00. 



lines and the times of migration, and the manner in which 

 they are performed. When in autumn the migratory in- 

 stinct comes strung upoii birds of the swallow kind, they 

 do not, as was once supposed, tower straight up and then 

 start in direct flight for their winter quarters. So that 

 the birds which in the morning might be seen hawking 

 lor insects oyer Hyde Park and catching Hies over the 

 mosques of Jerusalem the same evening are now looked 

 upon by ornithologists, as myths. 



Swallows, like all migratory birds, stick close to land, 

 never leaving it unless compelled. It is noticeable that 

 they do not cross straits invariably at the narrowest parts 

 but probably by a route which indicates some long-lost 

 land line — that is, the}' cross: now where their remote an- 

 cestors crossed centuries ago. 



Swallows have alighted upon vessels four hundred miles 

 from nearest land: but, from their exhausted state, would 

 seem to have been blown out of their course, and to have 

 suffered great fatigue. Their food is taken exclusively 

 from the air, and they drink when Hying. This, so far 

 as is known,, cannot be said of any other bird. 



Various species of gnats constitute their food upon 

 their arrival in this, country; but, as summer advances, 

 winged beetles are also greedily taken. So rapidly does 

 the bird capture these, that after it has been on the wing 

 but a few moments, it has accumulated sufficient to form 



