124 WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 



barn. The birds soon come to know you will not 

 harm them, and pay no attention to you, even 

 though you are very close to them. 



There is a harmless superstition among the 

 country people in some parts of the world, that 

 " if you are good to the swallows, the lightning 

 will never strike your barn." 



A good story is told of a farmer who thought to 

 frighten the swallows away from his barn by 

 hanging a dead owl to the rafter, where it swung 

 in the wind. What should they do, but place the 

 very first pellet of mud they brought in right on 

 the head of the owl! And they kept on with the 

 nest until one egg was laid, when nest, egg, and 

 old bird swung in the wind. The farmer thought 

 it such a curiosity, that he took the stuffed owl 

 with the nest on its head and gave it to a great 

 museum, so that other people could admire it. 

 Then he put a sea-shell in its place in the barn, 

 swinging it by strings put through little holes he 

 had drilled in the edges of the shell, and tied it to 

 the same rafter. The swallows built another nest 

 right in the shell and brought out their brood. 

 What interesting things a person can find out who 

 loves the birds and has the patience to study 

 them! 



