Some Bird Architects. 



which chalk had been formerly, drawn up for the pur- 

 pose of manure ; but in general with us this hirundo 

 breeds in chimneys, and loves to haunt those stacks 

 where there is a constant fire, no doubt for the sake of 

 warmth. Not that it can subsist in the immediate 

 shaft where there is a fire, but prefers one adjoining to 

 that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual smoke 

 of that funnel, as I have often observed with some 

 degree of wonder. Five or six or more feet down the 

 chimney does the little bird begin to form her nest 

 about the middle of May ; which consists, like that of 

 the House Martin, of a crust or shell composed of dirt 

 or mud, mixed with short pieces of straw to render it 

 tough and permanent : with this difference, that where- 

 as the shell of the Martin is nearly hemispheric, that 

 of the Swallow is open at the top and like half a deep 

 dish. This nest is lined with fine grasses, and feathers 

 which are often collected as they float in the air. Won- 

 derful is the address which this adroit bird shows all 

 day long in ascending and descending with security 

 through so narrow a pass. When hovering over the 

 mouth of the funnel, the vibrations of her wings, acting 

 on the confined air, occasion a rumbling like thunder. 

 It is not improbable that the dam submits to this in- 

 convenient situation so low in the shaft in order to 

 secure her broods from rapacious birds, and particu- 

 larly from owls, which frequently fall down chimneys, 

 perhaps in attempting to get at these nestlings." 



(1,910) 



209 



