THE SWALLOW. 



been brought in the night. The next morning some other httle animal or 

 bird was found. And this went on for a fortnight. The gentleman and his 

 servants both watched to see who had provided for the wants of the little 

 captive, and there was no doubt but the parent birds had done it. 



THE SWALLOW. 



In summer the whole air is filled with flies and insects, myriads of them too 

 small for our eyes to see. The swallow is the bird that from morning till 

 night is occupied in catching them. 



She comes as soon as they do. With the early spring the great temple of 

 Nature opens, so to say, her gates and doors, and forth rush living creatures 

 by millions. Countless eggs are hatched, thousands and tens of thousands of 

 tiny grubs and caterpillars spring into life, and in their turn become perfect 

 insects. The chrysalis, that has lain all winter swathed up in some secret 

 spot, now has its bands unloosed, and flutters out on wings. 



By the brook, in the meadows, and among the trees, there is a hum and 

 a stir of life everywhere ! 



The swallow knows that her banquet is spread. When it grew late in the 

 autumn there were no flies, and there could be no swallows. So the swallows, 

 who had been for some time gathering together in flocks or companies, went 

 away, no one knew with any exactness whither. 



This part of the swallow's history has to be made clear to us some day. 

 We are told the little bands are seen sailing far over the sea, towards the hot 

 regions of Africa, or other parts of the torrid zone. And they have some- 

 times rested on the mast of a ship, just, as it were, to take breath. They can 

 go many hours without resting, as we know, for they keep on the wing from 

 morning till night. 



Sometimes in winter, in frost and snow, a poor half-dead swallow has been 

 found in an odd out-of-way place. Why she was left behind, we have no 

 means of guessing. After all, the birds keep many secrets from us. 



But hail to the spring ! The swallows are come ! The first that comes is 

 our old friend the chimney swallow, that appears early in April, before the cold 



