while that of the swift has been conjectured to be nearly one hundred and eighty miles per hour.
“True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings.”
Richard III. Act v. Sc. 2.
THE SWALLOW.
Those who have watched the swallows upon a dull day, skimming low along the ground, and seeming almost to touch it, although flying with speed as undiminished as if high in air, will readily see the aptness of the simile:—
“And I have horse will follow where the game
Makes way, and run like swallows on the plain.”
Titus Andronicus, Act ii. Sc. 2.
“The swallow follows not summer more willingly than we your lordship, nor more willingly leaves winter; such summer-birds are men.”—Timon of Athens, Act iii. Sc. 6.
The swallow, although one of the earliest, is not always the first of our spring ornaments to appear. There are—