BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 61 
of the male bird at the nest, here reproduced, was obtained 
at a favourite haunt of this species. 
Usually before the middle of May, and sometimes as early 
as the last week in April, this species arrives from its African 
wmter-quarters, the males preceding the females by about 
a week. The five to eight eggs are laid towards the end of 
May or early in June, and from personal observations, 
take thirteen days to hatch ; some ten days later the young 
leave the nest, and by the end of July or early in August 
the birds have all emigrated. 
THE SWALLOW. Hirundo rustica, Linnseus. 
Local names— House-Swallow; Barn-Swallow; Chimney- 
Swallow. 
" The Uttle comer's coming, the comer o'er the sea, 
Ihe comer of the summer, all the smmy days to be. 
How p easant through the pleasant sleep thy early twitter heard 
O swallow by the lattice ! Glad days be thy reward." 
Thomas Aird.—" The Swallow:* 
A common summer-visitant. 
In 1839 it was stated that in Dumfriesshire there was 
scarcely one SwaUow's nest where they formerly counted 
ten, but m 1854 Swallows were particularly numerous t 
Iheir numbers now, as then, fluctuate much according to 
season, but I believe that this species has not only 
decreased, but will be found to be decreasing. In some 
seasons our erratic climate plays great havoc with these birds 
In the spring of 1886 after the Swallows had arrived a 
spell of exceedingly cold weather occurred which destroyed 
the msects on which they fed and the poor birds were picked 
up dead across the country,"^ and a similar misfortune 
seems to have befallen them in 1840, for it is recorded that 
* Dumfries Courier, April 24th, 1839. 
t Op. cit.. May 23rd, 1854. 
t A Country Schoolmaster, 1899, p. 303. 
