146 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



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 an 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 

 perpetual 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 the 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 ot 

 straw to render it tough and permanent ; with this differ- 

 ence, 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 rumbling 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 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 



