110 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



before the sharp eyes of a swallow espy it; 

 then the bird makes a swift swoop for it, and 

 never misses its aim. There is no escape for 

 the insect, which is slow of movement. In this 

 way thousands of insects are devoured in a 

 single evening. Nothing could be more grace- 

 ful than the flight of these birds at such times. 

 Usually they fly a little lower than the insect 

 aimed at, and as they approach it, rise in a 

 swift, graceful curve, whose highest point is at- 

 tained when the prize has been secured. Of 

 course, the insect is seized in the bird's beak 

 and swallowed at once, and perhaps that is the 

 reason these birds are called swallows. 



Well can I remember that, in my boyhood 

 days, I thought a swallow was a swallow, and 

 never knew until long afterward that there 

 were many species of this family of winged 

 athletes. None of the bright young readers 

 of this book are so ignorant, I hope ; but if 

 they are, I ought to be the last person to make 

 sport of them. Think of the various kinds of 

 swallows — barn swallows, cliff or eave swal- 

 lows, white-breasted swallows, bank swallows, 

 rough-winged swallows, and white-rumped swal- 

 lows, all of them skimmers of the water and 

 cleavers of the air. 



But you must not mistake the common chim- 



