398 
THE CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 
Hirundo rustica, Linn. 
PLATE XXVII. 
Hirundo domestica, Will. Ray H. rustica, Linn. &c 
Chimney or Common Swallow of British authors 
This favourite bird is perhaps the most com- 
mon and most equally distributed of our native 
species. Its arrival in April is watched and 
hailed as the precursor of summer, and as the 
period when the piercing blasts of winter and 
spring shall have ceased for a time. In this 
country, and indeed in Europe, it is the constant 
attendant on cultivation, and makes use of the 
artificial structures of man as retreats for shelter 
and breeding. We are not aware of any natural 
breeding station for this bird, nor have we seen 
any mentioned in the various ornithological works 
to which we have access. Its most common and 
favourite place here is in the interior of out- 
houses, open barns, or sheds, where the nest, 
composed of clay, and strengthened with straws 
or slender roots, lined with feathers, and open at 
the top, is placed against some of the rafters or 
wood-work of the roof ; the insides of chimneys, 
("whence its common name,) the eaves of houses, 
