Welcome Swallow Gallery

The Happy Prince

The Happy Prince - by Oscar Wilde. In a town where a lot of poor people are suffering, a lonely swallow meets the statue of the late "Happy Prince", who had lived in a palace where sorrow isn't allowed to enter. Viewing people suffering in poverty from high above, Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the golden leaf covering his body to give to the poor

© Jonathan Barry / Mary Evans Picture Library

Insect Mimicry, lithograph, published in 1897

Mimicry of insects: 1-12 Imitation of green and withered leaves, twigs, and bark; 13-19) Imitation of inedible beetles and butterflies; 20-27) Imitation of dreaded insects (bees, wasps, ants) by those of other species; 28-30) Imitation of rotten objects. 1-2) Anaea phantes; 3) Anaea opalina; 4) Orange oakleaf (Kallima inachus); 5-8) Pterochroza colorata; erosa; cristata, arrosa; 9a-9b) Chrysalis (Papilio evander) - Imitation of a broken branch; 10) Caterpillar of Swallow-tailed moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria); 11) French stick insect (Clonopsis gallica); 12) Smooth tree bug (Phloea corticata); 13 Female Danaid Eggfly (Hypolimnas misippus); 14) Nymphalidae Hypolimnas Misippus (female); 15) Nymphalidae Hypolimnas Missipus (male); 16) Rhagium bifasciatum; 17) Tropidosoma Spencii; 18) Batus barbicornis; 19) tiger bug mimic (Correbia lycoides); 20-21) Brazilian butterflies (Pseudosphinx species) which mimic Ichneumonidae and wasps; 22) Mexican longhorn beetle (Charis species) which imitates a bee; 23) Hoverfly (Sericomyia silentis); 24) Drone fly (Eristalis tenax); 25) Sphiximorpha subsessilis; 26) Ctenostoma unifasciatum; 27) Myrmecoris gracilis; 28a-28b) Cocoon of Aides amanda (South America moth); 29) Tortrix moth (Tortrix ocellaria) imitates bird droppings on a leaf; 30) Desmiphora fasciculata imitates a woolly bear caterpillar. Lithograph, published in 1897

Swallows Nest - Cape of Ai-Todor, Crimea, Ukraine

The Swallow's Nest - perched up on the Aurora cliff overlooking the Cape of Ai-Todor on the Black Sea coast between Yalta and Alupka, in Crimea, Ukraine. The first building on the Aurora Cliff (a wooden cottage romantically named the "Castle of Love") was constructed for a Russian general circa 1895 (the structure pictured here), with ownership passing to A. K. Tobin, a court doctor to the Russian Tsar. In 1911, Baron von Steingel (a Baltic German noble) who had made a fortune extracting oil in Baku, acquired the timber cottage (pictured) and within a year had it replaced with the current building called Schwalbennest ('Swallow's Nest') Date: circa 1908

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection