The eggs of the Swallow are usually from four to six in number; they are white, thickly speckled over with ash-coloured, dark red, or brown spots. Morris says that two broods are frequently hatched in the year, the first of which flies in June, and the second in August. It is most interesting to see the parent birds tempting them on from one resting point to another, and so teaching them to use their wings, feeding them in a most dexterous manner while on the wing; it is said that these careful parents, ere the young can provide for themselves, bring them food about once in every three minutes throughout the day. The male Swallow is a handsome bird; the wings, long forked tail, head, neck, and upper part of the breast, being brownish black, with a steely blue reflection, which is only seen in certain lights. The forehead and throat are chestnut, and there is a tinge of the same on the delicate white under parts of the body. Undoubtedly a handsome bird, and one of the most familiar of our feathered friends while it remains with us, which is until the autumn is fairly set in. You may know when the Swallows are about to leave, by their frequent consultations on the roofs, and by the more frequent utterance of their low, and not unmelodious warble, which is very different from the short, sharp cry, consisting of two notes, which they utter occasionally when hawking, as it is called, after insects. Previous to their departure they may be frequently observed wheeling in rapid circles in the air, as if trying their wings, and drilling for their long, and no doubt orderly flight. We might quote plenty of poetry on this bird, for its beauty, grace of motion, and familiarity with man, have made it ever a general favourite, but for want of sufficient space we shall not be able to make use of any. In some allusion is made to a notion once entertained even by scientific naturalists, that the Swallows did not actually leave this country in the cold season, but _hybernated_, as it is called, from the Latin _hyems_--winter; that is, wintered here, passing the time in a state of torpor, or sleep, somewhere out of sight, as the dormouse and some other animals do. But it is now certainly known that this is a false impression; a few young or sickly birds, unable to endure so long a journey, may be, and no doubt are, left behind; these constitute but an exception to the rule of annual migration. MARTIN. WHITE-RUMPED, WINDOW, HOUSE, OR MARTIN SWALLOW. MARTINET. HOUSE OR WINDOW MARTIN. MARTLETT. FIGURE 17.