THE SWALLOW'S SPEED.
Here is the record of a pair of swallows as reported to me. They did not appear till the first week of May, and the young family, though still a little wobbly on the perch, were sitting in a row on a wire before May was out. This is, of course, inexplicably prompt, since the eggs take a fortnight to hatch ; but of all the birds that fly the swallow, so far as my observa- tion goes, is the quickest off the mark. Some birds breed only once. A good many breed twice ; a few three times. It is not altogether uncommon (the text-books do not allow it, however) for the swallow to breed four times, though they do not arrive till many of our thrushes have hatched and the young must make a journey of several thousand miles in early autumn. It is to be feared that the many broods, each five or even six in number, are made necessary in the struggle for existence by the heavy casualties of the two migrations.
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