122 BIRD-LAND ECHOES. 



after arrival, except those that associated with the 

 sand-martens and appeared to have nests in the 

 bank, but did not It is difficult to make plain what 

 a charm there is in floating over flooded meadows, 

 in riding where you have been accustomed to walk, 

 and in moving without let or hindrance among 

 quicksands and marshes which ordinarily you can- 

 not even approach. Then it is, when the winter's 

 snows on the mountains have been transferred as 

 water to the plain, that I first meet the white-bellied 

 swallows, and they seem ever as glad to see me as 

 I am to be with them again. Call this a childish 

 fancy, if you will, but it is the secret of the charm 

 of many a spring outing ; and, after all, if I am 

 pleased, what matters it whether you are or not. 

 Some of us, as we grow older, become more selfish ; 

 nor is this strange. 



The colors of the white-bellied swallow are but two, 

 dark steel-blue and white, but the purity of the latter 

 and the brilliant gloss of the former make the bird 

 pretty ; and when, with these, we consider its trim 

 figure and marvellous grace of motion, there seems 

 no room for improvement ; yet the barn-swallow is an 

 even more attractive bird. Of equal grace and pos- 

 sessing every hirundine merit, this species has in addi- 

 tion a blending of several rich colors and a general 

 metallic lustre that bring it close to those marvels of 

 the American tropics, the humming-birds. The white- 

 bellied swallow loves the wilder waste-lands, where it 

 is usually found ; but the barn-swallow, as its name 

 indicates, comes to us, at least to those who live in the 



