Swallow

“Proper experts on telly now seem to call a swallow a ‘barn swallow.’ This is lazy shorthand for ‘barnstormer swallow.’ Barnstormers were exciting, dare-devil pilots who performed death-defying tricks and stunts to entertain crowds of shocked and amazed onlookers, and swallows – the joy of flight in feathered form – are the barnstormers of the bird world. They have just five months to raise two, sometimes three, nests-full of expert fliers. Skills to be mastered include chasing and eating insects on the wing, nonchalantly taking a drink by skimming the water’s surface with your mouth open, and ‘advanced wire perching.’ Finally, they are taught ‘using the wires as a washing line to dry your underwear before packing to leave for Africa.’ Young swallows gather in their hundreds on telephone and electricity wires in early September, chattering with excitement and refusing to wash their underwear. And then they are gone. But they will be back next year to announce the arrival of summer and do it all, all over again.”