504 LAND BIRDS 
the attention of all passers-by. Near this nest a pair 
of pygmy nuthatches were occupying a small hollow 
near the top of a pile, entering by a knot-hole too small 
for a mouse. Both they and the swallows were re- 
markably fearless. 
The incubation of the swallow’s eggs lasted thirteen 
days, both sexes sharing alike in it. We knew this 
because one would fly in as soon as the other left; but 
they looked so exactly alike that it was impossible to 
distinguish one from the other. The newly hatched 
nestlings were naked, pink, and not unlike a tangle of 
earthworms. In ten days they were feathered. At this 
time so fearless were the parents that they did not leave 
the nest at our approach and, on the last visit, one of 
the parents allowed herself to be lifted from her brood 
rather than desert them. This was remarkable in con- 
trast to bank swallows, which are excessively timid ; 
but it was very like the brave little eave swallows and 
the martins. 
For the first ten days of their existence the young 
Tree Swallows were fed by regurgitation, at intervals 
varying from five to thirty minutes according to the 
time of day. During the early morning hours — from 
four to six—the meals were most frequent. At this 
sunrise time, also, the adults frolicked over the water, 
catching insects, skimming the lightest spray of the 
waves with a splash in the sparkling ripples, and twitter- 
ing merry greetings as they passed each other. 
