THE SWALLOW 213 



years running, a cuckoo, presumably the same bird, 

 laid its egg in the nest, which, in due time, became 

 a young cuckoo, ejected its brethren, and was 

 reared, with equal prodigality of care, by the foster- 

 parents, in full sight of the windows. 



As for the swallows which delight the eye, as 

 much as the cuckoo delights the ear if we except 

 the proverbial " one swallow that does not make a 

 summer," but appears on or about the first of April, 

 only to make an April fool of you, and promptly 

 disappears again to wait for more genial weather 

 they used to arrive, through a long series of years, 

 about the i ith of April. For a fortnight or so, they 

 would disport themselves, preparing for the more 

 serious business of life, or waiting till food should 

 be more abundant ; then, true to their name, two 

 pairs of "chimney" swallows regularly built their 

 nests in a particular flue of each of the two biggest 

 chimney-stacks which, owing to the proximity of 

 the thatch, was never allowed to be profaned by fire 

 or smoke. Often, when sleeping in one of the attics, 

 you would be roused, in early morning, by the 

 twittering of the young brood a few feet above your 

 head, or by one of the parent birds which came 

 tumbling down the chimney into the room, and 

 would either promptly escape through the open 



