SWALLOWS KEPT , IN WINTER AS PETS
• [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] • SIR,—A recent number of the Spectator made mention of swallows seen in December in England. Has any successful attempt been made there to keep swallows through the winter ? The following passage, translated from that charm ing picture of family life in Provence, La Maison Claudine, by Colette, should interest all bird-lovers :- " One year of my childhood was devoted to catching the rare winter flies in the kitchen or the cowhouse to feed two swallows which had been hatched in October and thrown down by the wind. Was it not necessary to save these insatiable large-billed creatures which scorned all but live prey Thanks to them I know how far a tame swallow surpasses in pert friendliness the most spoiled dog. Our two lived perched on somebody's shoulder or head, nestling in the work-basket, or running like fowls under the table and pecking at the dog lying there curled up, or screaming in the face of the cat to his bewilderment. They came to school in my pocket and returned home by air. When the sickle of their wings grew large and sharp they would disappear at any time in the lofty sky of spring, but a single shrill call : " Peti-l-i-tes ! " would bring them down like arrows rushing through the air, and they would alight in my hair and hold on with their curved claws of the colour of dark steel."
Nice.
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