STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 217 



sometliing very cunning. And what do you 

 think the swallow did, under these circum- 

 stances? Nothing at all, but just to go to 

 work and build another nest, in the shortest 

 possible space of time. She was for peace, it 

 seems. Perhaps she had some such notions 

 about fighting as the Quakers have, though 

 possibly she might have thought that her 

 covetous and quarrelsome neighbor would be 

 pretty sure to have the best of it, if they 

 should commence a pitched battle. I confess 

 myself, a little inclined to favor the latter 

 opinion, and I will tell you why. The swal- 

 low family, when a large number of them are 

 together, and they are pretty confident they 

 are the stronger party, are not celebrated for 

 their non-resistance principles. They do not 

 hesitate to defend themselves, in such circum- 

 stances, as the following anecdote, related by 

 the celebrated Dr. Adam Clarke, will show : 



When this gentleman was at Eatcliff-Close, 

 according to a paragraph in his memoir by 

 Everett, happening to look up to the eaves of a 

 house, he saw a number of swallows' nests in 

 a row. It struck him as a strange fact, that 

 there appeared to be no mode of entering the 

 nests, and he asked his friend, the proprietor 

 of the house, what was the meaning of it. The 



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