vn. THE SWALLOW'S NEST. 125 



Human habitations were mostly circular huts of woven 

 twigs, plastered over with clay, and covered with thatch, 

 affording no suitable coigne of vantage for "the pendant 

 bed and procreant cradle" of this bird. In these cir- 

 cumstances the swallows that visited our country in 

 those far-off days built their nests in the hollow trunks 

 of aged trees, just as two centuries ago they did in the 

 United States of America, and still do in those distant 

 regions which even at the present day are but partly 

 settled. How did they find out the many conveniences 

 of stone dwellings for establishing their nests, and, 

 abandoning their ancient retreats, take possession of the 

 gables, friezes, or buttresses, which they now frequent? 

 Did the instinct of the bird in this respect keep pace 

 with the civilization of man ? 



The association of the swallow's nest with man's 

 habitation is altogether a curious circumstance. In 

 every department of nature we find objects that are 

 brought into closer connection with man than others. 

 They still continue in a wild state ; they are not 

 dependent upon human care, and yet they are never 

 found at a distance from the haunts of man. We 

 gather the stones of the earth around us in our dwel- 

 lings, and the trees and flowers of the earth in our 

 gardens, and the wild animals that come and go in their 

 freedom about our homes, in token that humanity by 

 its principles extends throughout the whole of nature, 

 and that the Adam in us still gives all living things 

 their names. Between the swallow's habitation and 

 its nature there is a striking contrast. We should have 



