596 HIRUNDO ERTTHROPTGIA. 



white-ant gallery on a large scale, some 2 inches in diameter and from 4 to 10 inches in length, terminating 

 in a bulb-like chamber from 4i to 7 inches in diameter externally." The interior is lined with feathers or grass. 

 These retort-shaped nests vary in the extent to which the tube is constructed, and some think that the larger 

 ones are intended as roosting-places or residences. The following account of Mr. Davison's experience of one of 

 these nests seems to confirm the idea, borne out by the anecdote in the next article, that Swallows have a 

 peculiar instinct for immuring their enemies ! While examining some of these nests at Ootacamund he came 

 upon one which " had the tubular entrance walled up and the mud perfectly hard and dry. On breaking away 

 a part of the nest I found a dead bird in it, which had come quite to the sealed end of the tubular neck and 

 had there died. The nest contained three old eggs, of which the contents had partially dried up. I can only 

 account for this walling up of the entrance to the nest by supposing that some of the other birds had coveted 

 and failed to obtain this site for their nest. It is only natural to suppose that more than one pair were 

 concerned in the business, as it would have taken at least one bird to keep the inmate from leaving the nest 

 and another to keep its mate away from it, and probably another or several other pairs to close the entrance." 

 The eggs, which are pure white, are long ovals in shape and sometimes a little pyriform ; they have, says 

 Mr. Hume, little or no gloss, and average in size - 78 by 055 inch. 



