144 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

numbers, seemingly annoyed at any one approaching their
lonely habitations, added much to the singularity of the
scene.’ Laborde also takes notice of the hootings of the
screech-owl at night*.”

Oxpes PASSERES.

Hirunvo.—The Swallow.

This favourite and well-known bird seems scarcely to
need any description, as the habits of the family bring them
so frequently before our eyes, and they are, consequently,
more noticed than almost any other of the feathered tribe.
The distinguishing characteristics are, the enormous length
of the wings; the shortness of the beak, which is very
deeply cleft; so as to form a large mouth, adapted for
catching winged insects; and the extreme shortness of the
feet, which prevents them from springing easily off the
ground: consequently, they very seldom alight, and appear
to live almost entirely on the wing, surpassing every other
bird in the untiring rapidity of their movements.

Sir Humphry Davy says, “The swallow is one of my

* Pictorial Bible.