CHAPTER X. 



THE SWALLOW TRIBE. 



Every one who at all observes the mere external 

 aspects of nature, the changing seasons, the bud- 

 ding trees and the opening flowers, has become 

 acquainted with the Swallow. We all look with 

 pleasure on the fost swallow, which in April skims 

 through the air before us : and though, as the pro- 

 verb common to most European nations expresses 

 it, " One swallow does not make a summer," yet 

 is even the stray bird an indication of coming mul- 

 titudes, and of all beauties and delights associated 

 with that rich season. Even the inhabitant of 

 the city, far from the wild flowers and green 

 boughs which he loves so well, watches for the 

 coming of the first swallow, and thinks of the 

 lanes and meadows among which the pearly Avhite- 

 thorn is beginning to bud, and where the violet. 



