162 
NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
countries she constructs her nest in porches, and gate-ways, and 
galleries, and open halls. 
Here and there a bird may affect some odd, peculiar place ; as 
we have known a swallow build down the shaft of an old well, 
through which chalk had been formerly drawn up for the purpose 
of manure : but in general with us this hirundo breeds in chim- 
neys ; and loves to haunt those stacks where there is a constant 
fire, no doubt for the sake of warmth. Not that it can subsist 
in the immediate shaft where there is a fire ; but prefers one 
adjoining to that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual 
smoke of that funnel, as I have often observed with some degree 
of wonder.* 
Five or six or more feet down the chimney does this little 
bird begin to form her nest about the middle of May, which 
consists, like that of the house-martin, of a crust or sheU com- 
posed of dirt or mud, mixed with short pieces of straw to render 
it tough and permanent ; with this difference, that whereas the 
shell of the martin is nearly hemispheric, that of the swallow is 
open at the top, and like half a deep dish : this nest is lined with 
fine grasses, and feathers which are often collected as they float 
in the air. 
Wonderful is the address which this adroit bird shows all day 
long in ascending and descending with security through so 
narrow a pass. When hovering over the mouth of the funnel, 
the vibrations of her wings acting on the confined air occasion 
a rumbling like thunder. It is not improbable that the dam 
submits to this inconvenient situation so low in the shaft, in 
order to secure her broods from rapacious birds, and particularly 
from owls, which frequently fall down chimneys, perhaps in at- 
tempting to get at these nestlings. 
The swallow lays from four to six white eggs, dotted with red 
specks ; and brings out her first brood about the last week in 
June, or the first week in July. The progressive method by 
which the young are introduced into life is very amusing : first, 
they emerge from the shaft with difficulty enough, and often fall 
down into the rooms below : for a day or so they are fed on the 
chimney-top, and then are conducted to the dead leafless bough 
of some tree, where, sitting in a row, they are attended with 
great assiduity, and may then be called perchers. In a day or 
two more they become flyers, but are still unable to take their 
* 1 have known one instance of this species building in the hole oi a tree, about thirty feet 
from the ground. — En. 
