104 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
Famity HIRUNDINIDA. 
SWALLOW. 
Hrrunpo rustica, Linn. 
Pl. XVL, figs. 12, 18; and Pl. XXXVIL., fig. 6. 
Geogr. distr.—Throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa; a common 
summer visitant in Great Britain, arriving in April and departing in 
October or November. 
Food.—Insects. 
Nest.—Semicircular or demisemicircular in shape, according to the 
position in which it is placed; open at the top; the walls are thick, 
and formed of mud pellets mixed with straw or hay ; the lining is of 
fine grass-stems, generally almost hidden by a quantity of feathers, 
though these are sometimes absent. 
Position of nest.—Inside chimneys, usually three or four feet from 
the top, though sometimes not so low down; in corners of stone 
vestibules, in barns or sheds, built upon a beam, or in a corner at the 
junction of the rafters; also down the shaft of an old well or deserted 
mune. 
Number of eggs.—4-5; rarely 6. 
Time of nidification.—V-VIII; May, and rarely later than July. 
The Swallow is double-brooded, the first sitting being 
generally complete about the second or third week of May. 
The same nest is often made use of for two successive 
years, when sufficiently protected from the weather for its 
preservation. I have a nest in my possession taken from 
the corner of the vestibule of a large house, along with the 
eggs laid in it in two successive years; the first clutch was 
somewhat abnormal in pattern, and I have figured one of 
the eggs on my supplementary plate (Pl. XXXVIL., fig. 6). 
When approaching the nest the parent birds always give 
notice of their advent by a sharp and somewhat plaintive 
double note, doubtless to prepare their young to be ready 
for meals, though the old birds evidently do not know why 
they do it, since they behave in the same way when the 
nest is empty, or only contains eggs. This is, however, 
unfortunate for the young odlogist, who is often told that 
the birds are crying for the loss of the eggs which he has 
deprived them of, and is forbidden to continue his favourite 
pursuit ; yet those who reprove him will unblushingly rob 
the poor domestic fowl every time she lays. 
In the ‘ Field’ for 1871, p. 281, Mr. Harting has recorded 
the shooting of a white variety of this bird, but as the iris 
was of the usual brown colour, the crown exhibited a few 
dusky feathers, and the throat was pale rufous, it could not 
be called a pure albino; the bill and interior of the mouth 
were bright yellow. 
