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Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21707, 14 February 1936, Page 10

A story of the devotion of a bird to its young has come to light in an account of a Royal Air Force flight to Australia some time ago, states tlfe “Manchester Guardian.” When the squadron was preparing to leave the Straits of Johore in the East Indies, after a stay of some weeks, it was found that a pair of swallows had built their nest under the wing of one of the flying boats, “securely fastened to one of the struts.” The Royal Air Force crews held a council on what they should do about it. The young birds had actually arrived and “no one had the heart to suggest that the nest should be taken down.” It was hoped that the fledglings would be old enough to leave the nest before the day came for the squadron’s departure, though this hope ultimately proved vain. When the engines were started for a test flight, the parent birds rushed out in a panic. Father swallow, comprehensible disappeared into the blue and never returned. The mother bird flew wildly round ana round until the noise of the engines stopped,' and. then, entered her nest again. When the flying-boats finally took off, she was still there.