FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 7 



which the gape is supplied, and the viscid saliva, assisting 

 in the retention of the prey. This bird, like the Owl, 

 rejects the undigested portions of its food in small pellets, 

 called castings. 



Swallows commence building their nests in May; 

 they usually select some unused place, such as an old 

 chimney, or the corners of doors, or under the roof of a cart- 

 shed or outhouse, where access is easy and uninterrupted. 

 The nest is in shape somewhat similar to a flattened cup 

 divided perpendicularly, and is made of clay, mud, and 

 straw, lined with horsehair, feathers, and other soft ma- 

 terials; the eggs number from four to six, and are of a 

 delicate white colour spotted with purply red. The 

 parents are unremitting in their attention to their brood, 

 which they continually feed with the insects captured in 

 their flights. Two broods are usually produced in the 

 season ; and it is to the second brood that most of those 

 birds belong which, as already stated, linger after the 

 general migration, and perish from the cold weather and 

 starvation. 



The Swallow seldom settles, although occasionally it 

 alights on a roof or the withered branch of a tree ; but as 

 the moment for migration approaches the birds congregate 

 in vast numbers, and may be seen perched closely together 

 on walls, telegraph-wires, the summits of high buildings, 

 and even on the ground and sea-shore. On these occasions 

 the younger birds may be distinguished by their frequently 

 taking short wheeling flights, whilst their parents, as if 

 aware of the journey before them, continue to rest steadily 

 on their perches. 



The length of the Swallow is about eight and a half 

 inches ; the beak is black ; the gape wide ; irides hazel ; 



