Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/518

 498 SWALLOW its social and political condition, and on the natural history of that colony and Tasmania. SWALLOW, the general name of the diurnal fissirostral birds of the family hirundinidw, not including the swifts, many of which are called swallows. (See SWIFT.) The bill is short and weak, very broad at the base and suddenly compressed to the tip ; the wings long, narrow, and acute ; primaries nine or ten, the first the longest ; tail more or less forked ; tarsi very short and weak, generally naked, and covered with scales ; toes usually long and slender, with the claws moderate, curved, and sharp ; the gape very wide and usually provided with short bristles. The typical genus hirundo (Linn.), having more than 50 species, embraces several well known, elegant swallows both in America and the old world, remarkable for their great powers of flight. Their food consists of insects, which they take on the wing, usually in the neighbor- hood of water, with remarkable skill and grace ; they drink on the wing, sweeping along the surface of the water, and often wash them- selves by a sudden plunge. They fly at the rate of a mile a minute in their ordinary evolu- tions, but are rather awkward on the ground from the length of the wings and the shortness of the legs ; they live more on the wing than any other birds, even feeding their young in the air ; their sight .is very acute ; they fly low in damp weather, where the insects are most abundant, and are thence supposed to foretell rain. They are most numerous in the trop- ics, migrating t9 and from temperate regions ; in Great Britain they make their appearance from Africa, where they spend the winter, from the beginning to the middle of April, and de- part toward the end of October, crossing the channel singly or in small parties ; they often alight on vessels, and sometimes fall into the sea. In the United States they arrive about a month later and depart several weeks earlier. Most species prefer the neighborhood of man, building their nests in society in his dwellings and buildings ; they form attachments to places, returning year after year to the same nests ; they are docile and have been partially domes- ticated ; a single bird probably collects about 1,000 insects in the course of a day. The nests are generally made of clay or mud mixed with straw and grass, of various forms, and at- tached externally to some building ; many spe- cies breed in holes in sand banks, at the end of which is the nest of grasses and feathers ; the eggs are five or six. The best known species in the old world is the chimney or house swal- low (H. rmtiea, Linn.) ; it is 6 in. long, bluish black above, with a band on the chest, and the forehead, eyebrows, and throat, ruddy ; lower parts rufous white, with a white spot on the inner web of each tail feather except the two innermost ; the tail is very long and forked. As its name imports, it frequently builds its nest in chimneys a few feet from the top ; it also nests in old walls and shafts of mines, and among the rafters of barns and sheds ; the nest is cup-shaped, made of earth and straw and lined with feathers ; the eggs are white, spotted with ash and red. The parents are very attentive to the young, and brave in their defence ; they have two broods in a season, the second sometimes left to perish, not being able to quit the nest at the period of migra- tion ; the males are sweet singers, and very courageous. The analogue of this species in America is not the one commonly called chim- ney swallow with us (which is a swift), but the barn swallow (H. horreorum, Barton) ; it is about 7 in. long and 13 in. in alar extent, glossy steel-blue above, with concealed white in middle of back ; it much resembles its Eu- ropean congener, though it has the pectoral collar interrupted in the middle, while in H. rustica it continues across. It inhabits North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, ap- pearing in the southern states from the middle of February to March 1, a few at a time, reach- ing New England in mild seasons by the mid- Barn Swallow (Hirundo horreorum). die of May. It is gentle and easily tamed. The nest is made of mud or moist earth mixed with grasses, and is attached to the beams and rafters of barns and outbuildings; it is gen- erally about 8 in. long, 6 in. in the greatest diameter, and from beam to outside of shell 6$- to 4 in., weighing often more than 2 Ibs. ; the eggs are four to six, small and long, white with a few spots of reddish brown ; incubation lasts 13 days, both sexes assisting, and both occupy- ing the nest at night until the young are hatched. This species collects in large flocks in midsum- mer on barns and sheds, telegraph wires, &c., chirping almost continually, and making short sallies in search of insects. They start for the south by the end of August or first of Septem- ber, early on some fair morning ; they do not fly high, and follow the shore or the course of rivers. The cliff or fulvous swallow (II. pe- trochelidon] lunifrons, Say) is about 5 in. long and 12 in. in alar extent ; the crown and back are steel-blue, separated more or less broadly by a grayish collar ; the chin, throat, and sides of head dark chestnut ; breast grayish brown ;