298 CITIZEN BIRD 



out beyond the soft part. They feed on insects which 

 they catch as they dash through the air, and can also 

 break off dry twigs for nest-building without stopping 

 — sometimes seizing the little sticks in their bills and 

 sometimes in their claws, which are much stronger 

 than those of Swallows." 



" How do they make the sticks stay in the chimney ? 

 What do they set them on, and how do they perch 

 while they are building?" asked Nat, all in one breath. 



" Do you remember how the little Brown Creeper 

 propped himself against the tree when he looked for 

 insects ? " 



''Yes," said Rap; "he stuck his sharp tail-feathers 

 into the bark and made a bracket of himself." 



" The Swift does this also when he fastens twigs 

 together for a nest. They are glued together into a 

 little openwork Ijasket, and gummed to the wall of the 

 chimney, with a sticky fluid which comes from his own 

 mouth." 



"I've got a lot of old nests that fell down the 

 chimney after a storm last winter that wet the glue 

 and made them come unstuck," said Joe; "and I'll 

 give you each one. If you look up the hole where 

 the kitchen fireplace was, you can see the new nests 

 c[uite plain ; for the birds don't build them very near 

 the top." 



" Be careful of loose stones ! " called the Doctor ; but 

 in a flash four young heads had disappeared in the 

 ruins of the great fireplace, where three pairs of trousers 

 and a short brown linen skirt alone Avere visible. 



In a little while they had some milk and straw- 

 berries ; and before they drove on Joe's father prom- 



