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The habits of the Common Swallow are familiar to everyone, and have been 

 told and retold in many w^orks on British birds. One of the best accounts appears 

 to us to be that of Mr. Henry Seebohm in his, ' History of British Birds,' from which 

 Ave make the following extract : — " The nest of the Swallow is generally placed on the 

 joist which supports the rafters of a barn or other outhouse, a few inches below the 

 tiles or slates which form the roof. In this position it rests upon the horizontal surface 

 of the joist, and is a ring of mud lined with dry grass and a few feathers. By far the 

 greater number of Swallows' nests which I have seen in this country have been built in 

 this position and on this model. Curiously enough, this is not the case on the Continent. 

 There the Swallow generally builds against a perpendicular wall, but also only a few 

 inches below some horizontal shelf or roof ; in this situation the nest is in the shape of 

 a quarter of a hollow globe of mud. To increase the security of the structure it gladly 

 avails itself of any little projection or nail or peg to begin upon. But the usual nest of 

 the Swallow on the Continent only differs from that of the Martin in having the sides as 

 well as the front open instead of built up to the projecting shelf or roof. At the railway- 

 station at Ptustchuk dozens of Swallows' and Martins' nests may be seen side by side, and 

 differing only in the manner I have described. In the large building where my friend 

 Oberamtmann Nehrkorn stall-feeds his cattle, near Brunswick, the roof is supported by 

 iron pillars, and many Swallows build their nests under the heavy beams which rest 

 upon them, using the iron ring which does duty as a capital to lay the foundation mud 

 upon. The continental system approaches nearest to the habits of the Swallow in a 

 state of nature. When Mr. Young and I were in the Dobrudscha we twice had the 

 good fortune to find small colonies of these birds, so to speak, wild. In one case the 

 nests were built against the perpendicular cliffs under an overhanging ledge of rock, 

 leaving perhaps an inch of space all round for the ingress and egress of the bird. In the 

 other case the nests were built in exactly similar situations on the roofs of caves. In 

 one nest the eggs were nearly hatched, and we watched the birds flying in and out, so 

 that no possible doubt as to the species could arise. One of the nests was in the occu- 

 pation of a Sparrow. Several other instances of the breeding of the Swallow in cliffs 

 and caves have been recorded. Edwards has noticed it so doing on the coast of Banff- 

 shire ; and PJdgway found the American form of the Swallow breeding in caves in 

 Nevada, one of the Pacific States, and also mentions that in America it often builds 

 against a perpendicular wall if it cannot find a suitable horizontal rafter. Otlier 

 localities are also chosen in England. It often breeds in chimneys and occasionally 

 down a well or an old mine, or under a bridge or a doorway, in all of which situations 

 the nest is generally built on the continental model. Dixon has seen its nest in 

 buildings on stones projecting from the wall several feet from the roof or any other 

 shelter. Blyth records one instance of a Swallow building in the hole of a tree about 

 thii'ty feet from the ground ; and Yari-ell figures a nest built in the fork of the branch of 

 a sycamore tree. To make the nest strong, the SAvallow mixes with the mud of which 

 the walls are composed dry grass, straAV, or hair. The mud-made shell or cu]d is neatly 

 lined with dry grass and a few feathers, generally obtained as the bird files through the 



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