In Sir Oswald Mosely’s “Natural History of Tutbury” (p. 385), it is reported that a pair of the North American Red-eyed Flycatcher (Muscicapa olivacea) appeared at Chellaston, near Derby, in May, 1859, and one of them was shot. If there was no mistake in the identification of the species, one can only suppose that the birds must have been brought over to this country in a cage, and contrived to effect their escape.
THE SWALLOW.
(Hirundo rustica.)
Few birds have attracted more attention in all countries and in all ages than the Swallows; and the habits of those species which annually visit the British Islands have been so thoroughly investigated and so frequently described, that little originality can be claimed for the remarks which I have now to offer.
There are two points, however, in the natural history of these birds which do not appear to have received from their biographers so much attention as they deserve, viz., the nature of their food, and their geographical distribution. I have repeatedly been asked, “What do Swallows feed upon?” and “Where do Swallows go in winter?” To these two questions I will now endeavour to reply, believing that an exposition of such facts as have been ascertained on these points will be more acceptable to the reader than a repetition of what has been so frequently published on the subject of habits, haunts, dates of arrival, and other minor details.
First, then, as regards food. Dr. Jenner found that Swallows on their arrival in this country, and for some time afterwards, feed principally on gnats; but that their favourite food, as well as that of the Swift and Martin, is a small beetle of the Scarabæus kind, which he found, on dissection, in far greater abundance in their stomachs than any other insect. A writer in the “Magazine of Natural History,”[60] Mr. Main, states that they take two species of gnat, Culex pipiens and C. bifurcatus; and Sir Humphrey Davy saw a single Swallow capture four Mayflies that were descending to the water, in less than a quarter of a minute. Mr. Thompson says[61] that a correspondent of his, Mr. Poole, has found the mouths of young birds filled with Tipulæ, and that Mr. Sinclair, an accurate ornithologist, remarked a number of Swallows flying for some time about two pollard willows, and on going to the place ascertained that the object of pursuit was hive bees, which, being especially abundant beneath the branches, he saw captured by the birds as they flew within a few yards of his head. The assertion that Swallows take honey bees was long ago made by Virgil, and, though not often noticed by writers on British Birds, the fact has several times been corroborated. A writer in the “Field Naturalist’s Magazine” for 1834 (p. 125), stated that, having observed some Swallows seize bees in passing his hives, he shot them, and on opening them carefully, found that, although they were literally crammed with drones, there was not a vestige of a working bee. We learn from Wilson[62] that in the United States bees constitute part of the ordinary food of the Purple Martin; and the Sand Martin has been observed to prey upon the common wasp. Gilbert White remarked that both Swifts and Swallows feed much on little Coleoptera, as well as on gnats and flies, and that the latter birds often settle on the ground for gravel to grind and digest their food. At certain times in the summer he had observed that Swifts were hawking very low for hours together over pools and streams, and, after some trouble, he ascertained that they were taking Phryganeæ, Ephemeræ, and Libellulæ (Cadew-flies, May-flies, and Dragon-flies), that were just emerged out of their aurelia state. The indigestible portions of their food are rejected in the shape of small pellets, just as with the birds of prey. Apropos of these observations, Mr. J. H. Gurney, in October, 1871, wrote me as follows:—“The perusal of your interesting remarks relative to the food of the Chimney Swallow, and especially with reference to its bee-eating propensities, induces me to send you a note of an analogous habit of which I have heard, in one instance, in the Common Swift. An intelligent shepherd in Norfolk, with whom I am acquainted, and who keeps bees, states that a pair of Swifts which nested in the roof of his cottage were so destructive to his bees, by catching them on the wing when they happened to fly rather higher than usual, that he at length destroyed the Swifts in order to free his bees from their attacks. With reference to the food of the House Martin, I may mention that some years since, as I was watching some of these birds skimming over a roadside pond early in the month of May, one of them, as it flew past me, dropped at my feet a water beetle of the genus Dytiscus, nearly, if not quite, half an inch in length. Possibly it had captured a prey too large to be conveniently swallowed.” All the Hirundinidæ drink upon the wing, and are perhaps the only birds that do not alight for this purpose, unless perhaps the Terns and some of the Gulls may be also exceptions to the general rule.
With regard to their winter quarters and geographical distribution, it will be best to trace the movements of each species separately.
The Chimney Swallow (Hirundo rustica), whose early appearance in the spring is only preceded by that of the Sand Martin, spends at least six months of the year with us, and in some years more than seven months. The period of its visit, however, may be said briefly to extend from April to October. Between these two months the bird is found generally distributed throughout Europe, going as far north as Iceland[63] and Nova Zembla,[64] and penetrating even into Siberia and Amurland.[65]
The only Swallow hitherto observed in Greenland—and that only on two occasions—is, according to Professor Reinhardt, the American Swallow, Hirundo rufa of Bonaparte. Now, Bonaparte identifies this (Geogr. and Comp. List, p. 9) with H. rufa of Gmelin, and Professor Baird considers Gmelin’s bird to be the South American species, for which H. erythrogaster of Boddaert is the oldest name. If this identification be correct, one would certainly expect the bird found in Greenland to be the North American species, H. rufa of Vieillot, not Bonaparte, now generally better known by its older name, H. horreorum of Barton. The late Mr. Wheelwright observed the Common Swallow in Lapland, where he saw it hawking about over the high fells at Quickjock, and he fancied it was even commoner there than at Wermland, in Sweden, where it is also an annual summer visitant.[66] Throughout Europe generally, as already remarked, it is everywhere distributed in summer, and in the countries bordering the Mediterranean it is especially abundant at the periods of migration in spring and autumn. Mr. Wright has observed it arriving in Malta in great numbers from the south early in March, and again, on its return southwards in autumn, it is common over the island until October. On the island of Filfla, a few miles south of Malta, the same observer has noticed it in May. At Gibraltar and in Spain Mr. Howard Saunders has detected it as early as February, making its way north; and, as an instance of how these delicate birds at times get blown out of their course by adverse winds, it may be remarked that Prince Charles Bonaparte saw Swallows and Martins at sea 500 miles from Portugal and 400 miles off the coast of Africa. Sir William Jardine has recorded the presence of the Swallow at Madeira, and Mr. Osbert Salvin, writing on May 28 (“Ibis,” 1859, p. 334), says: “Some Swallows came on board when we were 180 miles north-west of the Azores, so that it is probable that the bird is found in these islands.”
On the Senegal River and at Sierra Leone it may be seen all the year round, but is less numerous there from June to September.[67] On the West Coast of Africa the Swallow appears to travel as far south as the island of St. Thomas on the equator, where Mr. Yarrell states it has been met with in January and February.