SWALLOW ROOSTS AND MIGRATION 



accomplish more in half a day than many 

 other birds in a whole one, and secondly they 

 can feed while on the wing. Hence night work 

 is not necessary for them, and the hours of 

 daylight easily suffice for both feeding and 

 travelling. 



I have often seen in the fall great numbers 

 of swallows flying leisurely towards the south 

 over the beach and dunes at Ipswich during 

 nearly the entire day. Now they skim close 

 to the white sand, snapping up the surface 

 flies and other delectable insects. Again they 

 mount high in the air, and continue their 

 southward journey, far removed from the 

 earth. Again they alight to feed on bayber- 

 ries, to rest and converse with each other. In 

 the air they call to each other as they fly, just 

 as do the nocturnal hosts, whose lack of skill 

 on the wing and whose feeding habits, being 

 of the earth or trees, require the extra night 

 hours of labor. These night migrants, al- 

 though heard, are invisible in the darkness, 

 while the swallows delight the eye with their 

 graceful flights in the full light of day. 



A more spectacular migration of swallows 

 I have sometunes observed. Here the resting 

 hosts, moved by a common impulse, or in re- 



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