OF SELBORNE 167 



In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called ladu 

 swala, the barn-swallow. Besides, in the warmer parts 

 of Europe there are no chimneys to houses, except 

 they are English-built : in these countries she constructs 

 her nest in porches, and gateways, and galleries, and 

 open halls. 



Here and there a bird may affect some odd, peculiar 

 place ; as we have known a swallow build down the shaft 

 of the old well, through which chalk had been formerly 

 drawn up for the purpose of manure : but in general 

 with us this hirundo breeds in chimneys ; and loves to 

 haunt those stacks where there is a constant fire, no doubt 

 for the sake of warmth. Not that it can subsist in the 

 immediate shaft where there is a fire ; but prefers one 

 adjoining to that of the kitchen, and disregards the per- 

 petual smoke of that funnel, as I have often observed with 

 some degree of wonder. 



Five or six or more feet down the chimney does this 

 little bird begin to form her nest about he middle of 

 May, which consists, like that of the house-martin, of a 

 crust or shell composed of dirt or mud, mixed with short 

 pieces of straw to render it tough and permanent ; with 

 this difference, that whereas the shell of the martin is nearly 

 hemispheric, that of the swallow is open at the top, and 

 like half a deep dish : this nest is lined with fine grasses, 

 and feathers which are often collected as they float in 

 the air. 



Wonderful is the address which this adroit bird shows all 

 day long in ascending and descending with security through 

 so narrow a pass. When hovering over the mouth of the 

 funnel, the vibrations of her wings acting on the confined 

 air occasion a rumbhng like thunder. It is not improbable 

 that the dam submits to this inconvenient situation so low 

 in the shaft, in order to secure her broods from rapacious 

 birds, and particularly from owls, which frequently fall 



