318 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
It can scarcely be attributed to accident, and does not 
admit of mal-observation. My informant says : — 
Two swallows were building a nest in the verandah of a 
house in Victoria, but as their nest was resting partly on a bell- 
wire, it was by this means twice pulled down. They then 
began afresh, making a tunnel through the lower part of the 
nest, through which the wire was able to act without doing 
damage. 
Another gentleman writes me of another use to which 
he has observed swallows put the artifice of building 
tunnels. Being molested by sparrows which desired to 
take forcible possession of their nest, a pair of swallows 
modified the entrance of the latter, so that instead of 
opening by a simple hole under the eaves of a house, it 
was carried on in the form of a tunnel. 
Linnaeus says that the martin, when it builds under the 
eaves of houses, sometimes is molested by sparrows taking 
possession of the nest. The pair of martins to which the 
nest belongs are not strong enough to dislodge the in- 
vaders ; but they convoke their companions, some of whom 
guard the captives, whilst others bring clay, close up the 
entrance of the nest, and leave the sparrows to die miser- 
ably. This account has been to a large extent indepen- 
dently confirmed by Jesse, who seems not to have been 
acquainted with the statement of Linnaeus. He writes : — 
Swallows seem to entertain the recollection of injury, and 
to resent it when an opportunity offers. A pair of swallows 
built their nest under the ledge of a house at Hampton Court. 
It was no sooner completed than a couple of sparrows drove 
them from it, notwithstanding the swallows kept up a good re- 
sistance, and even brought others to assist them. The intruders 
were lefG in peaceable possession of the nest, till the two old 
birds were obliged to quit it to provide food for their young. They 
had no sooner departed than several swallows came and broke 
down the nest ; and I saw the young sparrows lying dead on 
the ground. As soon as the nest was demolished, the swallows 
began to rebuild it. 1 
The same author gives the following and somewhat 
similar ease 
1 Gleanings, vol. if, p, 96 e 
