Superstitions about Birds. 135 



like lightning will pass across the page. It is a star- 

 ling rapidly vibrating his wings before he perches on 

 the thatch ; the swift succession of light and shadow 

 as the wings intercept the rays of the sun causes an 

 impression on the eye like that left by a flash of 

 lightning. They are beautiful birds : on their plu- 

 mage, when seen quite close, the light plays in 

 iridescent gleams. 



Upon the roof of the old farmstead, too, the chirp 

 of the sparrow never ceases the livelong day. It is 

 amusing to see these birds in the nesting season 

 carrying up long straws towing their burden 

 through the air with evident labor or feathers. 

 These they sometimes drop just as they arrive at 

 their destination. Eager to utter a chirp to their 

 mates, they open their beaks, and away floats the 

 feather, but they catch it again before it reaches 

 the ground. Fluffy feathers are great favorites. 

 The fowls, as they fly up to roost on the beams in 

 the sheds, beat out feathers from their clumsy wings ; 

 these lie scattered on the ground, marking the spot. 

 These roosting-places are magazines from which the 

 small birds draw their supplies for domestic pur- 

 poses. The sparrows have their nests in lesser 

 holes in the thatch : sometimes they use a swallow's 

 nest built of mortar under the eaves, to which the 

 owners have not returned. 



The older folk still retain some faint superstitions 

 about swallows, looking upon them as semi-conse- 

 crated and not to be killed or interfered with. They 

 will not have their nests knocked down. If they do 

 not return to the eaves but desert their nests it is a 

 sign of misfortune impending over the household. 



