52 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Unwearied Industry and affection. 



"owl had hung. The person did so ; and the foU 

 lowing year a pair, probably the same, built their 

 nest in the shell, and laid eggs. The owl and the 

 shell made a strange and grotesque appearance ; 

 and are now not the least singular specimens in 

 that wonderful collection of the curiosities of art 

 and nature, the Leverian Museum. 



The swallow during every part of the summer 

 is a most instructive pattern of unwearied industry 

 and affection ; for, from morning to night, while 

 there is a family to be supported,, she spends the 

 whole time in skimming along, and exerting the 

 most sudden turns, and quick evolutions; ave 

 nues, and long walks under hedges, pasture 

 fields, and mown meadows where cattle graze, 

 3,re their delight, especially if there be trees in- 

 terspersed, because in such parts insects most 

 abound. When a fly is taken, a smart snap from, 

 their bill is to be heard, not unlike the noise of 

 the shutting of a watch-case ; but the motion of 

 the mandibles is too quick for the eye. 



The house-swallow is the excubitor to the 

 houseTmartins and other little birds, announcing 

 the approach of birds of prey: for as soon as a 

 hawk or an owl appears, the swallow calls, with 

 a shrill alarming note, all his own fellows and the 

 martins about him ; who pursue in a body, and 

 buffet and strike their enemy till they have driven 

 him from the place, darting down upon his back 

 and rising in a perpendicular line in perfect se- 

 curity. This bird will also sound the alarm, and 



