54 THE BIKDS OF DEVOX. 



[Ohservafton. — A continental Pied Flycatcher, Mvscicapa coUnrls, closely 

 resembling the foregoing, hut -with a white ring round its neck, might he 

 expected occasionally to occur, and may, perhaps, have been confounded 

 -with M. a fricnpill a in some instances; as also the little Eed-hreasted Fly- 

 catcher, Miiscirapa parva, several specimens having been obtained in the 

 Land's End district and on the Scilly Islands.] 



Family HIRUNDINID^. 



THE SWALLOWS. 



These imiversally welcomed and favourite birds may lay 

 claim to being the best kno^yn of our summer mi<^rants to 

 ordinary people ; and yet, although the various species 

 ■which come to our shores are most easily to be distinguished, 

 it is common to hear of their being all lumped together, 

 and even confounded with the Swift, which together with 

 the Martin bears the general name of Swallow, whilst 

 Swallows are often called Swifts. Following this general 

 idea ornithologists formerly united the Swallows, Swifts, 

 and Nightjars together amongst the Fissirostres, or wide- 

 gaping birds, but most scientific men now separate the 

 Swifts and Nightjars on account of certain anatomical 

 differences and place them with the Picarise, a course 

 which Avc have pursued in this work, because the Committee 

 of the British Ornithologists' Union have done so in their 

 ' List,' which we have elected to follow, though such an 

 arrangement can only be considered as provisional. In 

 discussing the Swallows in general, however, we have 

 dealt with the Swift in connection with them ; they are 

 so constantly associated together that it is difficult to 

 avoid doing so in a work of a popular character. 



The Swallows are ])re-eminently the heralds of spring, 

 and when they have all left us we are sadly reminded that 

 the dark days of winter are about to return. Their pre- 

 sence is to be detected the very day of their arrival, as they 



