250 
SWALLOWS. 
a great degree, on the state of the air ; if it is clear and dry, 
they rise ; if moist, or likely to he so, they keep nearer the 
ground : and thus the Swallow, like the hand of the clock, 
moved by invisible wheels and springs, tells us when we may 
expect the weather to he moist or dry. 
We have noticed some odd places chosen by birds for their 
nests, but none, perhaps, more curious than those selected by 
Swallows, at the same time affording another proof of the 
constant return of birds to the same places. That they do 
return, is, indeed, a fact established beyond a doubt, it having 
been ascertained, by the experiment of fastening a small piece 
of silk round one of the legs of a female, when sitting upon 
eggs, and finding her again similarly occupied on the following 
Spring. At a nobleman’s house, in Scotland, the kitchen 
was in a building separated from the main part of the house 
by an open court, but connected with it by a covered passage, 
supported by posts, and open to the south. In the corner of 
the passage, close to the kitchen-door, a bracket was placed 
for holding a lamp, which was taken down to be trimmed 
every day, and lighted every evening. On that bracket, a 
Swallow, and it is believed the same Swallow, built her nest 
for three or four years, quite regardless of the removal or 
light of the lamp, and the constant passing and repassing of 
the servants. On the opposite side of the same open court, 
Curious Nest of a Swallow. 
