The Barn Swallow 207 



Hence comes the word "swallow," meaning the bird of con- 

 solation. 



They leave through the month of August, being rarely 

 found in September. Preparatory to their journey southward 

 they gather in great flocks. Their manoeuvering seems to in- 

 dicate that the old ones are training the young ones for their 

 long journey. Miss Merriam says that in making these jour- 

 neys, "sometimes they can be followed from farm to farm. 

 They go so slowly and stop so often on the way that the 

 young birds get used to following the old ones. Then they 

 make prolonged stops at definite roosts, sometimes in trees 

 and sometimes in marshes along the rivers." I have read an 

 account of one of these marsh roosts in Arkansas, where it was 

 estimated that more than a million of these birds congregate at 

 night. Mrs. Bates in The Auk, vol. XXII, in giving an ac- 

 count of one of them, says that in the evening when they begin 

 pouring in, at intervals clouds of them would evolve something 

 like order out of their numbers and perform en masse fantastic 

 curves, spirals, counter-marches, snake-like twists and turns, 

 with the sky for a background. It is always with regret that 

 we witness their departure, and with Edmund Clarence Sted- 

 man, we may say : 



"Whither away, swallow, 



Whither away? 



Canst thou no longer tarry in the north, 

 Here where our roof so well hath screened thy nest? 



Not one short day? 



Wilt thou as if thou human wert go forth 



And wander far from them who love thee best? 



Whither away?" 



