Note 3 — Chapter VI · THE SWALLOW AND THE SPARROW

We now know enough about the early art of the Sparrow. What will the Swallows tell us in their turn? Two species frequent our dwellings: the Window-swallow (Hirundo urbica)3 and the Chimney-swallow (H. rustica), both of whom are very badly named, both in the scientific and the everyday language. Those epithets of urbica and rustica, which make a town-dweller of the first and a villager of the second, can be applied indifferently to either, since they both take up their abode at one time in the town, at another in the village. The terms window and chimney possess a precise meaning which is rarely confirmed and very often contradicted by the facts. For the sake of clearness, the supreme condition of all tolerable prose, and to confine myself to the habits peculiar to the two species in my part of the world, I will call the first the Wall-swallow and the second the Domestic Swallow. The shape of the nest constitutes the most striking difference. The Wall-swallow gives his the form of a ball, with a round aperture just large enough to admit the bird. The Domestic Swallow fashions his into a cup with a wide opening.