6842 Birds. 



Swallow {Hirundo rustica) and Martin {H. riparia). These birds 

 are in about equal numbers. The latter generally nestles in the 

 corners of windows, the former in barns, &c. ; they also breed 

 along the sea-shore wherever there is a cave or projecting rock suit- 

 able. White and cream-coloured varieties are sometimes met with. 



Sand Martin {H. urhica). Wherever there is a bank of any height 

 and not too hard, whether along the sea-shore or river-side, or a 

 quarry or sand-hole, a colony of these active little creatures are almost 

 sure to be met with during summer. It is surprising to see how they 

 perforate these places, and the depth to which they will sometimes^ 

 go, especially when we consider the remarkably feeble instruments 

 they do it with — a very small and slender bill, and feet equally small 

 and tender ; but it is Nature, and all her works are wonderful har- 

 monious, beautiful and sublime. 



Swift {Cypselus apus). Of all our migratory species this is gene- 

 rally the first to depart and the last to arrive. Next to the skylark 

 the swift appears to ascend highest in his aerial flights ; and a very 

 beautiful sight it is to see it, on a clear, still evening, hawking and 

 gamboling about so far above the earth, and, it may be, screaming 

 its farewell requiem to the departing sun. The swift, as I have 

 already stated, is the first to depart, that is, generally towards the end 

 of August or beginning of September, and returns about the middle 

 of May ; the sand martin next, or about the second or third week in 

 September, and usually returns about the third week in April ; a.nd 

 the swallow and house martin commonly about the first week or 

 middle of October, and reappears about the 1st of May. There is an 

 old nest, a sparrow's I believe, under the roof of a house here, in 

 which a pair of swifts has bred for the last twenty-two years, and how 

 long before I cannot tell. I do not say that they have always been 

 the same birds ; but that a pair have done so for the time stated I 

 am quite certain. 



Before I part with this interesting tribe I must become a -little 

 arithmetical. We are frequently told, and justly, of the great benefit 

 swallows and other insect- feeders do, by the countless herds of 

 noxious creatures which they destroy ; and I will relate an instance 

 of my own experience in this respect. Picking up a swallow which 

 had been shot by a friend, I found that its mouth was crammed with 

 flies, some of which were alive, and all seemed attached to the mouth 

 by a glutinous fluid. The bird had apparently been catering for its 

 young. Being desirous of making a further examination, I wrapped 

 it in paper and put it in my pocket. On reaching home I opened the 



