The swallow, though called the chimney-swallow, by no means
builds altogether in chimneys, but often within barns and out-
houses against the rafters; and so she did in Virgil's time:
... Ante
Garrulla quam tignis nidos suspendat hirundo.
In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called ladu swala, the barn-
swallow. Besides, in the warmer parts of Europe there are no
chimneys to houses, except they are English-built: in these
countries she constructs her nest in porches, and gateways, and
galleries, and open halls.
Here and there a bird may affect some odd, peculiar place; as we
have known a swallow build down the shaft of an old well, through
which chalk had been formerly drawn up for the purpose of
manure: but in general with us this hirundo breeds in chimneys;
and loves to haunt those stacks where there is a constant fire, no
doubt for the sake of warmth. Not that it can subsist in the
immediate shaft where there is a fire; but prefers one adjoining to
that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual smoke of that
funnel, as I have often observed with some degree of wonder.
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