Swallows.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



291 



who has not marked its rapid flight, now smoothly 

 skimming along, now executing sudden turns and 

 abrupt and intricate evolutions with astonishing 

 celerity? The swallow delights to quarter the sur- 

 face of pasture -lands, new-mown meadows, streams, 

 and ponds, attracted by the abundance of insects on 

 which it feeds, a smart snap of its bill, easily dis- 

 tinguishable by an attentive ear, accompanying the 

 capture of its prey. If the weather be warm, it dips 

 in the water as it passes along, and emerges shaking 

 the spray from its burnished plumage uninterrupted 

 in its career. 



The swallow breeds twice a year, choosing dif- 

 ferent situations as they may present themselves: 

 we have known them frequently attach their nest 

 to the inside of tall old chimneys ; we have seen 

 them building in barns and outhouses against the 

 beams or ratters ; and we well remember a pair or 

 two annually building in a wheelwright's workshop, 

 undisturbed by the noise of hammer, axe, and saw, 

 to the satisfaction of the good man, who left a place 

 open for their entrance and exit when his workshop 

 was shut. Mr. Selby says that where coal-pits 

 abound the swallow sometimes fixes its nest against 

 the side of a deserted shaft, a circumstance we have 

 ourselves once or twice noticed. The nest is open 

 at the top, and composed of clay or mud, worked 

 up by a glutinous exudation from the mouth of the 

 bird into a proper consistence. It is lined inter- 

 nally with a bed of feathers. The eggs are five in 

 number, of a white colour, speckled with reddish 

 brown. 



" The swallow," says White, " is a delicate song- 

 ster, and in soft sunny weather sings both perching 

 and flying on trees in a kind of concert, and on 

 chimney-tops." Its notes are indeed pleasing, but 

 are hurried and twittering, and are generally uttered 

 at sunrise, when the weather is warm and genial. 



The swallow brings out her first brood about the 

 lask week in June or the first in July, and her 

 second brood towards the middle and end of August. 

 During the month of September the young of the 

 last incubation have acquired full strength of wing ; 

 and at the end of that month, or in the beginning of 

 October, the great migratory movement southwards 

 commences. Multitudes from various quarters now 

 congregate together, and perch at night in clusters 

 on trees, barns, house-tops, but especially among 

 the reed-beds of marshes and fens, round which, as 

 evening draws on, they may be observed wheeling 

 and skimming, now sinking, now rising and wheel- 

 ing again, all the while uttering their garrulous 

 concert, till, as 



" Evening draws o'er all 

 Her gradual dusky veil," 



they finally settle down, and all is quiet and silent. 

 It is strange that so excellent an observer of nature 

 as Gilbert White should have entertained the opi- 

 nion that swallows hybernate submerged in marshes, 

 or secreted in holes and caverns, like bats ; and the 

 more so as the ancients were well aware of their 

 migratory movements, and of their winter residence 

 in Africa. 



It is a remarkable circumstance in the history of 

 our Hirundinidae, that they return annually to the 

 same place, and resume and repair their old nests, 

 or, if they have been destroyed, build others in their 

 stead ; but the question arises, is not this to a 

 greater or less extent the same with all our summer 

 visitors ? Do they not return to their old haunts, 

 and if they do not repair their nests, which are 

 always spoiled by the winter's rains and snows, do 

 they not return to the same hedge-row, the same 

 copse, the same garden? Even with respect to non- 

 migratory birds we think we have observed a ten- 

 dency to build in the vicinity of their former nest, 

 especially if unmolested ; indeed, in the case of the 

 hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis) we have reason, 

 from personal experience, to believe it to be so. 



The swallow is very assiduous in the nurture of 

 her young. She leads them, as soon as they are 

 able to leave the nest, to the ridge of the barn or 

 house-top, where, settled in a row, and as yet unable 

 to exert their pinions in flight, she supplies them 

 assiduously with food. In a few days they begin to 

 trust to their wings, and follow their parents, who 

 feed them during their aerial evolutions; but' in a 

 little time they depend on their own exertions. 



The forked character of the tail easily dis- 

 tinguishes the swallow from the rest of our British 

 Hirundinidae. The forehead and throat are rich 

 chestnut, the whole of the upper surface and the 

 breast are black with reflexions of steel blue and 

 purple : a white spot on the inner web of all the tail- 

 feathers except the two middle. Under surface 

 white with a wash of reddish brown. 



1330. — The Swallow or Palestine. 

