reared there, it appeared 

 as if the united broods of the neighbourhood had, by 

 common consent, fixed upon it as a favoured central 

 rendezvous. All was exhilaration, a perpetual twit- 

 tering was kept up; a few of the old ones would, 

 after flying in circles round the battlements, pass 

 screaming by the reposing ranks of young ones, and 

 then, as if by word of command, the whole body 

 would sweep from their resting-places, and, in loud 

 chorus, take a wider circuit, as if to try their powers ; 

 and then, in an instant, crowd again together, and 

 rest as before. But those days are gone by ; year 

 after year the numbers have fallen off, and at present 

 we are not aware of even a single nest. 



There may be, however, some solitary exceptions 

 to their diminution; one, indeed, fell under our 

 observation, on the 1 7th of June, 1 833, when we 



* See page 2. 



