Sometimes it feeds on the ground, like the hedge-sparrow, by
hopping about on the grass-plots and mown walks.
One of my neighbours, an intelligent and observing man, informs
me that, in the beginning of May, and about ten minutes before
eight o'clock in the evening, he discovered a great cluster of house-
swallows, thirty at least he supposes, perching on a willow that
hung over the verge of James Knight's upper-pond. His attention
was first drawn by the twittering of these birds, which sat
motionless in a row on the bough, with their heads all one way,
and, by their weight, pressing down the twig so that it nearly
touched the water. In this situation he watched them till he could
see no longer. Repeated accounts of this sort, spring and fall,
induce us greatly to suspect that house-swallows have some strong
attachment to water, independent of the matter of food; and though
they may not retire into that element, yet they may conceal
themselves in the banks of pools and rivers during the
uncomfortable months of winter.
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