﻿Beneficial to Agriculture. 25 



SWALLOW. 



Hirundo rustica. 



This very familiar summer migrant is generally distributed 

 throughout the British Islands. In the Orkneys and Shetlands it 

 has occasionally been known to breed. 



The usual time for its arrival in this country is during the first 

 half of April, and it generally departs in October ; but stragglers 

 often remain until the first week of November, and sometimes as 

 late as December in the more southern counties. 



The primitive nesting sites of the swallow were undoubtedly 

 eaves, which has led to its habit of selecting the interior of barns, 

 sheds and other outbuildings, chimneys, and the habitations of 

 man generally. The nest is usually placed on a beam or other 

 support against a wall ; it is open above and normally shaped like 

 half a saucer or horseshoe, and it is composed of mud-pellets mixed 

 with pieces of hay, straw or hair, with an ample lining of dried 

 grass and feathers. The eggs usually number four to six ; they 

 are white, blotched with various shades of rufous, dark brown and 

 grey. 



The Swallow returns to the same nesting site ; and often the 

 same nest is used for two, three or more consecutive years. Birds 

 bred and marked in this country have been captured the following 

 winter in South Africa as far south as the Cape. 



The food of the Swallow is entirely insectivorous ; gnats, flies 

 of all descriptions, May flies, and small beetles are its staple diet. 

 Butterflies and moths, when put to flight, are also captured. It 

 captures its prey on the wing, and drinks while skimming over the 

 surface of a pond, also picking up aquatic insects which are resting 

 on the water. 



The Swallow is a handsome bird ; its forehead and throat are 

 chestnut-red, the upper parts and pectoral band very deep 

 metallic-blue; wings and tail deep bronze, the feathers of the 

 latter with a sub-marginal row of white spots on the inner webs, 

 except the central pair ; the outer pair are elongated and tapering, 

 and as long again as the second pair ; under-parts creamy-buff; 

 under tail-coverts light chestnut ; the bill and very small feet are 

 black. The female has less chestnut on the forehead, tail streamers 

 shorter and under-parts lighter. 



