Birds* 5755 



the average dimensions. Marked differences in size in the eggs of the same nest have 

 not yet been observed ; but, as with other birds, we find that one nest may have all its 

 eggs considerably larger than those of another nest. In the backward and cold spring 

 of 1856 waxwings had their full complement of eggs about the 12th of June. The 

 writer abstains for the present from offering any remarks on the distribution of this 

 bird in the breeding season, hoping that upon this subject, as upon the habits of the 

 waxwing in the summer, he may hereafter have some more complete observations to 

 communicate. A young bird caught on the -5th of August, as it fluttered from the 

 nest, had a general resemblance to the adult, though all the colours were more dull. 

 The wax-like ends to the wing-feathers, the yellow tip to the tail, the black patch be- 

 tween the eye and the beak, are all there, whilst the rich mahogany of the under tail- 

 coverts is of a quieter brown ; the blooming vinous colour of the head and back has 

 not yet emerged from a homely neutral, and the crest is but just indicated by the 

 longish feathers of the crown. The most marked difference between the adult and 

 young is in the throat and under surface generally. There is at present scarcely a 

 trace of the deep black patch of the chin, and the delicate tint of the general under 

 surface of the adult is replaced by mottled neutral and white. This, upon examina- 

 tion, is found to owe its appearance to those longer webs which, arriving towards the 

 root of each feather, extend as far outwards as the webs which arise nearer its tip, being 

 very pale or white, and thus relieving, on both sides, the last-mentioned darker webs. 

 — Muoniovara, February 2, 1857.'' 



Swallows. — These pretty and generally welcomed harbingers of spring and sum- 

 mer frequently cause great nuisances by building their nests in the corners of windows ; 

 and the dirt thrown out of the nest when occupied by young ones, as well as the con- 

 stant twittering and noise they and their parents make during the breeding season, 

 often becomes very annoying to the inmates of the house. The result usually is 

 that the too zealous and officious housemaid, in remorseless haste, with the end of her 

 broom knocks down the whole fabric, regardless whether it contains eggs or young 

 ones, and the doomed nest is at once demolished. Thus all the labour and care be- 

 stowed upon its construction, and the devoted attachment of the parent birds to bring 

 up their young, end bul in sorrow and disappointment; and this perhaps takes place 

 again and again during the summer. The poor swallows, persevering to the last, 

 either lose all their time in vainly endeavouring to repair the injury, or are driven at 

 length to seek some other more secure spot in which to carry out their purpose; but 

 this they seldom do until the season has become so far advanced that the young ones 

 cannot be brought up, and obtain sufficient strength to be able to undertake their long 

 migratory journey to a warmer climate, before the period has arrived for the other 

 swallows to do so; and consequently these late-hatched birds are left behind, to 

 die of hunger and cold; for it is seldom the parent birds, notwithstanding all their 

 strong affection for their young ones, will remain if the failure of food and the cold- 

 ness of autumn has once begun to be felt, so as to induce the rest of the swallows to 

 congregate and quit their summer houses. Any plan, therefore, which can be sug- 

 gested as likely to prevent this sad destruction of the poor swallow's domiciles, and 

 thereby prevent their building in places where, to use a sporting phrase, they are sure 

 " to come to grief," will, I trust, be received with favour, and adopted by all those 

 who wish well to this most harmless and interesting visitor, whose confidence in man's 

 protection but too often leads to its own destruction, and defeats all its fond hopes 

 and zealous care in stirving to rear its helpless progeny. The method I have found 



