DR. THEODOR NEUMANN. 161 



swallows. We welcome their first appearance with de- 

 light as the faithful harbingers and companions of flow- 

 ery spring and ruddy summer ; even the solitary Indian 

 seems to have a particular respect for this bird and takes 

 care to prepare a convenient nesting place for it by hang- 

 ing on a neighboring tree an empty gourd in which a 

 hole has been roughly cut. The more civilized inhabi- 

 tants of farms provide for its roosting by fastening nest- 

 ing boxes against the wall, and some persons even build 

 regular cotes, of which the sociable birds soon take pos- 

 session. 



The nests of the different species are very variable in 

 shape and size, some of them cup-shaped, others semi- 

 globular, others closely resembling a common oil-flask 

 or having the form of an inverted cone with a perpen- 

 dicular section cut off on that side by which it adheres 

 to the wall. 



In every case, however, the nest is built of mud or clay, 

 which the birds bring along in small lumps in their 

 beaks, sometimes after having kneaded it thoroughly, 

 and then stick in irregular rows so as to build up the 

 sides of the little edifice. Here and there the dainty 

 architects mix the walls with fine hairs or long thin 

 pieces of hay, as plasterers do their mortar, to make it ad- 

 here better and to add strength to the building. There 

 may be an attempt at smoothing the surface of the nest, 

 but each lump is easily distinguishable upon the spot 

 where it has been stuck. Except upon wet days, the 

 birds work in the evening and morning only, as the heat 

 of mid day seems to dry the mud so rapidly that it can- 

 not be rightly kneaded together; moreover, they must 

 wait until the part done acquires the requisite firmness 

 to hold the following layer. Consequently these nests 

 obtain such a rigidityandstrength that they may be used 

 ten years and more, each y€0,r needing only to be re- 

 paired, cleaned and lined anew with feathers and other 



99 



