CARPENTERS, MASONS, AND MINERS 
north eaves of two barns which stood at 
right angles to each other, forming two sides 
of the barnyard square. Here were some 
eighty-odd nests, and no two were alike. 
Some were retort-shaped, their funnel-like 
necks sticking out and down, with the door- 
way in the end; others were like a wall- 
pocket open at the top; but the greater 
number were formed like bowls set on edge, 
with the door in the middle where the 
bottom of the bowl would be. In one 
corner at the end of the barn, lack of space 
compelled crowding, and the houses there 
overlapped each other like gigantic wasp- 
nests, but every little home had its own 
front door. The mud was gathered on the 
edge of a small creek that ran within a hun- 
dred feet of the barn, and was sticky yellow 
clay. The swallows flew down to this in 
small companies, and there were always 
one or two on the way going or coming. 
Although we were curious to know how 
they obtained and carried the mud, a watch 
at the creek was most unsatisfactory. They 
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