THE SWALLOW. 
113 
construction of a single nest is a work of considerable time, occupying nearly two months, 
and the structure of these wonderful habitations seems to show that the bird forms them by 
procuring out of its mouth a viscid secretion, and which hardens into adhesive threads as it 
comes in contact with the air. A close examination of the nest shows that it is composed of 
a great many layers of irregular net- work, the meshes of which connect them in every direc- 
tion. Whatever it may be, it certainly possesses great strengthening and restorative powers 
when cooked, and is said to be an excellent specific in cases of indigestion. 
The Esculent Swallow is a small bird, and its color is brown on the upper parts of the 
body, and white beneath. The extremity of the tail is grayish-white. The British Museum 
possesses specimens of all the Swallows which are known to make these curious edible nests, 
and have for that reason been somewhat wrongly termed edible Swallows. In point of fact, a 
Swallow is not at all an edible bird, possessing a most nauseatingly sweet flavor, as I can testify 
from personal experience. 
The elegant little White-breasted Swallow is the Australian representative of the genus 
Atticora. 
It is a very small bird, the total length being only about three inches and a half. The 
color is chiefly of two sorts, white and black-brown of different depths, according to the indi- 
vidual, and the position of the feathers. The crown of the head is light brown, dotted with 
darker spots, and succeeded by a white ring. A black band passes from the corner of the 
mouth round the back of the head, embracing the eyes in its course. The chin, throat, and 
chest are pure white, and the remainder of the plumage is deep black-brown, the line of 
demarcation between the two tints being very strongly drawn. 
All that is known of the habits of this pretty little bird is contained in the notes of Mr. 
Gilbert, quoted in Gould’s “Birds of Australia” : 
“I only observed this bird in the interior, and, as far as I can learn, it has not been seen to 
the westward of York I am told it is merely a summer visitor. It is a very wandering species, 
never very numerous, and is generally seen in small flocks of from ten to twenty in number, 
flying about, sometimes in company with the other Swallows for about ten minutes, and then 
flying right away. I noticed this singular habit every time I had an opportunity of observing 
the species. It usually flies high, a circumstance which renders it difficult to procure speci- 
mens. Its flight more nearly resembles that of the Swift than the Swallow ; its cry also at 
times very much resembles that of the former. Its food principally consists of minute black flies. 
“This bird chooses for its nest the deserted hole of either the Dalgyte (Perameles lagotis ), 
or the Boodee (a species of Bettongia), in the sides of which it burrows for about seven or nine 
inches in an horizontal direction, making no nest, but merely laying its eggs on the bare sand. 
“ The White-breasted Swallow is termed by the colonists the Black-and-white Swallow, 
in allusion to the bold contrasts of the colors with which its plumage is decorated, and the 
natives know it under the title of Boo-de-boo-de.” 
The elegantly shaped and beautifully colored Swallow, which is illustrated together 
with the House Martin, may be readily distinguished from any of its relations by the very 
great elongation of the feathers which edge its tail, and which form nearly two-thirds of the 
bird’s entire length. 
It is the most familiar of all the Hirundinidge, and from its great familiarity with man, and 
the trustfulness with which it fixes its domicile under the shelter of human habitations, is 
generally held as an almost sacred bird, in common with the robin and the wren. In eastern 
countries of Europe, the protection of man is extended towards this beautiful little bird even 
more extensively than in England, where too often it is killed or wounded by the unfeeling 
possessor or hirer of a gun merely by way of practice in “shooting flying.” 
Independently of any question of humanity or the barbarity of a disposition which can 
find amusement in the death and cruel maiming of beings full of life and enjoyment, it is 
a matter of very bad policy to shoot a Swallow. There are some birds which afford some 
excuse to their destroyers by reason of tlieir fondness for grain and fruit, but the Swallow 
vol. n.*-i5. 
