270 SWALLOWS. 



On the opposite side of the same open court, the great 

 house-bell was hung, under a wooden cover, fastened to 

 the north wall of the house : it was a large bell, and was 

 rung several times a day, to call the servants to their 

 meals. Under the wooden cover of this bell, the same 

 Swallow, it is believed, which had formerly built on the 

 bracket for the lamp, built a nest for several years, and 

 never was in the least disturbed by the ringing of the 

 bell, or the rattling of the rope. 



One of the chimneys in a house at Blois, in France, 

 was surmounted by an old moving iron chimney-pot, 

 placed there to prevent it from smoking; the fire-place 

 with which it communicated, having been bricked up, it 

 became a safe place for building in. Accordingly, as 

 such, it was pitched upon by a couple of Swallows, and 

 in it, moved as it was by every wind, and making at 

 every motion a dismal creaking noise, for two successive 

 years, did they build their nest; and often were they 

 seen for minutes together, when the wind was high, 

 trying in vain to get into it, its constant motion render- 

 ing entrance an affair of some difficulty. 



Timid as they appear to be, when occasion calls for 

 exertion and courage, they can not only fight a good 

 battle, but manifest a good deal of generalship. A pair 

 of Martins, having built in a corner of a window, one 

 of which, from a remarkable white feather in one of its 

 wings, was known to be the same bird which had built 

 there the year before, had no sooner finished their nest, 

 than a strange Swallow conceived the plan of taking 

 possession of the property, and once or twice actually 

 succeeded in driving the owners out. For a week there 

 was constant battling. At length, the two rightful 

 owners were observed to be very busily engaged in les- 

 sening the entrance into the nest, which in a short time 

 was so reduced, that it was with difficulty they could 

 force themselves into it singly. When they had accom- 

 plished their object, one or other of them always remained 

 within, with its bill sticking out, ready to receive any 



