The Swallow and the Sparrow 



temporary of the aborigines ! She too 

 must have profited greatly by civilization: 

 she has managed to turn man's increasing 

 comfort into her own. When the dwelling 

 with a roof, rafters and ceiling was planned 

 and the chimney with side-walls and a flue 

 invented, the chilly creature said to herself: 



14 How pleasant this is ! Let us pitch 

 our tent here." 



And, notwithstanding the novelty of her 

 surroundings, she hastened to take possess- 

 ion. 



Let us go back farther still. Before huts 

 existed, before the niche in the rock, before 

 man himself, the last to make his entrance 

 on the world's stage, where did the Pelo- 

 paeus build? The question is not devoid of 

 interest, as we shall shortly see. Besides, 

 it does not stand alone. Where did the 

 Window-swallow and the Chimney-swallow 

 make their nests before there wer^ windows 

 and chimneys to build in? What retreat 

 did the Sparrow select for his family before 

 there were roofs with tiles and walls with 

 holes to them? 



11 As a sparrow all alone on the house- 

 top," said the Psalmist in his day. 



In King David's time, the Sparrow 

 squawked mournfully under the eaves in the 

 135 



