CARPENTERS, MASONS, AND MINERS 
eave-swallows his only victims? And if so, 
why? 
On the inside of the barn were the cup- 
shaped nests of the barn-swallow. These 
are made quite 
differently, of al- 
ternate layers of 
mud pellets’ and 
Daye Vere thie 
farmers, so the 
legend goes, to 
allow one of them 
to be torn down, 
lightning would 
strike the barn, 
or the crops would fail and the store- 
Nest of barn swallow 
house remain empty. So, also, to cherish 
them brings good fortune, and windows for 
ventilation are never screened against their 
entrance. Once during a never-to-be-for- 
gotten Summer spent on a farm, I lay on 
the hay all day and watched these little 
masons build. They came, male and female, 
bringing little pellets of mud in their bills 
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