286 Passeres. BIRDS. Hirundinid.s. 
and the gape of the hill is surrounded by short bristles. 
The tail is more or less foihed, and the feet are always 
of the ordinary structure, having three toes before and 
one behind. The difference in the structure of the 
sternum and trachea has already been alluded to. 
Tlie Swallows, like the Swifts and Goatsuckers, are 
all insectivorous birds which capture their prey on the 
wing, and those species which frequent cold and tem- 
perate counti'ies are also birds of passage. Their 
appearance in the spring, and disappearance at the 
approach of winter, has been observed in Europe from 
time immemorial, and these birds have consequently 
been always regarded with a friendl}^ eye by mankind, 
as serving in some sort as the harbingers of the sum- 
mer. The habit of our common species of building 
about the habitations of man, and perhaps some indis- 
tinct notions of the benefits conferred upon us by these 
birds, by the destruction of immense numbers of insects 
— many of them injurious to us, directly or indirectly — 
have considerably increased this feeling. The ancients 
considered the Chimney Swallow to be under the direct 
protection of the household gods, and believed that 
when any injury was inflicted upon this familiar bird, 
it revenged itself by peckin'g the udders of the cows, 
causing them to become dry. The Ostiaks consider it 
a crime to kill swallows ; and in most places it is looked 
upon as an act of inhospitality to kill or disturb these 
pleasing little strangers. 
With regard to the nature of the retirement of these 
birds from their usual summer haunts, some very curious 
notions formerlj^ prevailed, it being supposed by some 
naturalists tl.at the Sw'allows concealed themselves in 
holes and similar places, where they slept during the 
winter ; whilst others maintained a still more singular 
opinion, namely, that the birds passed the winter in the 
mud at the bottom of ponds and rivers. How this 
curious fancy could ever have been entertained it is 
difficult to conceive, but it was a very generally received 
opinion as late as the end of the last century. Never- 
theless Frisch, a German naturalist, had long previously 
ascertained beyond doubt, by an ingenious experiment, 
that this notion could not be true. He attached to 
some sw’allows pieces of thread coloured with w'ater 
colours, which would inevitably have been w’ashed out 
had the birds passed the winter under water, in accor- 
dance with the popular opinion. The birds returned 
in the following spring with the thread still coloured — 
proving that they, at all events, had not been under 
water. These experiments, repeated by Spallanzani 
and others, served also to prove another singular fact, 
namely, that tlie Swallows generally return to the same 
spot and even to the same nest year after year. The 
actual migration of the Swallows has now been set 
beyond doubt by positive observations, made both on 
our ow’n southern coast and on the northern shores of 
the Mediterranean ; here they are seen taking their 
departure for the w’arm regions of Africa in the autumn, 
and also making their way back in the spring. In 
crossing the sea, they usually fly either singly or in 
small parties of tw’O or three ; and it is remarkable, 
tliat they arrive on the further side in a condition of 
exhaustion apparently as great as that of other birds of 
passage whose power of wing is far inferior. The 
channel fishennen state, that in hazy weather the Swal- 
lows very frequently alight in their boats when they 
are a little way out to sea, so completely fatigued, that 
it is w’ith some difficulty that they muster strength to 
fly from one end of the boat to the other when an 
attempt is made to seize them. In fine calm weather 
they are often seen to descend upon the smooth surface 
of the water, with their wings widely extended, rising 
again after a short time, seemingly much refreshed by 
this partial bath. 
Like the Swifts, the Swallows exhibit great activity 
on the wing, and in pursuit of the gnats, midges, and 
other insects, which constitute their sole prey, they per- 
form numerous evolutions with much grace. They are 
very commonly seen hovering over the water, doubt- 
less attracted by the many insects which swarm in such 
situations. They drink without alighting, by sweeping 
swiftly over the surface of the water and taking up a 
little of the fluid in their bills as they pass ; they also 
occasionally bathe in the same way, by plunging a little 
deeper. Most of them breed twice in the season — 
sometimes nestling in holes, sometimes building a nest, 
usually composed wholly or in part of mud, against the 
cliff’ of a rock or the wall of a building. The species 
of this family are found in all parts of the world, but 
they are not very numerous. Three species occur in 
Britain. 
THE CHIMNEY SWALLOW {Hirundo rw-stfca)— Plate 
5, fig. 13 — is one of the British species. It is a small 
bird, for although it measures about eight inches and 
a half in length, the tail occupies nearly five inches of 
this, and thus the body of the bird is very small. The 
colour of all the upper parts, together with the upper 
part of the breast, is black, with violet tints ; the fore- 
head and throat are chestnut brown ; the lower part of 
the breast and the abdomen are rusty red ; and the 
inner webs of the tail feathers, except the two middle 
ones, are spotted with white. The outer tail feathers 
in the male are twice as long as the rest. They are 
rather shorter in the female ; but in both sexes nearly 
the whole of the inner web of these feathers is white. 
The Chimney Swallow is a very abundant bird in all 
parts of Europe during tbe summer, and in some parts 
of the Mediterranean district a few individuals even 
remain through the winter. But bj’ far the greater 
part of our European swallows migrate in the autumn 
into Africa, where they pass the winter, and return to 
us in the spring. They arrive in this country early in 
April (about the 10th, as stated by Mr. Yarrell, from 
an average of many seasons), and take their departure 
again towards the end of October. From Europe the 
Swallow seems to extend its range eastward into Asia 
as far as Nepal and Calcutta, and probably still furthei-, 
whilst in Africa it has been noticed certainly as far 
south as the equator ; and in Sierra Leone it is said to 
reside all the year, although it becomes less plentiful in 
the rainy season, from June to September. 
On its arrival in its summer quarters, the Swallow 
usually selects a spot for its place of abode, where the 
habitations of man lie in the vicinity of water ; for, in 
common with a considerable majority of the members 
of this family, it has a great fondness for hovering over 
the surface of large ponds, lakes, and streams. The 
