446 Birds. 



bird which renders more service to man than at first sight it appears to do, as it must 

 not be forgotten that the larvae of the majority of the insects on which it subsists, are 

 very destructive to the roots and buds of many plants and trees. I have found its eggs 

 — nest it has none : these are generally placed in a wood or shaw, at the foot of a tree 

 or bush, on a few dried leaves or grass, whichever may happen to be on the spot. — /. 

 Pemberton Bartlett ; Kingston Rectory, December 4, 1843. 

 Note on the Nesting -places of the Swallow. — 



" The chimney-haunting swallow, too, my eye 



And ear well pleases. I delight to see 



How suddenly he skims the glassy pool, 



Now quaintly dips, and with a bullet's speed 



Whisks by. I love to be awake and hear 



His morning song, twittered to young-eyed day." — Hurdis. 

 From the remarks of two of your correspondents — the Rev. J. C. Atkinson (Zool. 354) 

 and Mr. Hepburn (Zool. 147), on the places chosen for nidification by the Hirundo 

 rustica, it appears that in the localities they mention, these " Welcome guests of set- 

 tled spring " but rarely build in chimneys. Now in Kent it is quite the reverse : — 

 building in chimneys with them here, is the rule, and in outhouses and barns the ex- 

 ception. As far as my own observations have gone, I should say decidedly that the 

 greater majority choose chimneys to rear their youug in. Where we have one build- 

 ing in a barn or out-house, we certainly have an average of four or five who build in 

 chimneys. I recollect one year five chimneys in our house were occupied by swallows, 

 three of which have been regularly tenanted by them for many years. There is hardly 

 a cottage which has not its pair of swallows, which annually return to their favourite 

 chimney : and I know of nothing (unless indeed it be shooting their favourite cat) 

 which sooner excites the ire of the village dames than destroying their swallows. The 

 following curious instance of the perseverance of these little birds came under my own 

 observation. Three years since a pair of swallows, after reconnoitering the place for 

 some days previously, very assiduously commenced building their nest against the in- 

 terior wall of the porch of Kingston church, thus literally affording an example of the 

 same fact recorded by the inspired poet, nearly three thousand years ago ! When the 

 nest was about half finished, it was discovered by the person who swept the church, 

 and the consequence was, it was cleared away. But the industrious little architects, 

 undaunted by this calamity, again set to work, and the following week the nest was 

 rebuilt. This also was destroyed ; but no sooner was it removed than a third was 

 commenced, but this, alas, soon shared the fate of the others — being removed by the 

 churchwarden. After meeting with such continued and decided opposition, the birds 

 at length left their favourite spot, and repaired, no doubt, to some less public haunt. 

 But the most remarkable thing is, that they have every year since repaired to the 

 porch and commenced their nest ! and although they have not been permitted to hatch 

 their young, yet their love for the spot seems unshaken. The cause of the hostility to 

 this luckless pair of swallows, on the part of the sexton, was that they kept the porch 

 in a constant litter with the straws and mud which fell from the nest ; and on that of 

 the churchwarden, that their twittering and chattering disturbed the congregation! 

 Swallows generally arrive here about the 10th of April, and the majority leave us about 

 the first week in October: occasional stragglers may be seen throughout that month. 

 Among the numerous fables in connexion with swallows, was one which assigned to 

 the flesh of this bird when burned to ashes, the power of healing distempers of the eyes. 





