A Swallow and One Who Isn't 



"And you never will," snapped Jenny. "The 

 only place he ever alights is inside a chimney or 

 inside a hollow tree. There he clings to the side 

 just as Downy the Woodpecker clings to the 

 trunk of a tree." 



Johnny looked as if he didn't quite believe this. 

 "If that's the case where does he nest?" he de- 

 manded. "And where does he sleep?" ; 



"In a chimney, stupid. In a chimney, of 

 course," retorted Jenny Wren. "He fastens his 

 nest right to the inside of a chimney. He makes 

 a regular little basket of twigs and fastens it to 

 the side of the chimney." 



"Are you trying to stuff me with nonsense?" 

 asked Johnny Chuck indignantly. "How can 

 he fasten his nest to the side of a chimney unless 

 there's a little shelf to put it on ? And if he never 

 alights, how does he get the little sticks to make a 

 nest of? I'd just like to know how you expect 

 me to believe any such story as that." 



Jenny Wren's sharp little eyes snapped. "If 

 you half used your eyes you wouldn't have to 

 ask me how he gets those little sticks," she sput- 

 tered. "If you had watched him when he was 

 flying close to the tree tops you would have seen 

 him clutch little dead twigs in his claws and snap 

 them off without stopping. That's the way he 

 gets his little sticks, Mr. Smarty. He fastens 



[in] 



