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.
FLORAL DIRECTORY.
Harebell. Hyacinthus non scriptus.
Dedicated to St. George.
[100] In the Golden Legend.
[101] Germany.
[102] Collection of Old Ballads, 3 vols.