According to our old works on husbandry, we have many prognostics of
rain from the motions of animals. One of them observes thus: “In a herd
of cows, as they are on their march towards their pastures in a morning,
if the bull lead the van, and keep back his company that they go not
before him, it is a prognostic of rainy or tempestuous weather; but if
he be careless and let them go at random, the contrary. Or if they eat
more than ordinary, or lick their hoofs all about, rain follows
forthwith. If they run to and fro, flinging and kicking, and extending
their tails, tempests usually follow.”[110]
The same writer says that, “If the swallow fly low, and near the waters,
it presageth rain: the coming of the swallow is a true presage of the
spring.” It has been already remarked, that the 15th of April, from the
usual appearance of this remarkable bird about that time, is called
“swallow-day.”
[Illustration: ~The Swallow.~]
The preceding engraving is copied from one which illustrates a
scientific and agreeable investigation concerning the harbinger of
spring, by Dr. Forster; from which dissertation the following
interesting particulars are also derived.[111]
The swallow makes its first appearance in Great Britain, early in
spring; remains with us during summer, and disappears in autumn. The
four species which inhabit this island, are also found during summer, in
almost every other region in Europe and Asia, where their manners and
habits are nearly the same as in this country. In the more southern
parts of the Continent, they appear somewhat earlier than in England.
The distinguishing marks of the swallow tribe are--a small bill; a wide
mouth; a head rather large in proportion to the bulk of the body, and
somewhat flattish; a neck scarcely visible; a short, broad, and cloven
tongue; a tail mostly forked; short legs; very long wings; a rapid and
continued flight.
The house or Chimney Swallow, _hirundo rustica_, (figured above) is the
most common, as well as the best known. Its length is about six inches,
its breadth from tip to tip of the wings, when extended, about twelve
inches; the upper parts of its body and wings are black; the under parts
whitish ash-colour; the head black; the forehead and chin marked with a
red spot; the tail very much forked. It generally arrives earlier than
the rest of its genus, and mostly before the middle of April. It builds
its nest in chimnies, at the distance of about a foot from the top, or
under the roofs of barns and outhouses, has commonly two broods in the
year, and usually disappears in the latter end of September, or
beginning of October. Like all birds of the swallow tribe, it is
perpetually on the wing, and lives upon insects, which it catches
flying. It has been calculated from the velocity of this bird on the
wing, and its flight in the air for fourteen or fifteen hours together,
in search of food, that it flies from two to three hundred miles in that
time. As previously observed by an early writer, before rain it may
often be seen skimming round the edge of a lake or river, and not
unfrequently dipping the tips of its wings, or under part of its body
into the water, as it passes over its surface. Dr. Forster cites Aratus
and Virgil in corroboration, that ancient authors had observed the same
fact. He describes the Martin, or Martlett, _hirundo urbica_, as being
rather less than the swallow, and as easily distinguishable from it, by
the bright white colour of all the under parts of the body. This species
usually makes its first appearance early in May, though sometimes
sooner, and leaves us towards the latter end of October. It builds
under the eaves of houses, in crags of rocks and precipices near the
sea, has oftentimes three broods in the year, and constructs its curious
nest like that of the swallow, with mud and straw, lined with feathers
on the inside. He says that the Swift, _hirundo apus_, is the largest of
the genus, being seven inches in length, and nearly eighteen in breadth,
when its wings are extended, and that it is of a sooty black colour,
with a whitish spot on its breast. It arrives towards the middle of May,
and departs about the middle of August. It builds in holes of rocks, in
ruined towers, and under the tiling of houses; and has only one brood in
the year. He observes of the Bank or Sand Martin, _hirundo riparia_,
that it is the smallest of the genus, is of a dusky brown colour above,
and whitish beneath; and that it builds its nest in holes, which it
bores in banks of sand, and is said to have only one brood in the year.
