148 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 



Swallows are now gathering in immense flocks, 

 alighting on roofs of barns and houses and on telegraph 

 wires, where they flutter and chirp to one another in 

 the most social way ; they appear to congregate at pre- 

 concerted times and places, compare notes in their bird 

 language and then separate, each going his own indi- 

 vidual way in search of food or to enjoy his easy and 

 graceful flight in upper air. They could not long sub- 

 sist in such vast numbers, as their food supply would be 

 exhausted. During a recent drive near Fort Porter, I 

 saw a flock of these birds that must have contained nearly 

 tAventy thousand. They covered the roofs of many 

 houses and the telegraph wires for several blocks. 

 Three or four species of swallows fly and flock to- 

 gether promiscuously, but they are all performing a 

 work that should entitle them to our gratitude and pro- 

 tection. All the insect exterminators sold by druggists 

 would weigh little in comparison with the work done 

 by these industrious little birds, yet how many of them 

 are yearly slaughtered by the thoughtless sportsman, 

 who is proud of his skill in shooting them on the wing ! 

 A farm barn without the swallow hole in the gable, and 

 the swallows going in and coming out and nesting on 

 the rafters, is hke a hearthstone without a cat or child ; 

 yet occasionally you find a gruffy old farmer, who fas- 

 tens them out of the buildings and brushes down their 

 nests, built under the eaves, never thinking that he is 

 fighting the best friends of his garden and orchard. 

 Perhaps if we tell him a truth, that his cabbages will 

 grow unmolested of the worms, when planted near the 



