A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of the Audubon Societies 



Vol. XII 



May— June, 1910 



No. 3 



My Summer Tenants 



By STEPHEN P. BROWNELL, West Barnett. Vt 



H 



I'RRYINCi northward, on 

 swift wing, two pairs of Tree 

 Swallows reach a certain 

 fence beside a brook, which tlows into 

 the Connecticut river. The helds 

 are yet cold and gra}-, with patches 

 of snow still lingering around the 

 hedges. Yonder mountain is as white 

 as in winter, for it is only the middle 

 of April. The brook is swollen and 

 turbulent, and the wind blows cold 

 and tierce; but these welcome visitors 

 from warmer lands are as happ\' as 

 they can l)e. 



The strange migratory impulse 

 that urged these birds onward toward 

 the north is rapidly subsiding, but 

 the nesting instinct is very i)ressing. 

 5; But where shall they find a home? 



g Where find a hidden hollow in which 



TRKK SWALLOW AT NKST to place those white eggs that lack pro- 



tective coloiation? Cione are the ]K)le fences that, criss-crossing around the 

 pastures, provided such convenient hollows in their butt logs. Boards and barbed- 

 wire have taken the place of the old poles. The bushes along the roads in which, 

 formerly, Robins, Vireos and Catbirds built their nests, and which, also, provided 

 a few hollow trunks for Bluebirds and Tree Swallows, have recently been 

 cut down. The State Legislature ordered their destruction, so that ordinary 

 travelers might see the speeding motor-car in time to escape to the fields for 

 their lives. 