No subject has more engaged the attention of naturalists, in all ages,
than the brumal retreat of the swallow; neither is there any subject on
which more various and contrary opinions have been entertained. Some
have supposed that they retire at the approach of winter to the inmost
recesses of rocks and mountains, and that they there remain in a torpid
state until spring. Others have conjectured that these birds immerse
themselves in the water at the approach of winter, and that they remain
at the bottom in a state of torpidity, until they are again called forth
by the influence of the vernal sun. Dr. Forster admits that there are
several instances on record of their having been found in such
situations, clustered together in great numbers, and that, on being
brought before the fire, they have revived and flown away. But he thinks
that few of the accounts were well authenticated; and that the
celebrated John Hunter and Mr. Pearson clearly prove, from various
experiments, that these birds cannot continue long under water without
being drowned. The doctor does not deny that swallows have occasionally
been found under water; but he attributes their having been found in
such situations to mere accident. As it is well known that, towards the
latter end of autumn, swallows frequently roost by the sides of lakes
and rivers; he therefore supposes that a number of these birds had
retired to roost on the banks of some shallow and muddy river at low
tide; that they had been induced by the cold to creep among the reeds or
rushes which might grow in the shallow parts of the river, and that
while in that situation, driven into a state of torpidity by the cold,
they had been overwhelmed, and perhaps washed into the current, by the
coming in of the tide. He alludes to occasional instances of other birds
besides swallows having been found in a state of torpor during winter,
and imagines that fishermen had availed themselves of the coming in of
the tide to catch fish, and that the swallows, before supposed to have
been carried into the current, coming in contact with their nets, were
consequently drawn out by them, and, not having been long under water,
were not completely drowned. There are several circumstances which seem
to favour the opinion, that these birds remain concealed during winter
in this country. Among others, the most striking is, that swallows,
_hirundines rusticae_, as well as martins, _hirundines urbicae_, have
sometimes appeared very late in autumn, a considerable time after they
were all supposed to have taken their departure; and that they have
likewise been found concealed in the crevices of rocks, in holes of old
decayed trees, in old ruined towers, and under the thatch of houses. Dr.
Forster further presumes, that those birds, which have been found in a
state of torpidity, had, owing to some accident, been hatched later in
the year than ordinary, and consequently had not acquired sufficient
strength to undergo the fatigue of a long journey upon the wing, at the
time when the migration of the rest of their species took place; and
that to shelter themselves from the inclemency of the weather, they had
sought retreats wherein, from cold and hunger, they had sunk into a
state of torpidity. “For several years past,” says Dr. Forster, “I have
observed that chimney swallows have appeared first in cold weather. I
have sometimes seen them as early as April the 2d, when the mercury in
the thermometer has been below the freezing point. On the other hand, I
have often taken notice, that during a continuance of mild weather for
the space of a fortnight, in the month of April, not so much as one
swallow has appeared.” He remarks, that towards the latter end of
September, swallows, as well as martins, congregate in great numbers,
and are frequently seen sitting on the tops of houses, and on rocks
near the sea. These meetings usually continue for several days, after
which they suddenly disappear. They seldom perch on trees, except in
autumn, shortly previous to their disappearance, and they then choose
dead trees in preference. They sometimes sit on trees earlier in summer,
when the weather has been very cold.
Swifts begin to assemble in large bodies previous to their departure,
early in July: their numbers daily increase, and they soar higher in the
air, with shriller cries, and fly differently from their usual mode.
Such meetings continue till towards the middle of August, after which
they are seldom seen. Sand martins likewise flock together in autumn.
Some years ago they appeared in great numbers in London and its
neighbourhood. Dr. Forster clearly shows that swallows are birds of
passage, and produces the accounts of mariners, who had seen these birds
many hundred miles out at sea, and on whose ships they had alighted to
rest, almost exhausted with fatigue and hunger. By this means we may be
enabled, in some measure, to determine to what quarter of the globe they
retire, when they leave Europe in autumn. Adanson, in his “Voyage to
Senegal,” relates, that on the 6th of October, being about fifty leagues
from the coast, between the island of Goree and Senegal, four swallows
alighted on the shrouds of his ship, which he easily caught, and knew to
be European swallows. He adds, that they never appear at Senegal, until
the winter season, and that they do not build nests as in Europe, but
roost every night on the sand by the sea shore. Sir Charles Wager, first
lord of the admiralty, relates, that in one of his voyages home, as he
came into soundings of our channel, a great flock of swallows settled on
his rigging: every rope was covered with them: they hung on one another
like a swarm of bees: the decks and carvings were filled with them: they
seemed spent and famished, and, to use his own expression, were only
feathers and bones; but, recruited with a night’s rest, they resumed
their flight in the morning. A similar circumstance happened to captain
Wright, in a voyage from Philadelphia to London.
There are many anecdotes of sagacity in these birds. For several years
some swallows had built their mud habitations in the window frames of a
house at Beaumaris, in Anglesea. These dry, comfortable, and protected
abodes, were envied by the less favoured sparrows of the same place, who
embraced the opportunity (while the unsuspected swallows were skimming
o’er the wide bosom of the main) and confidently took possession,
thinking also to establish an undoubted settlement by depositing their
eggs; the swallows finding their rightful _mansions_ engrossed by other
tenants, seemed reconciled to the ejectment; but to the astonishment of
the lady residing in the house, no sooner had the sparrows hatched their
young, than the swallows gathered all their forces and plastered up the
entrance of the nest containing the old sparrow and her brood, where
they perished.
In most parts of the country, martins and swallows are considered sacred
birds, and to kill one is deemed a greater sin than the killing of other
equally harmless birds. Children of all ages in the counties of Berks,
Buckingham, and Oxford, repeat the following couplet, which if not
taught, is always sanctioned by their parents:
The Martin and the Swallow,
Are God Almighty’s birds to hollow.
* * * * *