THE BARN SWALLOW. 



WHEN a farmer builds a new barn, he plans 

 stalls for his horses, stanchions for his cows, 

 pens and coops for the pigs and hens, and often in 

 the attic he cuts holes and builds little ledges for 

 pigeons. 



One guest who is quite sure to wish to come he 

 hardly ever arranges for; but when the barn is fin- 

 ished and its great door stands wide open, some soft 

 May day, the swallow flies in and out, and, perching 

 on the wide beams under the roof, chooses a place for 

 his nest. One farmer that I knew, thous^ht of the 

 swallows when he built his barn, and drove a horse- 

 shoe into a beam. Each year the swallows build a 

 nest on this support. 



Although the farmer does not exactly invite the 

 swallows, yet nearly all farmers are glad to have them 

 come, glad to hear them twittering on the ridgepole, 

 glad to see them flying over the grass or up into the 

 bright sky. "The swallows have come" is one of 

 the best bits of news which the farmer's children can 

 bring to their mother. It tells that summer is near, 

 just as the first Bluebirds brought notice that winter 

 was over. 



