AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
223 
ed, she spends the whole day in skimming close to the 
ground, and exerting the most sudden turns and quick 
evolutions. Avenues, and long walks under hedges, and 
pasture-fields, and mown meadows where cattle graze, are 
her delight, especially if there are trees interspersed; be- 
cause in such spots insects most abound. When a fly is 
taken a smart snap from her bill is heard, resembling the 
noise at the shutting of a watch-case; but the motion of 
the mandibles is too quick for the eye. 
The Swallow, probably the male bird, is the excubiter 
to house-martins, and other little birds, announcing the 
approach of birds of prey. For as soon as a hawk ap- 
pears, with a shrill alarming note, he calls all the Swal- 
lows and martins about him; who pursue in a body, and 
buffet and strike their enemy till they have driven him 
from the village, darting down from above on his back, 
and rising in a perpendicular line in perfect security. 
This bird also will sound the alarm, and strike at cats 
when they climb on the roofs of houses, or otherwise ap- 
proach the nests. Each species of hirundo drinks as it 
flies along, sipping the surface of the water; but the Swal- 
low alone, in general, washes on the wing, by dropping 
into a pool for many times together: in very hot weather 
house-martins and bank-martins dip and wash a little. 
The Swallow is a delicate songster, and in soft sunny 
weather sings both perching and flying, on tre'es in a kind 
of concert, and on chimney tops; is also a bold flier, rang- 
ing to distant downs and commons even in windy wea- 
ther, which the other species seem much to dislike; nay, 
even frequenting exposed seaport towns, and making little 
excursions over the salt water. Horsemen on wide downs 
are often closely attended by a little party of Swallows 
for miles together, which plays before and behind them, 
sweeping around, and collecting all the skulking insects 
that are aroused by the trampling of the horses’ feet. 
When the wind blows hard, without this expedient, 
they are often forced to settle to pick up their lurking 
prey. 
This species feeds much on little coleoptera, as well as 
on gnats and flies, and often settles on dug grounds, or 
paths, for gravels to grind and digest its food. Before 
they depart, for some weeks, to a bird they forsake houses 
and chimneys, and roost in trees, and usually withdraw 
about the beginning of October, though some few strag- 
glers may appear on at times till the first week in No- 
vember. 
Some few pairs haunt the new and open streets of Lon- 
don next the fields, but do not enter, like the house-mar- 
tin, the close and crowded parts of the city. 
Both male and female are distinguished from their con- 
geners by the length and forkedness of their tails. They 
are undoubtedly the most nimble of all the species; and 
when the male pursues the female in amorous chase, they 
then go beyond their usual speed, and exert a rapidity al- 
most too quick for the eye to follow. 
After this circumstantial detail of the life and discern- 
ing J'Topyy, of the Swallow, I shall add, for your farther 
amusement, an anecdote or two, not much in favour of 
her sagacity: — 
A certain Swallow built for two years together on the 
handles of a pair of garden-shears, that were stuck up 
against the boards in an out-house, and therefore must 
have her nest spoiled whenever that implement was want- 
ed. And, what is stranger still, another bird of the same 
species built its nest on the wings and body of an owl that 
happened by accident to hang dead and dry from the rafter 
of a barn. This owl, with the nest on its wings, a^d with 
eggs in the nest, was brought as a curiosity worthy the 
most elegant private museum in Great Britain. The owner, 
struck with the oddity of the sight, furnished the bringer 
with a large shell, or conch, desiring him to fix it just 
where the owl hung. The person did as he was ordered ; 
and the following year a pair, probably the same pair, 
built their nest in the conch, and laid their eggs. 
The owl and the conch made a strange, grotesque ap- 
pearance, and are not the least curious specimens in that 
wonderful collection of art and nature. * 
Thus is instinct in animals, taken the least out of its 
way, an undistinguishing, limited faculty, and blind to 
every circumstance that does not immediately respect self- 
preservation, or lead at once to the propagation or support 
of their species. — Nat. Hist, of Selborne. 
THE LESSER AMERICAN FLYING SQUIRREL. 
It would be difficult to find in the entire class of quad- 
rupeds a more graceful little creature, or one better fitted 
for a lady’s pet, than this elegant animal. Its diminutive 
size, the singularity of its form, the expression of its phy- 
siognomy, the vivacity of its motions, and the gentleness 
of its disposition, all combine to render it one of the most 
interesting, as well as the most beautiful, of a beautiful 
and interesting tribe. 
The group to which this attractive little animal be- 
longs are principally distinguished from the common 
Squirrels by what is usually termed their flying 
membrane. This apparatus consists of a folding of 
the skin along either side so as to form broad late- 
* Sir Ashton Lever’s Museum. 
