selection of a situation for a Swallow’s 'nest is that which,
forms the subjeet of the'vignette to the present article,, and
for the opportunity of figuring, which I am indebted to- the
kindness of William Weld, Esq. -ofRedleaf.' This nest was
built on the Bough of' a sycamore,-.hanging low over a pond
at the Moat-,--Pen'sburst, in Kent, in the summer';of 1832,
Two sets of eggs were laid in it • the’"first brood were reared,
but the' second died iinftedged, The vignette was executed
from a drawing made by Mr. Edward Cooke-, .at the |gfi|Uest
Of Mr. Weld, and obligingly.#voted to my Joses
The note of the adult Swallow is:a soft-and .sweet warble,
and the* attention paid by th& parent birds-to - the wants of
their young “is incessant, returning to theTTest, withddOd||)i?iS
jn every three minutes throughout a great pchticM^htli-e1 dayi
yet i§ the law of migration?sometim#*of ani^Siuence -so
powerful, that they have been known to desprt- their young,
and leave them to perish in their -fiestsj But as*Mhis circumstance
has been more particularly observed-* i-n the Marr
tin, next to"be described, i t will be referred tormore at length'
in that place. On the young birds first leaving their
M they perch fo r:a few days on the- ohirntfey-top^pr. pfr the
yoof of the housfe, - and are there fed by tfceifcsparemts. Th$$
next ag^y i l fo reach some leafless. bough, whipe they-fMtin
rows, and receive their food, Soon after they takes to_ the
wing, but still want skill "to seize "fhem^own
hover near the place where their parents are in chase oMies^
attend their motions,. meet them, and receive from--their
jnouths the offered sustenance.”
When file young broods have entirely left their nests- they
foost by* hundreds among willows and osiers near water till
the time for’ their departure from this country arrives,,when
they leave ps in large -hocks fb seekr a more southemJafitude^
there to enjoy a continuance of that temperature and means
of subsistence which these islands from geographical position
Can no 1 ©figer afford them. They generally leave by the end
of Octobbs, but stragglers ate sometimes seen as late as the
middlë of November. ,
. In æonfinerfient these birds become exceedingly tame, and
jn’ this state it has béeni .ascertained by naturalists in this, as
Spell as .in other countries, that these birds moiilt in January
and February:;- An account of the mode , pursued will be
found in Bewfok’s:* History of British Birds ; and the Rev,
W . F , Cornish, of Totness, who il- :known to lj@t very skilful
-in ipiis management of birds’liffl^l^nfiiiefnent, sent me word,
p fe t of fwo'îSwallows" given Thimy one* lived "a year and a half,
•a n i^ fe o ^ rv ^ v e t years.' -s-It has . béen observed by the Rev.
Walter: Trevelyan . :|h&& .these. - hijgfe,. -like n th # feeders M
«j^8QC%.'^|>ro^abJthe injig ^^b h p .parts of their food in small
pellefeâ, calledï|e4s‘tihg%-- '
The ^wallow is common in summer, throughout nil the
British fe^s^ n n d Denmark, Sweden, and Norway,
M. Nfiff sen says it arrives in Sweden early in May, and retires
;ite S^tf%fer^ f^kti does hôh gQ^o|.far/ north as our'Marr
it-rcma'im&ra"Ji.ttle latêr^.as I.am informed by Richard
Dann, Esq^pyh© "has passed -several seasons in Norway and
Lapland,.and who tells me also that there;ds* no want of food
forrthem, as the morasses in the sheltered valleys- swarm with
jpiseêts, '
Pennant says’the Swallow visits the southern parts of Siberia
: and a Russian naturalist .has included it .among the
Rummer.- birds of the-G.ountrieg-^be'tween; the Black and the
Caspian seas ;; it iMjaftb *founsdf,-at Erzerum from April till
September^ ; Swallows, leaving Italy,., which they all do in
:aufeumh,*,go off in thCf-direction for Egypt, andi have been seen
•iirEgypt* going still’ fartherj^puth^, Bruce.* saw the Swallow
in Abyssinia in«.* winter. Thosd from the western parts of
Europe .go- to Wester^ Africa. , Sir William Jardinp includes
it among the birds of Madeira. Adanson in 17^3,