180 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Abnormal Nests of the Swallow (Hirundo rustica). — My first 

 thought on reading the communication on this subject by Mr. S. G. 

 Cummings (ante, p. 121) was " abnormal " or " natural?." True, it is 

 not the common form of nest met with " up along," as we should 

 say " down west," though it is so occasionally. Cf. 'British Birds' 

 Nests,' p. 276, where Mr. Kearton says: — "We discovered several 

 nests in a Surrey bothy last summer that were built against the white- 

 washed wall, and were exactly like those of the Martin, except that 

 the tops were open." In this part of Cornwall, so far as my experience 

 goes, the type of nest described in the article is by far the commonest 

 both in barns, outhouses, and caves, and I fancy this to be a natural 

 form of nest, from which the commoner form in this country has been 

 developed by change of circumstances. Seebohm's remarks (' British 

 Birds,' vol. ii. p. 174), cited but not quoted in the article, exactly de- 

 scribe the type of nest found in this district. After describing the 

 usual nest of the Swallow in this country, he says: — "By far the 

 greater number of Swallows' nests which I have seen in this country 

 have been built in this position and on this model. Curiously enough, 

 this is not the case on the Continent. There the Swallow generally 

 builds against a perpendicular wall, but also only a few inches below 

 some horizontal shelf or roof ; in this situation the nest is in the shape 

 of a quarter of a hollow globe of mud. To increase the security of the 

 structure it gladly avails itself of any little projection or nail or peg to 

 begin on. But the usual nest of the Swallow on the Continent only 

 differs from that of the Martin in having the sides as well as the front 

 open instead of built up to the projecting shelf or roof." It is to be 

 noted that the writer, in citing this passage, says : " According to 

 Seebohm this form of construction is not uncommon on the Con- 

 tinent," whereas Seebohm actually says, "generally builds against," 

 and the "usual nest of the Swallow." I would add that, while 

 Kearton says " exactly like those of the Martin," and Seebohm " only 

 differs from that of the Martin," my own experience says, alike in 

 shape, but generally far more untidy from the long straws interwoven 

 with the mud. In an outhouse on a rough whitewashed wall, or in a 

 cave, the general roughness of the site appears sufficient support for 

 commencing operations ; on the perpendicular side of a beam any 

 irregularity may be taken advantage of. On the west coast of Scot- 

 land, last June (where I find the same continental type of nest), three 

 nests were in building on the perpendicular sides of beams in a cart- 

 house — one, practically finished, begun on a staple, and two on nails, 

 one of which only projected a little over an inch from the beam ; and 

 in a boat-house in the same district was a nest in a similar position, 



