THE COMMON SWALLOW. 157 



The Bulfinch, the Redwing, and Owls too 

 were there; 

 And some Swallows, ( 9 ) that live almost ever in air; 



( 9 ) Order, Passeres, {Linn.) Swallow, Martin, Swift. 



The genus Hirundo, (of Linn.) to which the Common 

 Swallow belongs, consists of more than sixty species, dis- 

 persed over the four quarters of the globe, a few of which 

 forming the tribe of Swifts, have the four toes all placed for- 

 wards; the rest three before, and one behind. Of all the fea- 

 thered tribe the swallow is most upon the wing, flight appear- 

 ing its natural and almost necessary attitude ; in this state, 

 it feeds and bathes itself, and, sometimes, procreates and nou- 

 rishes its young. The following are the chief: 



The Rustica, Swallow, Chimney, or Common Swallow, 

 has the front and chin chesnut, the tail feathers, except the two 

 middle ones, with a white spot ; a variety with the body entirely 

 white; six inches long. Builds in chimneys; sometimes beneath 

 the roofs of out-houses, &c. ; lays from four to six white eggs, 

 speckled with red. Arrives in this country in April, leaves it 

 in general at the end of September; seen sometimes late in Oc- 

 tober. When it flies low, is said to presage a storm, in conse- 

 quence of its food, flies, not ascending high in the atmosphere 

 at such times. 



The notes of ,the swallow are aptly designated by the term 

 " twittering ;" they can hardly be called a song, although con- 

 sisting of several sounds by no means disagreeable. 



Gray has immortalized this bird by one expressive line, in 

 his Elegy written in a Country Church Yard; 



** " The swalloiv, twittering from the straw-built shed :" 



and Drayton, its mode of feeding, in another; 



" The swift-w ing'd sicallow feeding as it flies." 



Noah's Ark. 

 See more concerning this bird and its nest in the Introduction. 



