Swallows. 153 
ones with mortar from the roads ; a rainy day is very 
useful to them, and they alight at the edge of the 
puddles, finding the mud already mixed and tempered 
for them there. In such weather they will fly back- 
wards and forwards by the side of a hedge for a 
length of time, skimming just above the grass, when, 
looking down on them instead of up at them, the 
white bar across the lower part of the body just 
before the tail forks is very noticeable. The darker 
feathers have a glossy bluish tinge on the black. 
They seem fond of flying round and near horses and 
cattle, as if insects were more numerous near animals. 
While driving on a sultry day I have watched a 
swallow follow the horse for a mile or more. 
It is a pleasant sight to watch them gliding just 
above the surface of smooth water, dipping every 
now and then. Once, while observing some swallows 
flying over a lake, on a windy day, when there were 
waves of some size, 1 saw a swallow struck by the 
crest of a wave and overwhelmed. It was about 
twenty yards from a lee shore, and the bird floated 
on the water, rising and sinking with the waves till 
they threw it on the bank. It was much exhausted, 
but when placed on a stone in the warm sunshine 
soon recovered and flew off. 
As another proof that, quick as they are on the 
wing, they do not always judge their position or 
course precisely, I know a case where a swallow, in 
less than ten yards after leaving her nest under the 
