THE PROCESSION PASSES 97 
places where they nest, but are equally useful in all 
their journeyings through the south. Some birds, like 
the Bobolink, are both useful and harmless where they 
nest, but do harm as they travel, for when the Bobolink 
leaves for the south he goes into the rice-fields, eating the 
rice grains in late summer and plucking up the young 
rice in thespring. This, of course, gives him a bad name in 
the rice-growing regions through which he passes. 
“But the Swallow only destroys the evil insects as it 
journeys through the south, and yet in spite of this, cruel, 
or at best thoughtless, people kill them for the mere sport 
of killing, for no white man could pretend to eat Swallow 
pie, and the great flocks are tempting marks for ‘sports- 
men’ of this class. Then, too, the noise made at the places 
where these birds roost, especially the Martins, has served 
as an excuse for shooting them in numbers. 
“Tf the people in the southern states would only fully 
understand that Swallows destroy the boll-weevil that 
damages the cotton in the pod, they surely would not allow 
a feather of these little workers to be injured. 
“ How I wish we could have a Kind Hearts’ Club in every 
district school in the south, so that the children there 
might help us to protect the birds during the time that they 
are beyond our reach.” 
Gray Lady paused and turned the leaves of her scrap- 
book, as if she was searching for something. “Ah! 
here it is!’ she said at last, half to herself. ‘“‘The Wise 
Men at Washington who find out for us all the facts 
about the useful birds have been writing about these 
Swallows, and say that everything should be done not only 
to protect them but in every way to aid their increase by 
H - 
