COMMON SWALLOW. 



85 



and dusky: female with the outer tail-feathers 

 much shorter than in the male : in other respects 

 she is similar : young bird without the white spots 

 on its tail, which is not forked. 



The Swallow is an inhabitant of the greatest 

 part of the old world, retiring from us to the south 

 on the approach of winter, and arriving here again 

 in the spring : it is not, as asserted by many, a 

 native of North America; the mistake having 

 arisen through H. pelasgia being called the Chim- 

 ney Swallow in those parts, and travellers and 

 others having mentioned the bird by name, with- 

 out giving a description of it ; and others having 

 mistaken the Barn Swallow for this bird, which 

 differs in colour and manners, and must conse- 

 quently be a distinct species. 



Every person must have observed the elegant 

 and varied flight of this bird, during the summer 

 months, when it is almost continually on the wing, 

 performing its various evolutions, and searching 

 for its food, which it takes flying, with its mouth 

 wide open : it is observed, on the capture of an in- 

 sect, to make a noise similar to the shutting of a 

 watch-case, by rapidly closing its mandibles. 



The nest of this bird is composed of mud, ren- 

 dered tough by a mixture of hair and straw, lined 

 with feathers, and fixed firmly about three or four 

 feet from the top of a chimney, on the inside : its 

 eggs are four or five in number, and white, speckled 

 with red : it generally has two broods in the year : 

 the nestlings are sometimes dislodged from their 

 nest and fall down ; and when that is the case, the 



