birds were feathered and nearly ready to fly, there 

 came a rain that ran wet far down the sooty chimney, 

 loosened the mortar of the nests, and sent them 

 crashing into the fireplace. 



Some of the young birds were killed outright ; the 

 others were at my mercy, flung upon me, helpless, 

 wailing infants! Of course I made it comfortable 

 for them on the back-log, and let their mothers flut- 

 ter down unhindered to feed them. Had I under- 

 stood the trick, I would have hawked for them and 

 helped feed them myself. 



They made a great thunder in the chimney ; they 

 rattled down into the living-room a little soot ; but 

 nothing further came of it. We were not quaran- 

 tined. On the contrary, we had our reward, accord- 

 ing to promise ; for it was an extremely interesting 

 event to us all. It dispelled some silly qualms, it 

 gave us intimate part in a strange small life, so 

 foreign, yet so closely linked to our own, and it 

 made us pause with wonder that even our empty, 

 sooty chimney could be made use of by Nature to 

 our great benefit. 



I wonder if the nests of the chimney swallows 

 came tumbling down when the birds used to build in 



97 



