388 Bird -Lore 



'The Chimney Swallows,' by Pauline Leathers, fourth grade, Phelps school: 



Last summer five baby Swallows fell down our chimney. We opened the grate and 

 carried the little birds out under a tree where we watched them for some time. When we 

 opened the grate their eyes were open, but just as soon as we brought them into the 

 light they closed their eyes and didn't open them again, because the light hurts the 

 eyes of the little birds. 



I tried to lift the little birds out of the nest, but baby Swallows are fastened into 

 the nest some way, and I couldn't get them out. 



The nest was made of sticks, hairs and glue which comes from the mother's mouth. 

 They make a very pretty nest. A young Swallow's feathers look like pins. 



I tried to feed the little Swallows, but they wouldn't eat. Only the mother can feed 

 a baby Swallow. It was nearly dark when I found the little birds, but both birds and 

 nest were gone. I hoped the father and mother birds had carried it away. 



'The Bluebirds,' by York Johnson, age 9, fifth grade, Boyd school: 



I put up a bird-house and then some Bluebirds came and built a nest. I watched 

 them bring straw; the bird-house is close to a tree, so if an enemy comes, he could not 

 attack them. 



I saw the mother bird bring some food and then the little birds would chirp when 

 she fed them. One day I saw a Robin fly by, and the Bluebird flew out and chased him 

 away. The father bird is a darker blue than his mate; they built there time after time. 

 I watched them push the old straw out and get new; most of the time I would see one 

 of them on the telephone wire in the back alley at watch while the other one worked. I 

 am going to put up a new house in the spring. 



'Bird Study,' by Ruth Oliver, age 16, eighth grade, McGregor school: 



Not far from my window there stood an old apple tree. One day early in May, I 

 was looking out of the window when I saw two birds flying excitedly about. I soon saw 

 that their purpose was to build a nest there, so I settled myself to watch the proceedings. 



First they found the place most suitable and soon were busily engaged in gathering 

 sticks which they fastened together very firmly with mud. They were kept busy the 

 whole of that day and all of the next and the third day the mother bird laid the first 

 egg in her new home. She laid one every day until there were four pretty blue eggs. 

 How proud they seemed ! Then the little mother bird settled herself and began the long 

 wait for the little eggs to hatch. The male bird would bring her food and then fly up 

 in the air and sing as though he were trying to tell the world of their nest with its four 

 eggs and how proud he was of them. 



After twelve days of patient waiting and sitting, the eggs, one by one, became 

 little birds. 



They were not the least bit pretty but their mother loved them just the same. 



Their mother and father were now kept busy gathering food for the little birds, 

 which from the way they ate, seemed to be starving. 



Three days later they began to look a little more like birds, but they were still far 

 from being beautiful. They seemed to be all mouth and eyes. But they were not, for 

 according to the amount of food they ate they surely must have had some place to store 

 it. I counted and their mother and father made fourteen trips in one day, each time 

 bringing a worm, bug, or other morsel to eat. This was kept up for two weeks. By this 

 time they were fully developed and were becoming so large that they were crowding 

 each other out of the nest, for it was not big enough to hold such large fellows as these 

 fine little birds were getting to be. 



One day one of the young birds disappeared. At first I thought that it had been 

 pushed out of the nest. But I soon saw that the others were leaving the nest too. One 

 by one, they came to the edge of the nest and stretched their little wings as if to try them. 



One day I went to watch them and found that they had all left the nest and had 



