168 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



down chimneys, perhaps in attempting to get at these 

 nestlings. 



The swallow lays from four to six white eggs, dotted 

 with red specks ; and brings out her first brood about the 

 last week in June, or the first week in July. The pro- 

 gressive method by which the young are introduced into 

 life is very amusing : first, they emerge from the shaft with 

 difficulty enough, and often fall down into the rooms below : 

 for a day or so they are fed on the chimney-top, and then 

 are conducted lo the dead leafless bough of some tree, 

 where, sitting in a row, thej^ are attended with great 

 assiduity, and may then be called perchers. In a day or 

 two more they become flyers, but are still unable to take 

 their own food ; therefore they play about near the place 

 where the dams are hawking for flies ; and when a mouth- 

 ful is collected, at a certain signal given, the dam and the 

 nestling advance, rising towards each other, and meeting 

 at an angle ; the young one all the while uttering such a 

 little quick note of gratitude and complacency, that a 

 person must have paid very little regard to the wonders of 

 nature that has not often remarked this feat. 



The dam betakes herself immediately to the business 

 of a second brood as soon as she is disengaged from her 

 first ; which at once associates with the first broods of 

 house-martins ; and with them congregates, clustering 

 on sunny roofs, towers, and trees. This hirundo brings 

 out her second brood towards the middle and end of 

 August. 



All the summer long is the swallow a most instructive 

 pattern of unwearied industry and affection ; for, from 

 morning to night, while there is a family to be sup- 

 ported, she spends the whole day in skimming close to 

 the ground, and exerting the most sudden turns and 

 quick evolutions. Avenues, and long walks under hedges, 

 and pasture-fields, and mown meadows where cattle 



