338 NOTES ON NEW ENGLAND BIRDS 



within ten or twelve feet of me in my boat. It is re- 

 markable how social the different species of swallow are 

 one with another. They recognize their affinity more 

 than usual. 



July 29, 1856. Pratt says he one day walked out 

 with Wesson, with their rifles, as far as Hunt's Bridge. 

 Looking down-stream, he saw a swallow sitting on a 

 bush very far off, at which he took aim and fired with 

 ball. He was surprised to see that he had touched the 

 swallow, for it flew directly across the river toward 

 Simon Brown's barn, always descending toward the 

 earth or water, not being able to maintain itself ; but 

 what surprised him most was to see a second swallow 

 come flying behind and repeatedly strike the other with 

 all his force beneath, so as to toss him up as often as 

 he approached the ground and enable him to continue 

 his flight, and thus he continued to do till they were out 

 of sight. Pratt said he resolved that he would never fire 

 at a swallow again. 



Aug. 26, 1856. The flooded meadow, where the grass- 

 hoppers cling to the grass so thickly, is alive with swal- 

 lows skimming just over the surface amid the grass- 

 tops and apparently snapping up insects there. A re they 

 catching the grasshoppers as they cling to bare poles ? 

 (I see the swallows equally thick there at 5 p. m. when 

 I return also.) 



May 20, 1858. P. M. — Up Assabet. 



A cloudy afternoon, with a cool east wind, producing 

 a mist. Hundreds of swallows are now skimming close 

 over the river, at its broadest part, where it is shallow 

 and runs the swiftest, just below the Island, for a dis- 



