indivi anting the latter ry probably spend
The individuals frequenting the latter country | ably sp
west, in Russia for instance, resort to Asia Minor
: . °.
and the neighbouring islands,

is stated to be the distant land of the Amoor. fe
i rhile > urther
Southern China; while those a : ea ore
i : i F ass the Mediterranean, i
é -abia: and those of Central Europe pa eee s
ny es : N h America has a Swallow nearly allied to our own. This bird, like ours, 1s merely a summer
to Algeria. North America has a owe ke ee eee
; i at s retiring to Mexico an é
siti resorting Inited States at that season, ant g
an Afri | > hand, and Australia on the other, we find migratory
Crossing the equator to South Africa on the one hand, he) igre
ah precisely the same offices, having similar natures, and whose
ated by the sun, but of course performed, owing to

the winter in

opposite. ee
Swallows in both those countries, performing
movements, like those of the northern species, are regu
: te ie : ; ie
ir geogré , the opposite season of the yeé .
their geographical position, at | :
In fe autre as with us, the Swallow is the harbinger of spring, and the cheerful aac of t ose
: L | ik Ane Tham ilds a similar nest in

who have adopted that part of the world as a home; for, like the English bird, it builds ¢ Q

ike i A P rkings : aturalist will for
chimneys, barns, and outhouses, and lays eggs alike in character and markings: yet no nature
= m2) o C

a moment consider the Hirundo neovena to be identical with the H. rusézca. Ge
al in England, the Swallow commences the task of reproduction; the places chosen
1 the inner side of a smoky chimney, the shaft of a mine, the rafters
are commonly selected ; and many others might have been mentioned,

Soon after its arriv
for the nest are exceedingly varied :

beneath a bridge, barn, or boat-house i
* . . . . a : ‘ . ee
The nest is most ingeniously built of wet mud, with layers of straw-like grasses

precisely as the hair prevents the plasterer’s work from falling to pieces ; within
ill or the rafter, is a lining of fine grasses and feathers.

were it necessary so to do.
to secure the mass together,
this half cup of a nest, which is placed against the we
The following description of the nest of this species is by my son Franklin.

«When fishing at Denham, on the 25th of May, 1861, I observed several fine examples of the nests
and eggs of this bird under the bridge. The exterior of These nests was, as usual, composed of
mud mixed up with short pieces of hay or dried grass, with a few downy feathers of the Swan lining
the interior. Some of the nests had evidently been constructed the previous year, and increased by
the addition of an inch or two of fresh mud. They contained eggs in various degrees of forwardness, from
those newly laid to those with the fully developed young in them. The eggs differed considerably in shape
and marking, one set, before they were blown, being of a delicate pink, covered all over with minute spots
of light reddish brown ; the others, on the contrary, were broader and shorter in form, and were of the
same delicate ground-colour, but with a smaller number of spots, and those of a brown tint, running into large
blotches at the broader end.”

The young Swallows remain blind for several days ; still they grow fast, and rapidly fill the nest, their wide
bills and bright-yellow fleshy gapes showing very conspicuously ; and about the middle of June they leave the
nest, and perch on some neighbouring bare branch on the sunny side of a tree: here they are fed by their
parents, who bring them insects every minute, from morn till night. There these nestlings preen their
feathers, exercise their wings by taking short flights round the branches of the tree, or sally forth to meet
their parents and receive the food in the air, as portrayed on the accompanying Plate. The young, after
this time, begin to hawk flies for themselves; and the summer being still young, the old birds often
reconstruct the nest and rear a second brood. I find, by my note-book, that some Swallows were sitting on
their eggs under the little romantic bridge at Formosa, near Cookham, in Berkshire, as late as the 8th of August.
These late broods, however, I imagine, are frequently overtaken by our chilly autumn, and suffer severely
from cold; they are, however, only the remnant of our summer Swallows. These are the birds that linger
to a later period in the autumn, some even to October and November : perchance they have not sufficient
strength to perform the journey across the seas ; they therefore still remain. It is these birds which seek
shelter in caves, crevices of rocks, and similar places ; here the increased cold of night benumbs their
muscles, paralyzes their systems, and renders them torpid; still their hearts beat, though but slowly ;
ultimately they get weaker and weaker, and, as a natural consequence, die. Under such circumstances

their bodies are occasionally found ; and hence, perhaps, has arisen the fable of the
of this bird.

The sexes are precisely alike in colour ;

supposed hybernation

but they differ in size, the female being somewhat smaller, and
having the outer tail-feathers shorter, than her mate.

Forehead and throat deep orange-brown ; sides of the neck, back
= >

wings, and band across the breast
deep bluish black

own; tail-feathers black, all but the two
and irides black; legs and feet purplish brown.
adult, from the time they leave the nest until they are

; abdomen and vent reddish white, tinged with br

middle ones, with a large white spot on the inner web ; bill
The young gradually assume the colouring of the

twelve months old. :

The figures represent an < ay 1 i
sures represent an adult and a young bird, of the natural size,

SS re ie oY