 The common swallow appears to have a most ex- 

 tensive range ; not only does it visit Europe, but 

 Asia Minor, Palestine, and the adjacent country, 

 and in the earliest times its habits of regular mi- 

 gration were observed and understood ; hence the 



expression: — "The stork in the heaven knoweth 

 her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane 

 and the swallow observe the time of their coming " 

 (Jeremiah viii. 7). From a passage in Aristophanes 

 we learn that among the Greeks the arrival of the 

 crane pointed out the time of sowing, that of the 

 kite the time of sheep-shearing, and that of the 

 swallow the time to put on summer clothes. Ac- 

 cording to the Greek Calendar of Flora, kept by 

 Theophrastus at Athens, the ornithian winds blow 

 and the swallow comes between the 28th of Feb- 

 ruary and the 12th of March. 



1331.— The Cliff-Swallow 



(Hirundo fulvci). The Republican Swallow of 

 Audubon. This elegant species is a native of the 

 western parts of the United States of America, and 

 it is only recently, comparatively speaking, that it 

 has ventured within the domains of civilized man. 

 Already, however, it is familiar in different localities 

 of Ohio and Kentucky, and has more recently 

 appeared in the western part of New York. Like 

 all the other American swallows, it passes the winter 

 in tropical America, and arrives at its northern 

 breeding-places in April. This species is grega- 

 rious in its habits, and numbers construct their 

 symmetrical nests in clusters, as seen in Fig. 1331. 

 At the dawn of day they commence their labours, 

 collecting the mud of which the exterior is formed, 

 and persevere in their work until near midday, 

 when they relinquish it, for some hours, employing 

 .the time in the capture of insects and in aerial 

 gambols. In unsettled countries these birds avail 

 themselves of the sides of rocks under the shelter 

 of overhanging ledges ; but in civilized districts 

 they have already evinced a predilection for the 

 abodes of man, building against the walls of houses, 

 under the eaves of the roof, though they have not 

 in the least changed their style of architecture. 

 The nest is hemispherical, Ave inches in diameter 

 at its attachment to the wall, from which it projects 

 six inches, having the entrance at the end of a 

 short neck-like projection somewhat turned down- 

 wards. It is lined with dried grass and straw. The 

 whole is completed in three or four days. The eliff- 

 swallow is more closely related to our martin in 

 form, habits, and manners, than to our chimney- 

 swallow ; it is active and rapid, feeding on the 

 wing. Its note is peculiar, and may be imitated by 

 rubbing a moistened cork around the neck of a 

 bottle. 



This swallow is characterized by its even tail. 

 Instead of having the lower part of the back white, 

 like our window swallow or martin, it is of a pale 

 ferruginous tint, as is also the forehead ; a narrow 

 black line extends over the bill to each eye ; the 

 upper parts generally are glossy violet black; the 

 breast is pale rufous ash-colour; the under parts 

 dirty white. Length, five inches and a half. Eggs, 

 four in number, white spotted with dusky brown. 



1332. — The American Barn-Swallow 



(Hirundo rufa). This species is the representative 

 of our chimney-swallow in the United States of 

 America, and is a universal favourite. It builds in 

 barns and outhouses, but never in chimneys. It is 

 very customary to fit up boxes for it to nestle in, 

 and the country- people have a superstitious idea 

 that if they permit the swallows to be shot their 

 cows will give bloody milk, and moreover that the 

 barn they tenant will never be struck with light- 

 ning ; so at least was Wilson assured, who adds, " I 

 nodded assent, for when the tenets of superstition 

 lean to the side of humanity, one can readily respect 

 them." 



" Early in May," says this admirable writer, " they 

 begin to build. From the size and structure of the 

 nest, it is nearly a week before it is completely 

 finished. It is in the form of an inverted cone, 

 with a perpendicular section cut off on that side by 

 which it adheres to the rafter ; at the top it has an 

 extension of the edge, or an offset, for the male or 

 female to sit on occasionally ; the upper diameter 

 is about six inches by five, the height externally 

 seven inches. This shell is formed with mud 

 mixed with fine hay, as plasterers do mortar with 

 hair to make it adhere the better ; the mud seems 

 to be placed in regular layers from side to side ; the 

 shell is about an inch in thickness, and the hollow 

 of the cone is filled with fine hay well stuffed in, 

 and above that is laid a handful of downy feathers. 

 Though it is not uncommon for twenty or even 

 thirty to build in the same barn, yet everything 

 seems conducted with great order and affection; all 

 seems harmony among them, as if the interest of 

 each were that of all. Several nests are often 

 within a few inches of each other, yet no appear- 

 ance of discord or quarrelling takes place in this 

 peaceful and affectionate community." They have 

 generally two broods in the season. The male 

 twitters with great sprightliness, and thus cheers 

 his mate during her task of incubation. The flight 

 of this species is rapid and circuitous, and varied 



by the most complicated and zigzag evolutions. The 

 American barn-swallow differs from our European 

 swallow in having the under parts and the lining 

 of the wing of a bright chestnut in the male, and 

 of a rufous white tint in the female. Length, seven 

 inches. 



