Hirondelles et Martinets, Paille sur Bouse

One swallow maketh not a summer.


But the first house martin, spotted the week before last in Sainte-Cécile announced La Belle Saison.

As Spring really gets into gear, click HERE to go to the continuing story of Les Saisons de Sainte-Cécile, after reading about Hirondelles et Martinets.

Then click HERE for transportation to more Sainte-Cécile stories...


"Il y a hirondelles des fenêtres et hirondelles des cheminées, Alan"

Says Norbert, in the tone of "L'Expert".
Hirondo rustica/Common Swallow/Hirondelle des cheminées.

Norbert has a ruddy complexion, and has chain-smoked Gitanes sans filtre since de Gaulle pulled out of Algeria. He attempts to mask the odour of tabac brun by using liberal splashings of eau de cologne, which makes it worse. This deodorizing strategy is known colloquially here as paille sur bouse. See note below.


You'd have to admire his bravery as a smoker: until his retraite at 57 years and six months from the Clinique in Nantes, he had regular reminders of the Gitane effect, because he worked in the radiography department.

"Oui. Effectivement. Deux types d'hirondelles. Ecoute-moi bien et je t'explique ça..."

Norbert L'Expert lights up, and informs me at length, in a tone which teeters between patronization and pédagogie, of the differences between the two.

Having spent seven years on various local government committees with Norbert, and not wishing to brusque his sensibilities, I know that I must settle down behind a sympathetic smile for a 15-minute/ 2 Gitane cours magistral about the differences and similarities between swallows and house-martins.

I listen, nodding sympathetically, and wait for a lull in the monologue to wind him up by saying that the Normands really stuffed things up linguistically back in 1066 by calling swallows "Martin-y" (probably because of the Y-shaped forked tail, interjects N).

In the modern French, un Martinet is... a swift.

Delichon Urbicum/Hirondelle des fenêtres/House Martin


"Oui, les gens sont toujours confus par la différence entre les hirondelles et les martinets. Mais ce sont deux espèces complètement différentes..."

You, dear reader, don't have to listen to Norbert: just look at the pic of those long, boomerang wings and you'll recognize swifts every time from now on.


Apus Apus/Martinet Ramoneur/Swift


TriviaLanguage note; Apus from Greek for "no feet".


Ramoneur=chimney sweep. So now you can really confuse them with hirondelle des cheminées.

Lexique. "Paille sur Bouse" A good name for a village? Comme Stratford sur Avon ou Bourton sur l'Eau?
Pas vraiment.

La paille; c'est ça:

La bouse; non, ce n'est pas l'alcool.
C'est le caca des vaches.

[Now that's what I call a blog. I can even smell it. Ed]