days o f th e ir flight, wh en one, more venturesome th a n his b ro th ers and sisters, crep t to
th e edo-e of th e n e st an d fell over. Afte r vainly try in g to replace tlie ir dead offspring,
th e disconsolate p a ren ts, a lth o u g h th e ir n e s tin g was nearly over, repaired th e broken
tu b e to p rev en t a recurrence of th e c a ta stro p h e .”
“ I n D am ara L and,” writes Mr. Andersson, “ th is Swallow co u rts th e society and
neighbourhood of man, and, where pe rmitted, will u n h e sita tin g ly en te r his dwellings and
co n s tru c t its n e s t an d re a r its young in th e m id st of th e household duties of th e family.
The n e st is b u ilt of clay, and a t first resembles in shape th a t of J lln in d o ru s tic a ; b u t
grad u ally tb e hollow howl is narrowed in to a tu b e of some e x ten t. I f the n est be
destroyed a t th is stage, th e poor hird a t once sets ab o u t rep a irin g the damage, b u t
g enerally contents itse lf w'ith reb u ild in g th e dome, to which a narrow entrance is added.
I h ave k n own a p a ir of these Swallows reco n stru c t th e ir n e st th re e times in one season,
th e female depositing a nearly fu ll complement o f eggs on each occasion. A t th e Cape
th is species commences its in cuba tion towards th e la tte r end of September or early in
October, b u t in Dam ara Land it is somewhat later. The eggs a re four or five in number,
of a p u re w'hite, d otted over with m in u te hrown spots.”
The descriptions ai’e tak e n from birds in th e B ritish Museum. The figures in the
Pla te , which rep re sen t a fully ad u lt an d a somewhat younger bird, are from hirds in
C aptain Shelley’s collection.