but disappeared before morning. The author of the Natural
History of Aragon says they arrive there very early ip. the
spring. In the direct line of their northern course, and
having passed over France, Sir Charles Wager says, 1“ In
the spring of the year, as I came into soundings in our Channel,
a great flock of Swallows came afid settled on all my
rigging; every rope was covered; they hung on pfie another
like a swarm of bees, the decks and carving were filled .with
them. They, seemed almost famished and spent, and were
only feathers and bone; but being.recruited with a night’s
rest, took their flight in the morning.’! In referencejto their
return by the same line of route, Gilbert White, in his 23rd
letter, says, “ I f ever I .saw anything - like actual migration,
it was last Michaelmas day. I was travelling, and out early
in the morning: at first there was a vast fog; but by the
time I was got seven or eight miles - from home towards the
coast, the sun broke out into a delicate warm day* We were
then on a large heath Or common, and I could discern as the
mist began to break away, great numbers of Swallows clustering
on the stunted shrubs and bushes, as if ' they,had roosted-
there all night. As soon as the air became clear andSsplea^
sant, they all were on the wing at once; and by a placid and
easy flight, proceeded on southward towards the sea-; after
this I did not see any more flocks, only now and then, a
straggler.”
Arrived in this country, Swallows seem to prefer those
habitations of man which are in the vicinity of water, whether
of river or lake, probably as affording a greater abundance* as
well as variety,- of the winged insect -food upon which they
entirely subsist. These are sought for in the air during the
greater part of the day, the power of flight enjoyed by these
birds, and indeed by all the species .of this interesting' femily,
enabling them to remain on the wing for hours in succession
in pursuit of their prey, without any apparent lassitude. In
May the situation for the nest is' chosen, and this, as one of
the names- of the bird will' imply, is most frequently a few
feet down an unused chimney, the bird taking advantage of
any angle or depression to obtain support for the intended
structure. The nest is formed of small portions of moist
earth, which the bird may be seen on the ground collecting
at the edges of ponds, and sometimes at the margins of puddles
by road sides. The pellets o f1 soft clay are carried home to
the place chosen, there 'to be moulded with 'straw and bents
into an open saucer-shaped 'riest, which is afterwards lined
with feathets. The eggs'are generally from four* to six in
number; nine lines iand“a half in Tefigth, fey six''»lines and a
half in breadth, white, speckled with ash colour and dark red.
Two bróóds are produced in the/seaSon, the 'first of which is
usually ready-ft© fly'by the 'end of June; and the ^second by
thè-^end of August.' • But rfe chimney as n o t, the only place
ch'ösèn by thé Swallow for itS' n 'è lt: in the north of .England
thebe birds frequently build in |®e unused shafts of mines* or
in old wSffê'^^sófnétimès'under thfc'.jtödf-pf a barn or opefi
shed, -‘between, the“ rafters and the thatch or tiles which form
thfe .covering. Turrets intended for bells llré frequently
resorted.vto," and uriUsed rooms o r passages in outhouses,
to *which''access7 can be gained, fey?7 the round hole so frequently
to' b e '’Observed cut in the doors, to such buildings]
and within which tbè: birds, take, advantage, of any projecting
peg, or end of a beam, that will'sérfe a s a buttress to
support the nest. I have heard of a nest made by a pair of
Swallows in the half open drdweriof a small d&al table in an
unóccUpied'garrét, to which access 'Was obtained by a broken
pane ofglasst Pennant mentions an instance in which a pair
of"Swallows attached théir nest to^fhÓ body and wing of an
Owl nailed against a barn ; this specimen was preserved. in
■the museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever, and is’ now in the
possession of a family at Kensington. Another most unusual