166 HIRUNDINfD.E. 



boys, who, apt enough to throw the ready stone at every 

 other of the feathered tribe, pause and desist in favour of 

 the Swallow. This favourable prejudice is also in some 

 degree extended to the house-martin ; Ave remember to have 

 had some difficulty in obtaining specimens of the eggs of 

 this latter species in consequence of the prevailing opinion 

 that it was ill-luck to take them. 



About a month after their arrival in this country, Swallows 

 may be seen gathering from the edges of pools and streams 

 the materials of which to form their nests. These consist 

 of little clods of loamy earth, with which their cup-shaped 

 nest is constructed, intermixed with straws or grasses, and 

 warmly lined with feathers. The situation chosen for the 

 nest varies greatly; with us it is most commonly placed in 

 a chimney, a little way down the shaft, as the warmth of 

 such a locality is agreeable to them. Sometimes it is con- 

 structed in a cleft of a rock, or beneath the arch of a bridge, 

 or in any similar situation of equal shelter and convenience. 

 Four or five is the usual number of their eggs; they are white, 

 speckled with dark-brown, grey, and rufous, mostly resem- 

 bling the one represented in our plate (fig. 88). The young 

 birds, as soon as fledged, may be seen sitting in a row 

 upon the edge of their chimney, waiting to receive their 

 food from their parents. Even after they can fly this pa- 

 rental care is still continued, and the young are often seen 

 receiving food from the parent birds as they pass upon the 

 wing. 



These indefatigable birds appear to take no rest, and to 

 require none, and probably remain the greater portion of our 

 summer days upon the wing, alighting only now and then 

 upon some elevated spot, such as a roof or chimney, and 

 almost instantly resuming their accustomed flight. 



How much a summer-scene is enlivened by the swallow ! 

 although he adds little to the voice of nature, and therefore 



