A SWALLOW TEA " 131 



tree as a rest-station between the woods each 

 side ; saw the robins and song-sparrows who 

 foraged on the close-cut grass about the 

 house ; studied the varied wonderful effects 

 of cloud and ocean ; watched the reflection 

 in the east of the sunset, sometimes more 

 beautiful than the original in the west, and 

 at all times the swallows, who, as Michelet 

 says, " sing little, but talk much." 



Swallows were constantly flying about over 

 the grass in their graceful way, making every 

 other bird - flight appear stiff and clumsy, 

 chirruping and calling socially to one an- 

 other, perfectly willing as it appeared 

 that all the world should hear what they have 

 to say. 



Now and then several of them would col- 

 lect on the ground, in a path free from grass, 

 chattering at the top of their sweet voices, 

 occasionally picking at the earth as if eating 

 something, but in general simply talking, 

 moving about this way and that without 

 apparent object, and ludicrously suggesting 

 that human gathering known as a " tea." 



I have long known the fondness of these 

 birds for a joke, and here I received fresh 



