The Barn Swallow 141 



ling of them until the third week of October, both as individual and as parts 

 of the mixed flocks in which the Swallow family travels. Everything concern- 

 ing the life of a Barn Swallow is simple, innocent and suggestive of the dawn of 

 things, before wild nature had learned to be wily to protect itself against the 

 wiles of man, yet this Swallow is quick of wit as of wing, where the care of its 

 young is concerned, and I well remember the expedient resorted to by a pair 

 of Swallows who could not coax their belated nestlings to leave, on a rafter in 

 our hay-loft. 



The brood was ready to fly one warm day in the early part of August, or the 

 parents at least thought so, but the nestlings were perfectly content where they 

 were; the table was good and the view unexceptional. Coaxing did not avail, 

 so the next day the parents pushed them out on the hay, and there they stayed 

 for two days more. But they either could not or would not fly. 



The third day, the parents refused to come further in than the window-sill, 

 where they uttered a lisping chirp, fluttered their wings and held out insects 

 temptingly. In this way the young were lured up, and finally spent the night 

 on the sill, cuddled together. 



Next morning the youngsters were coaxed to the limbs of a hemlock, the near- 

 est tree to the window, but one that offered perilous perching for their weak feet. 

 Two of the four went in the green of the most steady branches, but two grasped 

 twigs and swung overhead downward, having no strength of grip with which 

 to retain an upright position. Under one bird were tiers of soft green branches, 

 under the other, a stone wall. 



The old birds gave a few sibilant twitters and darted almost invisibly high. 

 In a few moments the sky was alive with Swallows, who fluttered about the bird 

 who was suspended above the wall. To and fro they wheeled, keeping always 

 above the little one, as if to attract its attention. The parents stayed nearer, 

 one with a small moth in its beak, and seemed to urge an effort to secure it. 

 Still above the wall the little bird hung motionless, except that its head was 

 slowly drooping backward more and more, and the circling birds became more 

 vociferous. Suddenly the parent who held the butterfly lit on the branch at 

 the spot where the bird was clinging, while its mate darted swiftly close beneath. 

 Whether the darting bird really pushed the little one up, or only made the rush 

 to startle it to sudden action, I could not discover, but in a flash the deed was ac- 

 complished and the bird righted. The visiting Swallows wheeled and lisped 

 for a minute, and then were engulfed by the sky, as mist in the air blends 

 with the sun-light. 



Questions for Teachers and Students 



What is the range of the Barn Swallow? Is it common in your vicinity? Is it in- 

 creasing or decreasing? What are the causes of increase or decrease? How many spe- 

 cies of Swallows are there in the world? In North America? Wheredoes the Barn 

 Swallow winter? When does he come in the spring? How late does he remain in the 

 fall? Describe a Barn Swallow's nest. How is the mud gathered and carried? What 

 does the Barn Swallow feed upon? Is it injurious or beneficial? 



