A Tale of Two Martins 
sometimes low down, swooping to and 
fro, almost touching the surface of the 
water, or the taller grasses of the fields, 
and at other times soaring high up in 
the blue sky. 
Their nest was made of mud—a 
little round mud affair fixed close up 
under the overhanging eaves. It seems 
a funny material for a bird’s nest, but 
inside it was all made warm and com- 
fortable with a lining of feathers. First 
of all they brought pellets of soft mud in 
their beaks from the sides of the horse- 
pond across the road, and from the 
road itself after it had been raining, and 
fixed them up against the wall, so as to 
make a kind of mud support. After 
this had well dried, they began the walls 
in a circular shape, and carried them 
right up to the under side of the eaves, 
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