334 OUR ^'AT^'E songsters. 



compass, when I state, that there was a mass 

 of flies, just caught by this single swift, larger 

 than, when pressed close, could conveniently^ be 

 contained in the bowl of an ordinary table-spoon ! " 

 It would be difficult to say why a marksman could 

 find pleasm-e in shooting a swallow. Its flesh 

 cannot be eaten, its plumage is useless, and so 

 innocent and useful are its habits, that if we liad 

 no love for elegance and grace, and no feelings of 

 humanity for the fowls of the air, it should be 

 spared on the score of its utility. But tliose who 

 shoot these, or other birds, in the spring, forget 

 the sufferings which await the nestlings deprived 

 of their parents; for these must die slowly of 

 cold and hunger : they forget that the Great Father 

 of us all cared for the animal race, when He gave 

 tliem to us that we should have dominion over 

 them. Not only have the inferior creatures been 

 so made as that their very existence is an enjoy- 

 ment to themselves, but the Law given to Moses 

 enjoins, in various places, kindness and considera- 

 tion both to the bird and the beast. 



The swallow tribe take their prey on the wing, 

 and are ever delighting our eye as they do so, 

 though two only of the tribe have any powers of 



