natural history. 
88 
loured ring ns a collar. To form its nest it bores some feet 
deep info a high sand bank, where it deposits live or six white 
eggs. It has been said that the young of this bird are very 
fat, and in flavour scarcely inferior to the Ortolan. 
These birds are all known by their very large mouths, 
whicn when they fly are always kept open : they are not less 
■remarkable for their short slender feet, which scarcely are able 
to support the weight of their bodies; their wings are ■of im- 
moderate extent lor their btdk ; and their note is a slight twit- 
tering, which they seldom exert upon the the wing. 
This peculiar conformation seems attended with a similar 
peculiarity ot manners. Their food is insects^ which they 
always pursue flying. For this reason, during fine weather, 
when the insects are most likely to be abroad, the swallows 
are lor ever upon the wing, and seen pursuing their prey 
with amazing swiftness and agility. All smaller animals, in 
some measure, find safety by winding and turning, when they 
endeavour to avoid the greater: the lark thus evades the pur- 
suit ol the hawk ; and man the crocodile. In this manner, 
insects upon the wing endeavour to avoid the swallow ; but 
this bird is admirably fitted by nature to pursue them through 
their shortest turnings. Besides a great length of wing, it is 
also provided with a long tail, which, like a rudder, turns it 
in its most rapid motions; and thus, while it is possessed of 
the greatest swiftness, it is also possessed of the most extreme 
agility. 
I lie nest of these birds- is built with great industry and 
art; it is formed of mud from some neighbouring brook, well 
tempered with the bill, moistened with water for the better ad- 
hesion, and still farther kept firm, by long grass and fibres : 
within it is lined with goose feathers, which are ever the 
warmest and the neatest. The martin covers its nest at top, 
and has a doer to enter at ; the swallow leaves lier’s quite 
open. But our European nests are nothing to be compared 
with those the esculent sxallow builds. on the coasts of China 
and Coromandel ; the description of which we give, in the 
plain honest phrase of Willoughby. “ On the sea-coast ’of 
“ 'be kingdom of China,” says he, “ a sort of party-coloured 
1 ‘ birds, of tlie shape ot swallows, gather a certain clammy, 
“ glutinous matter, perchance the spawn of whales and other 
“ youngfishes, of which they build their nests, wherein they lay 
“ their eggs and hatch their young. These nests the Chinese 
“ pluck from the rocks, and bring them in great numbers 
“ into the East-Indies to sell. They are esteemed, by glut- 
“ tons, as great delicacies ; who dissolving them in chicken, 
“ or mutton-broth, are very fond of them ; far before oysters, 
“ mushrooms, or other- dainty and lickorish morsels.” 
