BARN SWALLOW. 47 
In a small volume which I have lately met with, 
entitled, An Account of the British Settlement of Hon- 
duras , hy Captain George Henderson, of the 5th West 
India regiment, published in London in 1809, the writer, 
in treating of that part of its natural history which 
relates to birds, gives the following particulars : — 
“ Myriads of swallows, 51 says he, “ are also the occasional 
inhabitants of Honduras. The time of their residence 
is generally confined to the period of the rains, [that 
is, from October to February,] after which, they totally 
disappear. There is something remarkably curious and 
deserving of notice in the ascent of these birds. As 
soon as the dawn appears they quit their place of rest, 
which is usually chosen amid the rushes of some watery 
savannah ; and invariably rise to a certain height, in a 
compact spiral form, and which at a distance often 
occasions them to be taken for an immense column of 
smoke. This attained, they are then seen separately to 
disperse in search of food, the occupation of their day. 
To those who may have had the opportunity of obser- 
ving the phenomenon of a water-spout, the similarity of 
evolution, in the ascent of these birds, will be thought 
surprisingly striking. The descent, which regularly 
takes place at sunset, is conducted much in the same 
way, but with inconceivable rapidity. And the noise 
which accompanies this can only be compared to the 
falling of an immense torrent, or the rushing of a violent 
gust of wind. Indeed, to an observer, it seems won- 
derful, that thousands of these birds are not destroyed, 
in being thus propelled to the earth with such irresis- 
tible force. 55 * 
How devoutly it is to be wished that the natural 
history of those regions were more precisely known, 
so absolutely necessary as it is to the perfect under- 
standing of this department of our own ! 
The barn swallow is seven inches long, and thirteen 
inches in extent ; bill, black ; upper part of the head, 
neck, back, rump, and tail-coverts, steel blue, which 
* Henderson’s Honduras, p. 119. 
