II. THE SWALLOW. 5 5 



and contentedly lodges himself and his family 

 in -an old chimne}', when he might be flying 

 dli over -the world. 



- At least you would think, if he built in an 

 Englisji chimney this year, he would build in 

 a French one next. But no. Michelet prettily 

 says of him, "He is the bird of return." If 

 you will only treat him kindly, year after year, 

 he comes back to the same niche, and to the 

 same hearth, for his nest. 



To the same niche ; and builds himself an 

 opaque walled house within that. Think of this 

 a little, as if you heard of it for the first time. 



52. Suppose you had never seen a swallow; 

 but that its general habit of life had been 

 described to you, and you had been asked, 

 how you thought such a bird would build 

 its nest. A creature, observe, whose life is 

 to be passed in the air ; whose beak and 

 throat are shaped with the fineness of a net 

 for the catching of gnats ; and whose feet, 

 in the most perfect of the species, are so 

 feeble that it is called the Footless Swallow, 

 and cannot stand a moment on the ground 

 with comfort. Of all land birds, the one 

 that has least to do with the earth ; of all 



