16 FEBRUARY 1934, Page 19

A SWALLOW'S LARDER

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

SIR,—IS it not possible that the "wingless house flies," found beneath a swallow's wings by Sir W. Beach Thomas' working-man friend, were in reality parasites on the bird ? • • Anyone who has ringed young house martins in the nest must • have seen the unpleasant-looking large ticks which infest them ; and, as there is so often confusion between swallows and house martins, so it is possible that there may be confusion between ticks and Wingless flies.---I am,