SWALLOW. 
number were perched on the points of some slightly exposed faggots and stakes which had been 
driven into the mud to keep back the tides. Those that were settled on the twigs covered almost 
every available spot for a distance of at least a quarter of a mile. When disturbed they speedily gave 
evidence that, though attempting to shelter from the force of the wind and rain, they were by no means 
incapacitated from (light or suffering from the effects of the storm. It was between 9 and 10 o’clock in the 
morning when I observed this gathering; and on passing the same spot late in the afternoon, by which 
time the weather had moderated, there was hardly a Swallow to be seen. As there had been but a light 
breeze in the early morning till a few hours after daybreak, when the wind freshened, it is most probable 
these birds had only managed to make the land after the commencement of the gale. Then finding it 
too rough to continue their journey, they had brought up in the best shelter available to wait for a 
change of weather. 
Swallows arc speedily affected by a sudden change of temperature. I have on several occasions noticed 
them much cut up by storms of wind and rain. At such times they may be observed sheltering from the 
cold and drifting squalls behind banks and hedges, and apparently utterly incapable of the slightest exertion. 
There is but little doubt that, as a rule, they leave our shores in the autumn in companies larger than 
those which arrived in the spring. I never met with them on the return passage, but have frequently 
noticed the gatherings that take place as the time for quitting our shores draws near. I believe it is usually 
admitted that the majority have taken their departure before November. Large numbers, however, remain 
after that date in suitable localities. On several sunny days during the first and second weeks in November 
1880 I watched a constant stream of Swallows flitting up aud down under the shelter of the rugged cliffs 
that stretch from the Logan llock to the Land’s End. Though a cold and cutting wind from the north-east 
was blowing at the time, the atmosphere below the level of the moss-grown headlands was warm and 
pleasant ; and here the birds were able to escape the effects of the wintery blast. 
On looking over my notes, I can find several instances where small parties of two or three, as well as 
single birds, have come under my notice up to within a few days ol Christmas. These were generally 
observed on fine hot days hawking up and down in some warm spot, either under the shelter of a row of 
houses facing the south, or below the level of some range of cliffs where the exclusion of the wind and the 
heat of the sun enabled the poor birds to pick up a few insects, and prolong their lives till a continuation 
of rough and stormy weather would put an end to their existence. These late stayers are probably, 
with but few exceptions, the young of backward broods too weak to attempt the passage of the Channel 
when the main body take their departure. I consider it extremely doubtful if a single individual ever 
survives the winter. When discovered half-starved and numbed by cold in some crevice to which they have 
betaken themselves to die, they have frequently been described as hibernating. These ridiculous reports 
have led to the belief, in some remote country districts, that Swallows always retire on the approach of cold 
weather to some convenient spot (either under water, into the mud, or a cavity in some tree or building) and 
there sleep away the winter. Even as lately as the present summer (a.d. 1882) I have been gravely assured 
that such was the fact. . , , 
There are few parts of the British Islands where Swallows are not welcomed and protected. It is seldom 
that the troublesome habit of placing its nest, with all the accompanying dirt and filth, in undesirable 
situations, which is so frequently laid to the charge of the House-Martin, can be ascribed to this species. 
The interiors of chimneys are perhaps most frequently resorted to for breeding-purposes. It also makes use 
of the rafters and stays in boat-sheds, farm-lodges, and wooden bridges, to place its cradle on. I have seen 
numbers of nests in the roofs of the oast-houses or barns in which hops are dried. In country districts 
in the southern and eastern counties where the hop is cultivated, such quarters appear to have some peculiar 
attraction for these birds. In the summer of I860, when in Glenlyon, in Perthshire, a pair of Swallows placed 
