S8 On the nsoaiitoii Destructio7i of Swallows. 



is to be believed, and, being " Nature's child," he was no 

 inaccurate observer of her ways, the occurrence of this bird 

 at any place in more than ordinary numbers is a symptom of 

 the fineness and salubrity of the air : — 



" This guest of summer, 



The temple-haunting martlet, does approve. 



By his loved mansionry, that heaven's breath 



Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze, 



Buttress, nor coigne of vantage, but this bird 



Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle. 



Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed 



The air is delicate." Macbeth. 



From the quotations already made in defence and recom- 

 mendation of our British i^iriindines, you will perceive, 

 Mr. Editor, that I am, as Sir Henry Wotton says, " but a 

 gatherer of other men's stuff, at my best value." Availing 

 myself, therefore, of my privilege, I trust I shall have your 

 pardon, if not your thanks, for concluding my remarks with 

 another extract from a modern writer, which, for its truth, 

 beauty, and vivacity, cannot easily be surpassed or equalled. 

 " I delight in this living landscape ! The swallow is one of 

 my favourite birds, and a rival of the nightmgale ; for he glads 

 my sense of seeing, as much as the other does my sense of 

 hearing. He is the joyous prophet of the year, the harbinger 

 of the best season ; he lives a life of enjoyment amongst the 

 loveliest fornis of nature ; winter is unknown to him, and he 

 leaves the green meadows of England in autumn, for the 

 myrtle and orange groves of Italy, and for the palms of 

 Africa : he has always objects of pursuit, and his success is 

 secure. Even the beings selected for his prey are poetical, 

 beautiful, and transient. The ephemerae are saved by his 

 means from a slow and lingering death in the evening, and 

 killed in a moment, when they have known nothing of life but 

 pleasure. He is the constant destroyer of insects, the friend 

 of man i and, with the stork and the ibis, may he regarded as a 

 sacred bird. His instinct, which gives him his appointed sea- 

 sons, and which teaches him always when and where to move, 

 may be regarded as flowing from a Divine Source ; and he 

 belongs to the oracles of nature, which speak the awful and 

 intelligible language of a present Deity."* 



After this glowing and inimitable passage, any further re- 

 marks from me would be worse than superfluous ; I beg, 

 therefore, to subscribe myself. Yours, &c. 



Nov, 23. ] 829. Philochelidon. 



* Salmonia, p. 79. 



