BARN SWALLOW. 
127 
harbingers and companions of flowery spring and ruddy 
summer; and when, after a long, frost-bound, and boisterous 
winter, we hear it announced, that u the Swallows are come,” 
what a train of charming ideas are associated with the simple 
tidings ! 
The wonderful activity displayed by these birds forms a 
striking contrast to the slow habits of most other animals. 
It may be fairly questioned, whether, among the whole 
feathered tribes which Heaven has formed to adorn this part 
of creation, there be any that, in the same space of time, pass 
over an equal extent of surface with the Swallow. Let a 
person take his stand, on a fine summer evening, by a new 
to assemble in the neighbourhood of Rotherham, at the willow ground, on the 
banks of the Canal, preparatory to their migration to a warmer climate ; and 
their numbers were daily augmented, until they became a vast flock, which no 
man could easily number. Thousands upon thousands — tens of thousands — 
and myriads ; so great, indeed, that the spectator would almost have concluded, 
the whole swallow race were there collected in one huge host. 
“ It was their manner, while there, to rise from the willows in the morning, 
a little before six o’clock, when their thick columns literally darkened the sky. 
Their divisions were then into four, five, and sometimes into six grand wings, 
each of these filing and taking a different route, — one east, another west, 
another south ; as if not only to be equally dispersed throughout the country, 
to provide food for their numerous troops, but also to collect with them what- 
ever of their .fellows, or straggling parties, might still be left behind. 1 
“ In the evening, about five o’clock, they began to return to their station, 
and continued coming in from all quarters, until nearly dark. It was here that 
you might see them go through their various aerial evolutions, in many a 
sportive ring and airy gambol, strengthening their pinions in these playful feats, 
for their long ethereal journey, as they cut the air and frolicked in the last 
beams of the setting sun, or lightly skimmed the surface of the glassy pool. 
“ The verdant enamel of summer had given place to the warm and mellow 
tints of autumn. The leaves were now fast falling from their branches, while 
the naked tops of many of the trees appeared. The golden sheaves were 
safely lodged in the barns, and the reapers had shouted their harvest-home. 
Frosty and misty mornings succeeded, the certain presages of the approach of 
winter. They were omens understood by the Swallows, as signals for their 
march ; and on the morning of the 7th of October, their mighty army broke 
up their encampment, debouched from their retreat, rising, covered the heavens 
with their legions, and, directed by an unerring guide, took their trackless 
way.” — Ed. 
