52 SWALLOWS. 



several times a-clay to call the servants to their 

 meals. Under the wooden cover of this bell, the 

 same Swallow, it is believed, which had formerly 

 built on the bracket for the lamp, built a nest for 

 several years, and never was in the least disturbed 

 by the ringing of the bell, or the rattling of the 

 rope. 



One of the chimneys in a house at Blois, in 

 France, was surmounted by an old moving iron 

 chimney-pot, placed there to prevent it from smoking; 

 the fire-place with which it communicated, having 

 been bricked-up, it became a safe place for building 

 in. Accordingly, as such, it was pitched upon by a 

 couple of Swallows, and in it, moved as it was by 

 every wind, and making at every motion a dismal 

 creaking noise, for two successive years, did they 

 build their nest; and often were they seen for 

 minutes together, when the wind was high, trying 

 in vain to get into it, its constant motion rendering 

 entrance an affair of some difficulty. 



Timid as they appear to be, when occasion calls 

 for exertion and courage, they can not only fight a 

 good battle, but manifest a good deal of generalship. 

 A pair of Martins, having built in a corner of a 

 window, one of which, from a remarkable white 

 feather in one of its wings, was known to be the 

 same bird which had built there the year before, 

 had no sooner finished their nest, than a strange 

 Swallow conceived the plan of taking possession of 

 the property, and once or twice actually succeeded 

 in driving the owners out. For a week, there was 

 constant battling. At length, the two rightful 

 owners were observed to be very busily engaged in 



