. The naturalist's library; containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects; . oor, as if to inquire how she notes at this time seem to have a peculiar softness, and his gratulationsare expressive of much tenderness. Conjugal fidelity seems to be faithfully preserved by these birds. A maleand female marten once took possession of a box in Mr Bartrams garden. Aday or two after, a second female made her appearance, but from the coldreception she met with, being frequently beat off by the male; she finallyabandoned the place, and set o
. The naturalist's library; containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects; . oor, as if to inquire how she notes at this time seem to have a peculiar softness, and his gratulationsare expressive of much tenderness. Conjugal fidelity seems to be faithfully preserved by these birds. A maleand female marten once took possession of a box in Mr Bartrams garden. Aday or two after, a second female made her appearance, but from the coldreception she met with, being frequently beat off by the male; she finallyabandoned the place, and set off no doubt to seek a more sociable com-panion. The flight of the purple marten unites in it all the swiftness, ease, rapidityof turning, and gracefulness of motion of its tribe. His usual note peuo,peuo, peuo, is loud and musical; but is frequently succeeded by others that 1 Hirundnpurpurea, Lix. A VES— SWALLOW 569 are low and guttural. Wasps, bees, and large beetles, seem to be bis favo-rite food. He is eigbt incbes long, and of a rich deep purplish blue, exceptthe wings and tail, which are brownish black. THE BARN SWALLOW,. Together with its whole tribe, are distinguished from the rest of small birds,by their sweeping rapidity of flight, their peculiar aerial evolutions of wingover our fields and rivers, and through our streets from morning to light of heaven itself, the sky, the trees, or any other common objectsof nature, are not better known than the swallows. The wonderful activitydisplayed by these birds, forms a striking contrast to the slow habits of otheranimals. Let a person take his stand on a summer evening by a field,meadow, or river shore, fix his eye on one of these birds, and follow for awhile all its circuitous windings; its extensive sweeps; its sudden, rapidlyreiterated zigzag excursions, little inferior to the lightning itself— and thenattempt to calculate the length of the various lines it describes. On the east side of the great range of th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
