SWALLOWS 339 



tance of twenty rods. There are bank, barn, cliff, and 

 chimney swallows, all mingled together and continually 

 scaling back and forth, — a very lively sight. They keep 

 descending or stooping to within a few inches of the 

 water on a curving wing, without quite touching it, and 

 I suppose are attracted by some small insects which 

 hover close over it. They also stoop low about me as I 

 stand on the fiat island there, but I do not perceive the 

 insects. They rarely rise more than five feet above the 

 surface, and a general twittering adds to the impres- 

 sion of sociability. The principal note is the low grat- 

 ing sound of the bank swallow, and I hear the vit vit of 

 the barn swallow. The cliff swallow, then, is here. Are 

 the insects in any measure confined to that part of the 

 river? Or are they congregated for the sake of society? 

 I have also in other years noticed them over another 

 swift place, at Hubbard's Bath, and also, when they 

 first come, in smaller numbers, over the still and smooth 

 water under the lee of the Island wood. They are thick 

 as the gnats which perhaps they catch. Swallows are 

 more confident and fly nearer to man than most birds. 

 It may be because they are more protected by the senti- 

 ment and superstitions of men. 



