Nature on the Root 



Neither of these, starlings nor sparrows, seem to like 

 the dark. Under the roof, between it and the first 

 ceiling, there is a large open space ; if the slates or tiles 

 are kept in good order, very little light enters, and 

 this space is nearly dark in daylight. Even if chinks 

 admit a beam of light, it is not enough; they seldom 

 enter or fly about there, though quite accessible to 

 them. But if the roof is in bad order, and this space 

 light, they enter freely. Though nesting in holes, yet 

 they like light. The swallows could easily go in and 

 make nests upon the beams, but they will not, unless 

 the place is well lit. They do not like darkness in 

 the daytime. 



The swallows bring us the sunbeams on their wings 

 from Africa to fill the fields with flowers. From the 

 time of the arrival of the first swallow the flowers 

 take heart; the few and scanty plants that had 

 braved the earlier cold are succeeded by a constantly 

 enlarging list, till the banks and lanes are full of 

 them. The chimney -swallow is usually the fore- 

 runner of the three house-swallows ; and perhaps no 

 fact in natural history has been so much studied as 

 the migration of these tender birds. The commonest 

 things are always the most interesting. In summer 

 there is no bird so common everywhere as the swallow, 

 and for that reason many overlook it, though they 

 rush to see a " white elephant." But the deepest 

 thinkers have spent hours and hours in considering the 

 problem of the swallow its migrations, its flight, its 

 habits; great poets have loved it; great artists and 

 art-writers have curiously studied it. The idea that 

 it is necessary to seek the wilderness or the thickest 

 woods for nature is a total mistake ; nature is at home, 

 on the roof, close to every one. Eave-s wallows, or 

 house-martins (easily distinguished by the white bar 



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