Swallow. 301 



cally incapable of accompanying their brethren, and these would 

 naturally seek the warmest recesses they could find, and there 

 become torpid from cold : while the not unusual habit of these 

 birds to seek the vicinity of water, where their winged insect 

 prey chiefly abounds, and to roost amid the reeds on the margins 

 of lakes and ponds, has probably given rise to the wondrous 

 account of their voluntary immersion during winter. As an 

 unanswerable proof that they do not hibernate, I will add that 

 it has been satisfactorily ascertained that they annually moult in 

 February, than which nothing more clear or decisive on the 

 subject can be adduced: moreover, they have been frequently 

 observed on their passage, and there is now no question that they 

 leave us as soon as their young are strong enough on the wing for 

 a prolonged journey, and when the supply of insect food begins 

 to fail : and it is astonishing what an immense number of flies of 

 various kinds a single individual of this family will consume 

 in one day, all of which are caught with great dexterity in the 

 air in the midst of their rapid and buoyant flight ; and thus they 

 rid us of what but for their good offices would be an intolerable 

 plague of flies and gnats. I may well conclude my general 

 account of this family in the words of good old Gilbert White of 

 Selborne: 'The Hirundines are a most inoffensive, harmless, 

 entertaining, social and useful tribe of birds ; they touch no fruit 

 hi our gardens ; delight (all but one species) in attaching them- 

 selves to our houses ; amuse us with their migrations, songs, and 

 marvellous agility ; and clear our outlets from the annoyance of 

 gnats and other troublesome insects.' 



115. SWALLOW (Hirundo rustica). 



There are two marks by which this species may be readily dis- 

 tinguished from its congeners, viz.: the long deeply- forked tail, 

 and rufous forehead and throat ; the plumage of the bird is a 

 glossy steel blue or purple black : it is often called the ' Chimney 

 Swallow,' and by French naturalists ' Hirondelle de cheminfe, 9 

 because it frequently selects a chimney for its nesting place, 

 though sometimes the shaft of an old mine or the rafter of 



