36 On the wanton Destmction of Swallows. 



indeed ! No injury, no meditated crime, was ever im- 

 puted to these birds ; they free our dwellings from multitudes 

 of insects ; their unsuspicious confidence and familiarity with 

 men merit protection, not punishment, from him. The suffer- 

 ings of their broods, when the parents are destroyed, should 

 excite humanity, and demand forbearance. I supplicate from 

 the youthful sportsman his consideration for these most inno- 

 cent creatures." 



I have frequently heard the remark made of late years, 

 ** How few swallows we have this season ! " May not the de- 

 ficiency be owing in some measure to the detestable practice 

 here alluded to ? The followers of this unmanly sport will, 

 perhaps, take up their defence, and say that they pursue it 

 with a view to practise and improve their skill as marksmen: 

 but I have known those who, after slaughtering the inoffen- 

 sive swallows and swifts in great numbers, could yet give but 

 a poor account of the partridges on the 1st of September; 

 and the reason is, that a far greater degree of coolness and 

 self-possession, prime requisites in the formation of what is 

 called a good shot, is exercised in the one case, than in the 

 other. The young sportsman levels his tube with deUberate 

 composure at the passing swallow or the swift, while he is apt 

 to be hurried and unnerved by the rush and bustle of the ris- 

 ing covey. The shooting of swallows, therefore, for practice, 

 does not advance the sportsman's skill so much as at first 

 sight might be supposed : but, if it did, the positive good 

 these creatures do, the beneficial services they perform for us 

 by clearing the air of innumerable insects, ought to render 

 them sacred, and secure them from our molestation. With- 

 out their friendly aid, the atmosphere we live in would scarcely 

 be habitable by man. They feed entirely on insects, which, 

 if not kept under by their means, would swarm and torment 

 US like another Egyptian plague. The immense quantity of 

 flies destroyed in a short space of time by one individual bird, 

 is scarcely to be credited by those who have not had actual 

 experience of the fact. I was once present when a swift was 

 shot, — I may as well confess the truth, — I was myself (then a 

 thoughtless youth) the perpetrator of the deed: I acknow- 

 ledge the fault in contrition, and will never be guilty of the 

 like again. It was in the breeding season, when the young 

 were hatched; at which time the parent birds, it is well 

 known, are in the habit of making little excursions into the 

 country to a considerable distance from their breeding places, 

 for the purpose of collecting flies, which they bring home to 

 their infant progeny. On picking up my hapless and ill- 

 gotten prey, I observed a number of flies, some mutilated, 



