240 HIRTJNDINID.E. 



plies between it and Port Carlisle, in the way of tugging 

 vessels. A pair of Swallows built their nest last year 

 under the sponsons of one of the paddle-wheels, not more 

 than three feet above the water, and succeeded in bringing 

 forth their young. There they are this summer again. 

 During neap tides the Clarence plies every other day, and 

 often every day. When she leaves the Waterfoot, the 

 birds leave her, and keep on the Scotch side ; and when 

 she returns, and is nearing Annan, the Swallows invariably 

 meet her, and accompany her to her berth. 



Another most unusual selection of a situation for a Swal- 

 low's nest is that which forms the subject of the vignette to 

 the present article, and for the opportunity of figuring which 

 I am indebted to the kindness of William Wells, Esq. 

 of Eedleaf. This nest was built on the bough of a 

 sycamore, hanging low over a pond at the Moat, Pens- 

 hurst, in Kent, in the summer of 1832. Two sets of eggs 

 were laid in it : the first brood were reared, but the second 

 died unfledged. The vignette was executed from a draw- 

 ing made by Mr. Edward Cooke, at the request of Mr. 

 Wells, and obligingly devoted to my use. 



The note of the adult Swallow is a soft and sweet 

 warble, and the attention paid by the parent birds to the 

 wants of their young is incessant, returning to the nest with 

 food once in every three minutes throughout a great portion 

 of the day ; yet is the law of migration sometimes of an 

 influence so powerful, that they have been known to desert 

 their young, and leave them to perish in their nests. But 

 as this circumstance has been more particularly observed in 

 the Martin, next to be described, it will be referred to 

 more at length in that place. On the young birds first 

 leaving their nest, "they perch for a few days on the chim- 

 ney top, or on the roof of the house, and are there fed by 



