BIRD STORIES 



were doing that, they were working for the owner of the 

 barn, paying their rent for the house-lot on the wall by 

 catching grass insects over the meadow, and mosquitoes 

 and horseflies and house-flies by the hundreds, and many 

 another pest, too. 



Ah, yes, there may be some reason for the belief that 

 swallows bring good luck to men. I once heard of a 

 farmer who said he did n^t dare disturb these birds be- 

 cause of a superstition that, if he did, his cows would n^t 

 give so much milk. Well, maybe they would n't if all 



'^^^rij^'^ir.iijtp.,, — 







-mmiM 





The Hunting Flight. 



74 



