STOKIES ABOUT BIRDS. 221 



and summoned their neighbors. As I was 

 picking up chips one day, I found mj head 

 encircled by a swarm of swallows. They flew 

 up to the nest, and jabbered away to the young 

 ones ; they clung to the walls, looking back to 

 tell how the thing was done; they dived, and 

 wheeled, and balanced, and floated in a manner 

 perfectly beautiful to behold. The pupils were 

 evidently much excited. They jumped on 

 the edge of the nest, and twittered, and shook 

 their feathers, and waved their wings, and then 

 hopped back again, saying, ' It's pretty sport, 

 but Ave can't do it.' Three times the neighbors 

 came and repeated their graceful lesson. The 

 third time, two of the young birds gave a sud- 

 den plunge downward, and then fluttered and 

 hopped till they lighted on a small upright log. 

 And oh, such praises as were warbled by the 

 whole troop I The air was filled with their 

 joy ! Some were flying around, swift as a ray 

 of light; others were perched on the hoe 

 handle, and the teeth of the rake; multitudes 

 clung to the wall, after the fashion of their 

 pretty kind, and two were swinging, in most 

 graceful style, on a pendent hoop. Never, 

 while memory lasts, shall I forget the swallow 

 party." 



Mr. M'Cord, the gentleman to whom I have 



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