AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 235 



pet and becomes very tame. There is little trouble 

 ill keeping it in good health and condition, as in the 

 matter of food scarcely anything comes amiss. We 

 have found, however, that more than one of these 

 birds in our possession preferred the eggs of small 

 birds to any other food. 



101. SWALLOW. 



Hirundo rustica. 



The Swallow is so w^ell known, and its habits so 

 easily observed in town, village, and country, that we 

 have little need to do more than record the fact that 

 it is as common in Northamptonshire as in the other 

 midland counties of England, its numbers, of course, 

 varying in different summers with us as in other 

 localities. Records of first appearances of our vernal 

 migrants, though locally interesting, are not of any 

 great value, for, as Professor A. Newton most truly 

 remarks, in his description of the present species 

 (Yarrell's 'British Birds,' 4th edition, vol. ii. p. 341), 

 " It must be borne in mind that certain spots in 

 nearly every district are yearly visited some days 

 sooner than other places, even in close vicinity." 

 We may, however, state that about April 10th is the 

 time to look out for the first Swallow in our neigh- 

 bourhood : we do not recollect to have ever seen one 

 of this species on wing in Northamptonshire before 

 April 6th ; but in 1870 we picked up a dead Swallow 

 on the 2nd of that month. Many curious sites for 

 the nest of the Swallow have been recorded ; one of 

 the most remarkable that has come under our own 

 notice was inside the wooden pent-house roofing of 



