Relationship with humans

Swallows are tolerated by humans because of their beneficial role as insect-eaters, and some species have readily adapted to nesting in and around human habitation. The Barn Swallow and House Martin now rarely use natural sites. The Purple Martin is also actively encouraged by people to nest around humans and elaborate nest boxes are erected. Enough artificial nesting sites have been created that the Purple Martin now seldom nests in natural cavities in the eastern part of its range.

Because of the long human experience with these conspicuous species, many myths and legends have arisen as a consequence.The Roman historian Pliny the Elder described a use of painted swallows to deliver a report of the winning horses at a race.

Swallows have also been incorporated into Christian religious stories, in part because of their arrival in Europe around the time of Easter, and apocryphal stories place them at the crucifixion of Jesus, either trying to distract those sent to arrest Jesus in the garden or comfort Jesus on the cross.

They are also mentioned in the Quran as attacking Abraha, the Christian king of Yemen who was attacking Mecca. The tiny birds hurled small stones and forced Abraha's mighty army to retreat. The significance of the small birds is that God can order the smallest of his creations and miracles can happen.

During the Nineteenth Century, Jean Desbouvrie attempted to tame swallows and train them for use as messenger birds, as an alternative to war pigeons. He succeeded in curbing the migratory instinct in young birds and persuaded the government of France to conduct initial testing, but stalled further experimentation.

Subsequent attempts to train homing behaviour into swallows and other passerines had difficulty establishing a statistically significant success rate, although the birds have been known to trap themselves repeatedly in order to obtain bait from traps.