1328 (&).— The Martin, or Window-Swallow 

 {Hirundo nrbica). Who is not acquainted with 

 this elegant little bird, and with its clav-built nest, 

 the " pendent bed and procreant cradle," which it 

 makes under the eaves of our houses? It is the 

 temple-haunting martlet of Shakspeare, the guest of 

 summer, that 



— " does approve 



By his loved mansionry that the heaven's breath 

 Smells wooingly." 



The martin, or, as White calls it, the house-martin, 

 usually appears a few days later than the swallow' 

 repairing to its old quarters, where, after examining 

 the shell of its nest, it gives some time to play", 

 sporting and gambolling, and chasing its insect 

 food. Towards the middle of May it sets itself 

 seriously to work in restoring the dilapidated tene- 

 ment, or constructing a new one. The crust or shell 

 is made of clay or mud, tempered with glutinous 

 saliva, and lined with straws, grass, and feathers. 

 The eggs are from three to five, and of a pinkish- 

 white. We may often observe rows of these clay- 

 built homesteads under the eaves of barns or farm- 

 houses ; and it is interesting to see two or three 

 little heads peeping out of each, watching their 

 parents as they wing their way, and dash by in 

 pursuit of insects, or querulously receiving the food 

 which, arresting their career for an instant, their 

 parents bring them. During the season of incuba- 

 tion the male utters his soft guttural song, some- 

 times while on the wing sometimes while clinging 

 to the nest, or even in it, as if to cheer his faithful 

 mate, patient in her appointed duties. Two broods 

 are generally produced every year, the first leaving 

 the nest in July, the second in August or the begin- 

 ning of September. 



The flight of the martin differs from that of the 

 swallow, in being more smooth and uniform, with 

 fewer and less abrupt turns and evolutions ; it is very 

 rapid, but scarcely so much so as in the latter 

 species. 



. Towards the end of September, and at the begin- 

 ning of October, martins assemble in multitudes 

 day after day increasing their numbers, till at last 

 they swarm in myriads, the air appearing crowded 

 with them, and the roofs of barns and houses and 

 the larger branches of the trees literally covered by 

 them. This "re-union" is preparatory to their 

 departure, which takes place towards the end of the 

 month, flock after flock leaving, till, by the 6th or 

 8th of November all have disappeared. The martin 

 is distinguished by the less forked character of the 

 tail, and by the pure white of the rump, breast, and 

 under surlace. The head, back, and wings are 

 purplish black. The tarsi are covered with white 

 down to the very claws. 



1328 (c).— The Sand-Martin 



(Hirundo riparia). The sand-martin, or bank- 

 swalJow, is the smallest of our British Hirundinidae 

 but it certainly makes its appearance the earliest' 

 often about the end of March. Its flight is less 

 impetuous than that either of the swallow or house- 

 martin, and more vacillating, though still brisk 

 and animated. In Spain, from the manner in which 

 it flies, this species is called by the country-people 

 the mountain butterfly (Papillon de Montagna), and 

 it is sold in the markets at Valencia for the table. 

 It is fond of skimming over the surlace of water, 

 and flat heaths and commons : seventy years a«-o 

 White says, "Some few sand-martins, 1 see, haunt 

 the skirts of London, frequenting the dirty pools 

 m St. George's Fields and about Whitechapel ;" 

 and we ourselves have seen them in flocks over the 

 Serpentine in Hyde Park. The query is, where do, 

 these individuals make their nests ? for, unlike the 

 swallow or martin, this species bores with its bill 

 deep holes in abrupt precipitous sand-banks, at the- 

 extremity of which it makes an inartificial nest of 

 hay, straw, and feathers. A convenient spot is 

 often colonized by scores of these birds, we may 

 say hundreds; we have seen steep sand-cliffs in 

 Cheshire and other places, especially if overhanging 

 a rivulet, loop-holed by their burrows in the most 

 extraordinary manner, and in close array ; and Pro- 

 fessor Pallas says that on the high banks of the 

 Irtish their nests are in some places so numerous 

 that when disturbed the inmates come out in vast 

 flocks and fill the air like flies. These burrows are 

 sometimes three feet in depth, and more or less 

 tortuous ; and it is surprising that so small a bird 

 should be so efficient a miner. Its beak however 

 (see Fig 1333), instead of being soft and' tender, as 

 Vv hite describes it, is uncommonly hard and sharp, 

 and Well calculated for working on the loose-textured 

 material subjected to its action. The bird clings 



2P2 



