Mr. W. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 379 



In perching, the swallow, unlike the swift, occasionally rests upon 

 the ground by choice, roads being not uncommonly thus resorted to. 

 I have observed a number of these birds frequenting a large mound 

 of clay in the vicinity of houses daily throughout the month of Au- 

 gust, or long subsequent to the time that such material is required 

 for their nests*. On betaking themselves to trees they generally 

 exhibit a singular choice in avoiding the flourishing branches and 

 alighting on those which are dead. It has been remarked to me by 

 Mr. Wm. Sinclaire, that as soon as the young can provide for them- 

 selves, they do not return to the nest in which they were reared ; from 

 which circumstance, and from seeing large flocks of swallows fly in 

 the autumnal evenings around the highest trees at his residence, and 

 invariably disappear in their direction, he concludes that they roost 

 on trees. White of Selborne, speaking generally of these birds, men- 

 tions their thus roosting late in autumn. 



The same author remarks that " the swallow is a bold flyer, ranging 

 to distant downs and commons even in windy weather, which the 

 other species seem much to dislike ; nay, even frequenting exposed 

 seaport towns, and making little excursions over the salt water." 

 The "excursions" of the swallow over Belfast Bay are of daily 

 occurrence throughout summer. It may be chiefly observed attend- 

 ant on the in- coming tide, where we may presume its food is most 

 abundant, owing probably to the insects being driven off the beach 

 by the encroaching waters f. When on different occasions, in the 

 month of June, on the low mass of rock called the Mew Island (the 

 smallest of the three Copeland islands off" the coast of Down), this 

 species, and it alone of the Hirundinidce, always appeared ; thus pro- 

 ving a propensity to range, as there is not a spot on the islet that 

 would afford accommodation for its nest. 



Mr. White (of Selborne) remarks of the swift, that " in the longest 

 days it does not withdraw to rest till a quarter before nine in the 

 evening, being the latest of all day birds." In the general terms in 



the departure of the Hirundines for many years, and to the influencing 

 causes, and was at first surprised at the suddenness of their disappearance 

 when favourable weather arrived. At the end of August I have known the 

 great body to depart, and at other times remarked them evidently waiting 

 for weeks, and on to the month of October before they would take their 

 flight. 



* Mr. Macgillivray says of the swallow, that " it sometimes alights [on 

 the ground] as if to pick up insects, which it has observed there." — Brit. 

 Birds, vol. iii. p. 564. On such occasions, as I have particularly remarked 

 the circumstance, food was certainly not the object — the birds were simply 

 resting. 



t August 2, 1838. I have remarked during the summer of this year, that 

 swallows course as regularly over the masses of Zostera marina with which 

 the beach is covered on the western shore of Belfast Bay, as they do over 

 any meadows. This evening they were perched in great numbers on stakes 

 which rise above the sea, and they were likewise busily feeding over the 

 surface of the tide, on the insects roused probably by its flowing over the 

 Zostera. The stakes alluded to are just such as — were they more remote 

 from a public road — cormorants would alight on to expand and dry their 

 outstretched wings. 



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