THE SWALLOW. 
277 
“True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings.” 
Richard III. Act v. Sc. 2. 
Those who have watched the swallows, upon a dull 
day, skimming low along the ground, and seeming 
almost to touch it, although flying with speed as 
undiminished as if high in air, will readily see the 
aptness of the simile 
“ And I have horse will follow where the game 
Makes way, and run like swallows on the plain.” 
Titus Andronicus, Act ii. Sc. 2. 
“ The swallow follows not summer more willingly than 
we your lordship, nor more willingly leaves winter; such 
summer-birds are men .”—Timon of Athens , Act iii. Sc. 6. 
The swallow, although one of the earliest, is not 
always the first of our spring ornaments to appear. There 
are— 
“ Daffodils, 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty.” 
Winter s Tale , Act iv. Sc. 3. 
A near relative of this bird is the Martin, or, as 
it is called in the language of heraldry, the “ Martlet ” 
(Hirundo urbica). 
“ This guest of summer, 
The temple-haunting martlet, doth approve, 
By his lov’d mansionry, that the heaven’s breath 
