40 
SWALLOWS. 
As we are not writing a regular book upon tlie 
natural history of birds, but confining ourselves 
chiefly to anecdotes connected with their habits, we 
shall not pretend to enter into the many details, 
which it might be otherwise necessary to mention, 
and shall therefore merely remind our readers that 
Swallows are the most conspicuous of our Summer 
birds, that with their first appearance we are accus- 
tomed to associate the departure of Winter, and the 
forthcoming of Summer. 
We have four sorts, a little brownish bird, called 
the Sand-Martin ( Hirundo riparia ), which leads the 
way, and, if looked for about the first week in April, 
may be seen hurrying over the surface of large sheets 
of water, or rivers, near to which are banks of sandy 
soil, in which they burrow, and build their nests ; 
the Chimney-Swallow ( Hirundo rustic a), with his 
red patch upon his throat, and the Martin ( Hirundo 
urbica ), follow nearly together; the large screaming 
Swallow or Swift ( Hirundo apus ), being the last to 
come, and the first to go. 
We have already spoken of migration (vol.i., p. 100), 
and the little difficulty in accounting for it, rapid as 
these birds are in motion, and fitted by their length 
of wing for long-continued flight. Notwithstanding 
which, many naturalists formerly, and some few 
still, maintain that they do not desert us entirely, 
but become dormant during the cold weather, or, what 
is still more extraordinary, plunge into water, and 
remain buried in the mud at the bottom, till the 
warmth of Spring revives them, when they awaken 
from their slumbers, and again become tenants of 
the air. 
