FEATHERED PHILOSOPHERS I09 



about the bird who was suspended over 

 the wall; so many swallows had not 

 been seen this season in all the village. 

 To and fro they wheeled, keeping 

 always above the little one, as if to 

 attract its attention. The parents 

 stayed nearer, and the mother held a 

 moth in her beak and seemed to urge 

 an effort to secure it. In a few min- 

 utes the bird who hung over the 

 branches, relaxing his hold, turned, and 

 spreading his wings slightly dropped to 

 the branch beneath, where he settled 

 himself comfortably. 



Still above the wall the other hung 

 motionless, except that its head was 

 slowly drooping backward, and the 

 circling birds grew more vociferous. 

 Suddenly the parent who held the 

 butterfly lit on the branch at the spot 

 where the bird was clinging, and its 

 mate darted swiftly close beneath. 



